I don’t think arresting her for refusing to return the vest goes anywhere. They are arresting her under the claim that she was stealing her company vest. She didn’t steal it, they gave it to her. The easiest way for an employer to get the vest back is to hold her paycheck until it is returned. This is a bullshit charge that goes nowhere. Since they gave her the vest, this is purely a civil matter and not a crime. I am willing to bet the charges don’t ever get filed over this.
Back when I was a firefighter and a much more outspoken person than I am now, I had a job at a theme park on my days off, working as a life guard. I caught the manager altering time cards to eliminate the other lifeguards’ overtime. To be fair, we had a history because I was busy dating my way through the female lifeguard staff, and he was angry because I had been spending some quality time with one of the lifeguards he had been dating. We had a heated discussion, and I told him I was going to HR. He told me that the argument had made me late coming back from my 30 minute lunch, so he was suspending me and wanted my employee ID. I told him “No problem, but the paragraph on the back of the ID says I owe $20 if I lose it, so I want a receipt.”
He refused to give me a receipt, and tried to snatch it from my hand, so I stuck the ID in my wetsuit. I then went to the locker room to retrieve my belongings. He followed me in there, calling for security on the radio and demanding I also turn in the wetsuit. I told him he wasn’t getting the wetsuit because we were forced to pay for it through payroll deduction. (they took the cost of the wetsuit out of our pay in 4 equal payments) He replied that this didn’t matter, because the company logo on the wetsuit meant it was company property. I grabbed my stuff from my locker, including the bag that had my Glock 19 in it.
I laughed at him and turned around to leave, only to see a company security guard standing in front of the exit to the locker room with his arms folded. The guard told me I couldn’t leave without turning in the wetsuit and my ID. I told him to get out of my way, or he would regret it. It was at that moment that the manager jumped on my back. As I tried to get rid of him, the security guard jumped in. So I did what I thought I needed to do while being attacked by two grown men- I drew my handgun and told them to get the fuck off of me. That worked.
As I walked to the exit of the park, security followed me. By the time I got to my car, I could hear the sirens. I locked my gun the car and waited. When the cops showed up, I told them everything. They went to talk to the manager. I was soon called over, and in front of the manager, the Sergeant asked me if I wanted to press charges. The manager couldn’t believe it as the cop explained to him that attacking me for what was obviously a civil matter was illegal. I was honestly surprised I didn’t get arrested.
I didn’t press charges. I was fired. I didn’t care, it was a shitty job anyhow. That manager only lasted another few months, then he left as well. Quit, fired, I don’t know. I still have the wetsuit and it still has the company logo on it. That incident was more than 20 years ago, and the wetsuit no longer fits. Oh, and the lifeguard I was dating? We broke up about that same time. I later found out she spent some time on the wrong side of the law for establishing a fake charity and scamming people out of money.
So yeah, I have had some shitty bosses. Being my boss doesn’t make you my owner, nor does it make you my boss when I am off the clock. I can be a stubborn asshole like that.
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