Another case of workplace dobbing, a man who worked at woolies for 18 years was trying to stop a mate from quitting...

This has been all over the news and newspapers etc. today in Australia. A worker for an Australian supermarket chain, Woolworths, which is one of the biggest in the country, was fired after he worked there for 18 years.

Now what he was doing was against the rules, but it was for the betterment of the company. See the man was out at lunch with a mate, having a hambuger, steak and beer for 30mins for lunch. When they returned to work, another employee told the company and they were both fired.

Now this is a man who has been a loyal worker for 18 years, and was in a manager role. He had been working there since 1988, a time when woolworths and their competitor, coles, were rapidly expanding as big shopping centres opened across the country. He was one of the original people, hard working and loyal, and he was doing is a favour to the company as his mate was wanting to quit and he was trying to keep him an employee. In a country where we dont throw the fair go out the window, and mateship, loyalty and pride are a big community and social factor, woolworths were being unAustralian yet again.

Yet again I say? Yes. Woolworths happen to have a big history of screwing (am i allowed to say that word?) their smaller competitors by putting them out of business with large amount of products sold for low prices. See they greatly under pay the farmers for their vegies, milk etc. and in turn make MASSIVE profits when they mark it up as much as 700%. This is actually quite evident in my local shops where theres a small fruit and vegie shop next to woolies. The owner of that shop is really nice and always gives us something free for being loyal shoppers there (we try to avoid that woolies like the europeans avoided the plague) but, whenever he lowers his prices, woolies lower theirs, so he ends up going so low hes actually LOSING money and woolworths are still making a profit.

So the changes that that person who got fired getting his job back is practically ZERO, as woolies dont really believe in anything the public does, and its just TAKE TAKE TAKE, one small slippup and its goodbye mate your fired.

If any of you are interested in the article in question, its here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=322049

This post has been edited by A200: Nov 15 2007, 11:34 AM

it's the system and it's life. you said it bud! i'm from the u.s. and i believe in all those things you talked about. character based on morals, values, and principles. unfortunately in this world, sometimes you have to choose between those things and the set of laws we live under. i always choose character and has gotten me in trouble too many times to mention. i believe in helping people and in todays society, the more you help, the more apt you are in getting screwed over. it's not easy but i'm strong enough to continue living my philosophy in life til the day i die.

now as far as this manager. no. he shouldn't have gotten fired unless it was a continuous ordeal with him drinking while on the job where customer service is #1 and where is is in a position to lead by example. he should have been let go for a week without pay to think about it. that should have been enough punishment depending on his past job performance.....and that little weasle who rated these two people out needs to be set straight....i hate narks and people who rat others out. if people aren't hurting others and you still disagree, just turn away and mind your friggin' business!

The basic fact was that he broke the rules and he got punished for it. I do think that the punishment was very very big for the 'crime' he commited. I think a quiet word would have been sufficient.

I agree with all that you said about companies putting small buisnesses out of buisness. There used to be a nice newsagents near to me, and they did quite well, even though there's a somerfield over the road. Unfortuantly, one day somerfield decided to start selling newspapers. About 70% of the money made by the newsagents was in papers. A few weeks later the shop shut down.

So sad.

Same happened near me. Although the big brand chain store bought out the corner shop...

He was a loyal worker for 18 years, and had been with Woolworths since 1988, from the article I believe he has been a good worker and one small slippup (i hate to call it a "slippup" as he didnt "accidentally" take the beer, he deliberately took it. Anyway, whats a good hamburger and steak without beer?

As for the person who dobbed him in, I agree with you. I think he shouldve been punished for being unAustralian and being a spoil sport.



Yep big companies get to stuff up local business as much as they want. But there are cases where the community has lashed back, I think it was in Nambour or somewhere they demolished part of a forest or wetland reserve for woolworths to build a massive (i mean massive!) shopping centre, but noone ever shops there ha!

Yeah it was pretty big getting fired just for having a few drinks!!!