'You told me to leave, remember': Worker sent to help at another store, told they're trespassing and turned away, receives an angry call later on

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 25, 2023 6:00 PM EDT

Being accused of doing something nefarious when you've turned up to help out really isn't an ideal situation, especially when that person won't let you get a word in edgewise to clarify the situation. That's why it's hard to fault this worker for up and turning around at the first chance.

This supermarket worker used to work for a large supermarket chain and would occasionally head off to other locations to help them with staffing issues when they were asked. But, one day, they were asked to work a very early shift at another store where they had never worked before, and that was far from their normal place of work. They agreed. But when they arrived at the store, they were accused of trespassing and turned away by the angry manager on site. They obliged the manager's unkind demand that they leave and later received a phone call from the same manager asking why they never returned to help.

See their story and the responses from the thread below. 

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    Shelf - HET CRILHOS SUCRILHOS RAHOS SNOW SNOW S JORILHOS SUCKILNOS SUONOS SUCKIENOS SUCKENOS CHCRUNCH 13 Elege O Premi
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    Font - Posted by u/One-Cardiologist-462 Oh, I'm on private property? M OC My first time posting here. I used to work for a supermarket chain, and quite often I'd be asked by management to work at other locations. Most of the time, this wasn't a big deal. I was happy to help out - It gave me an excuse to drive and have the petrol paid for.
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    Font - However, one day I was asked to work at a location very far away at a very early hour of the morning. I initially refused on the grounds that I would have to wake up at around 2am in order to have a shower, breakfast, and drive to be on site for 5am. After some arm bending from management I finally relented and begrugingly agreed I would do it.
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  • 04
    Font - Due to the drive not taking nearly as long as I initially expected, I arrived on location at about 4.30am. I waited in my car with the music playing. At 4:50am I get a loud knock on the car window, nearly making me jump out of my skin. It was the manager for that store, who, never seeing me before, did not know who I was. The conversation went as follows:
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    Font - Manager: "You need to leave. This is private property." Me: "Oh, bu-" Manager: (interrupting) "-I don't care. Go. Now." Me: (quickly realizing I can play this to my advantage)"... Oh, I'm sorry, Sir. I don't want any problems. Of course, I'll go, right away. Sorry."
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    Font - And as per his request, I drove home with a smile on my face, knowing that I have the rest of the day free to myself. A few hours later I get a phone call. I answer the unrecognized number, and I recognize the voice immidiately - It was the manager who told me to leave.
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    Font - Manager: "Hello. I'm looking for [myname]." Me: "Hi, yeah, that's me." Manager: "This is [managername] calling from [location], I was expecting you to work with me today, you should have been here for 5am." Me: (trying to sound casual) "Yeah, I was there waiting in my car, you told me to leave, remember?" Manager: "...But you didn't say th-" Me: (interrupting) "-There are no ifs or buts. I was on private property and was asked to leave. I was legally obliged to do so." Manager: "Right. Bu
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    Font - It was at this point he hung up on me. I expected to get in trouble for what had happened, but I never heard anything more about it. This was a few years back now too. It's one of my favorite stories to tell. I hope you enjoyed it.
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    Font - Odd_Marionberry5856 16 hr. ago What real fallout could you deal with? I can see it now: Mgr: OP didn't come in for their scheduled shift at 5 AM OP: I was told I was trespassing on private and needed to leave, so I did. If Mgr was too dense not to start the conversation with something so ridiculous as can I help you? Then they get what they deserve. Vote Reply Share AgreeablePie 15 hr. ago In the US, at least, most states and employment is "at will." So while you must be paid for time you
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    Font - Iam-Nothere. 16 hr. ago Heh, I like that you added insult to injury by interrupting him like he did to you :D Nice one! Vote ↓ Reply Share One-Cardiologist-462 OP · 16 hr. ago Yeah. It was very satisfying. I'm not usually a confrontational person, so I probably sounded all shaky and nervous instead of anything clever though :D Vote Reply Share
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    Font - cero1399 16 hr. ago So you expect someone you don't know at 5am and see someone at 4:50 and threaten the police? Manager is very smart, big brain. Reply Share Vote Some-Geologist-5120 15 hr. ago . "But you didn't allow me to say anything - I couldn't get a word in edgewise." Vote Reply Share
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    Font - 3lm1Ster 14 hr. ago I had a similar situation. I was asked to cover the closing manager at a different location. I assume the reason for the confusion was that the store I was going to was staffed by individuals of a different race than I am. When I walked in, in work clothes, I was told, "we dont need your help," so I walked out, drove down the street, and called my boss. I told her what they said. She told me to enjoy the night off and called the store to tell the opening manager that s
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    Font - Rshann_421.15 hr. ago For my work as a mobile IT tech we sometimes get "refused access to site". They are then billed for the visit. I'm only to happy to not fix their problem and have them pay for it. We have had customers call police on our techs as well. Vote Reply Share Vote ... One-Cardiologist-462 OP · 15 hr. ago I love this. I can only imagine the sh*t- eating-grin as you calmly respond with something like "Ahh okay. As a responsible organisation, we respect your security protocols
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    Font - S2Charlie 16 hr. ago Did you get paid for the whole day? ✩ Vote Reply Share One-Cardiologist-462 OP · 16 hr. ago No. I wasn't paid for the shift. But it was supposed to be a day off anyway. I was still paid for petrol, though. Vote Reply Share
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    Font - JimmyRecard. 4 hr. ago I had something similar. I was a relatively new IT guy working for a supermarket chain. Most of our stores were close by in a cluster, but one was nearly 3 hours drive away. Each store had a small server rack that pulled retail and price data and also there was WiFi setup for the price guns and so POS systems can process card payments.
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    Font - I was on call on a Sunday (24/7 operation) and the system pinged me saying that the distant site is offline and the failover 4G didn't kick in. So, I jump in my car and drive 3 hours till I get there. I walk up to one of cashiers and ask them to point me to a manager on duty and they point out this guy. I walk up to him: Me: Hi, my name NAME and in from the IT department. Could you please open the IT room for me to have a look at the server?
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    Font - Them: What? Hell no, I'm not letting some random on there. I'm gonna need to see some ID. Me: Sure, here's my driver's license. Them: No, work ID. Me: We don't have those. But look, I'm wearing the company uniform, and if you call the IT's number, it will route to this phone I got here. Them: You could have gotten that uniform from any clothes line. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave.
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  • 18
    Font - Me: But your IT system is down and you can't take card payments... Them: [Reaching for his phone] Don't make this difficult, I will call the police for trespassing. Me: Ooookay, thanks for you time. I jumped back in my car, texted my boss' work phone (which was off at the time, but still, to cover myself), wrote my notes into the support ticket and assigned the ticket to my boss. Next day on Monday I come in, and first thing they pull me into a meeting, with my boss, head of IT, the compa
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    Font - The dude got his first and final warning prior to termination. I got paid 6 hours at 2.5x rate for driving there and back and listening to an audiobook. I do agree they should have given us IDs but the guy had instructions that if he had reason to doubt our identity he should have called the 24/7 IT phone number and verify (which was routed to my phone, and would have rang in front of him). Vote Reply Share
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workplace discussion workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance work workplace employment in the workplace
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