Whole Foods: Shoplifters Are Customers Too. Leave Them Alone.

Notice I didn’t use quotes in that title. Whole Foods didn’t literally say that, but they essentially said that when they fired an employee who stopped a shoplifter in Ann Arbor.

MLive.com:

John Schultz says he lost his job at Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor after he tried to stop a shoplifter from making a getaway. But the company says he went too far and violated a policy that prohibits employees from physically touching a customer – even if that person is carrying a bag of stolen goods.

There are several factors that need to be considered for this man’s future lawsuit against Whole Foods. Let’s examine the first one here in this paragraph. He was fired for “physically touching a customer.” Since when are shoplifters customers? A customer is someone who pays for a good or service. You don’t pay … you aren’t a customer.

Schultz says he had just punched out for a break at 7 p.m. on Sunday when he heard a commotion at the front door of the store.

Point two is that he had clocked out. In other words … he was not on company time. If he doesn’t get paid for that time … he isn’t on the job. Things get sketchy when you fire someone who wasn’t on the job.

He said he came to the aid of the manager who yelled for help in stopping a shoplifter. Schultz, the manager and another employee cornered the shoplifter between two cars in the parking lot.

The third point is that he was assisting the manager (his boss) after being requested to do so. What’s the point in chasing someone down, and asking others to help you chase them down if you won’t do anything when you catch up to the crook? Now his manager becomes liable for his actions because he requested assistance.

The final point is that this did not happen on Whole Foods property. How can you fire an employee for stopping a shoplifter, while not on the clock, and not on company property?

With this logic, an employee could be fired for stopping a bank robber after work because the bank robber was in Whole Foods earlier that day. I smell a windfall in this man’s future.

Schultz said he told the shoplifter he was making a citizens arrest and to wait for the police to arrive, but the shoplifter broke away from the group and ran across Washtenaw Avenue and toward a gas station at the corner of Huron Parkway.

Before the man could cross Huron Parkway, Schultz caught up and grabbed the man’s jacket and put his leg behind the man’s legs. When the manager arrived at the intersection, Schultz said, the manager told him to release the shoplifter, and he complied, and the shoplifter got away.

Schultz said he was called to the store’s office the next day, on Christmas Eve, and was fired because he violated a company policy prohibiting employees from having any physical contact with a customer.

Again, he didn’t touch a customer at all.

So what was Whole Foods’ response to the firing?

Kate Klotz, a company spokesperson, said the policy is clear and listed in a booklet that all employees have to acknowledge that they received before they can start work.

“The fact that he touched him, period, is means for termination,” said Klotz.

Schultz said he acted as a private citizen on property that isn’t owned by Whole Foods, but Klotz said where the incident happened doesn’t change the policy.

“He is still considered an employee of Whole Foods Market regardless of where he was and what was happening,” she said.

I would love to see the company policy that this man signed when he was hired 5 years ago. Does it really say that shoplifters are customers? I doubt it.

If merely touching the shoplifter was grounds for termination then why even chase him out of the store? Keep in mind that the store’s manager gave chase, and asked for assistence which this man provided while on his own time.

As for the Whole Foods rep saying that he is considered a Whole Foods employee “regardless of where he was and what was happening” is ludicrous, and the worst kind of stupid. I refer you to my argument above about him preventing a bank robber from getting away because he was in Whole Foods earlier that day.

Schultz is right on by saying he acted as a private citizen on his own time while not on company property. He is given the right to make a citizen’s arrest by the Constitution. Whole Foods has no authority to remove Schultz’s constitutional protections.

What would you expect from a store run by a bunch of hippies. Physical violence won’t be tolerated … even in self defense of the store’s bottom line.

Peace, Love and Masturbation!

Think You Know Which Candidate Best Represents Your Views? Take This Quick Quiz To Find Out Who You Should Support In 2008.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I love getting people to sit down and take typology tests to find out what their “true” political affiliation is. Most liberals are more conservative than they thought, and the same goes for conservatives. They just need an objective method sorting through the issues.

I ran across this little quiz (2 minutes tops) that will compare your beliefs with the entire 2008 presidential field. You may think you are supporting the candidate that best represents your views, but you might be wrong. I was slightly off in my thinking. I have had Fred Thompson as my number one guy for a while now followed closely by Duncan Hunter. Well, according to the quiz I had that backwards … who knew.

Here’s my full results.

1. Hunter 68%
2. Thompson 63%
3. Romney 58%
4. Huckabee 55%
5. Giuliani 53%
6. McCain 45%
7. Paul 40%
8. Richardson 23%
9. Edwards 15%
10. Obama 15%
11. Biden 13%
12. Clinton 13%
13. Gravel 13%
14. Dodd 8%
15. Kucinich 5%

Take the quiz yourself and post your results in the comments, and let us know if you were surprised by the results.

Why Do Unions Hate The Handicapped?

Once again I am forced to burden you with the knowledge that unions will use the helplessness of others to advance their causes. This time it isn’t teachers refusing to give final exams to high school students, who need them for college applications, in order to increase their pay. I’m afraid this is far more distasteful, and the victims are those who most need our assistance … those with disabilities.

NY Times:

A 10-day strike that inconvenienced about 9,000 wheelchair users and other people with disabilities who depend on Access-a-Ride, a government-financed van service, ended on Wednesday when members of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union voted to ratify a contract settlement.

About 1,500 drivers and mechanics began their strike on Dec. 10, shutting down operations at Atlantic Paratrans, Maggie’s Paratransit, MV Transportation and Transit Facility Management. The companies operate about half of the approximately 20,500 rides provided on an average weekday under the paratransit program, which runs door-to-door van service for eligible residents.

There is nothing like using the handicapped as pawns in your contract negociations … well played, scumbags.

Yet Another Example Of A Hate Crime Being Called "Not A Hate Crime"

I know it is getting pretty old hearing about these events, but it is necessary for you to understand that there a very clear double standard in regards to hate crimes. Apparently, whites and Jews can not be the victims of hate crimes.

Haaretz:

The Zionist Organization of America condemned the U.S. government’s Office for Civil Rights on Wednesday for failing to protect Jewish students it says have been subject to a series of anti-Semitic provocations on the campus of the University of California, Irvine.

The ZOA alleged that Muslim students on campus have given anti-Semitic speeches, distributed Judeophobic literature, and used intimidation tactics against Jewish students. The university’s failure to take disciplinary action constitutes discrimination against Jewish students, the ZOA charges.

The Office of Civil Rights, which operates under the auspices of the Department of Education, said in a report released last week that some Muslim student activities were offensive to Jewish students.

But the report concludes the speeches, marches and other activities were based on opposition to Israeli policies, not the national origin of Jewish students.

So what types of “other activities” were disregarded you ask.

“A Holocaust memorial was destroyed; that swastikas repeatedly defaced property on the campus; that a rock was thrown at a Jewish student; and that other Jewish students were harassed and verbally threatened with such statements as ‘slaughter the Jews,’ ‘dirty Jew,’ ‘go back to Russia,’ ‘burn in hell,’ and ‘f_ _king Jew,'”

Yeah, dirty Jew is only opposition to Israeli policies … RIIIGHT!

Note the school is UC Irvine, a school with a long history of radical Muslims who support murder. LGF has made a habit of documenting the extremists on UC Irvine’s campus … check it out here.

Viva La Revolution … Lieberman Endorses McCain

Complete shock and awesome! H/T (Hotair) …

Yep, The US Is Still Doing Better Than Kyoto Countries On Emissions

It’s been a year since you were last told that the US is doing better at reducing emissions than the Kyoto nations. Now it seems that some nations to have signed Kyoto are increasing their emissions by 80%.

Aftenposten:

Just as Norwegian delegates to the UN’s conference on climate change started heading home from Bali, came news that Norway’s own carbon emissions rose 80 percent from 1990 to 2004. Statoil’s refinery at Mongstad is the biggest contributor.

So how exactly do they plan to fix this problem? Well, they don’t. Instead they are invoking the Ultimate Scam, and using carbon credits.

Erik Solheim, the government minister in charge of environmental issues who was in Bali last week, admits that Norway’s own high level of emissions is “embarrassing.” That’s why the government plans to donate NOK 15 billion (nearly USD 3 billion) over the next five years to help preserve the world’s rain forests. That’s viewed as an efficient way of offsetting carbon emissions.

I hate to be a scrooge so close to the holidays, but only the worst of dimwits view carbon credits as an efficient way of offsetting emissions. Let’s not forget that Guyana slammed Kyoto’s carbon credit scheme, and Kyoto’s carbon credit program has also been causing deforestation.

Basically, Kyoto along with all of the signatory nations are FUBAR. Meanwhile, the US continues to grow its economy, reduce its emissions, and all without sacrificing any freedoms to a foreign body while throwing away billions of dollars. God bless capitalism!

Republicans Are Able Stop Ban On Waterboarding

YEESSS! KEEP HOPE ALIVE!

"Hispanics Worry About Deportation." Talk About A Misleading Headline.

This has got to be one of the most misleading articles I’ve read in months. It comes to us courtesy of the Houston Chronicle.

More than half of Hispanic adults in the U.S. worry they or someone close to them could face deportation, reflecting a growing anxiety over expanded enforcement efforts, according to a new nationwide survey by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said the debate over immigration reform and Congress’ failure to pass legislation have made life more difficult for Hispanics.

Let’s be clear … hispanic adults aren’t afraid of deportation, illegal aliens are. Obviously most illegals are hispanics, but this is just another attempt to “humanize” illegal aliens. In other words, they want to earn your sympathy by removing “illegal” from their official title.

With Al Qaeda In Iraq All But Completely Defeated … We Are Learning The Fate Of Their Rivals

We all know AQI is getting their asses handed to them by the coalition, but we are now making some grim discoveries as a result of AQI fleeing their former territory.

AP:

More than 150 bodies have been unearthed in recent months from mass graves around Lake Tharthar. It is seen as the grisly legacy of al-Qaida control of Iraq’s western deserts before the group was ousted early this year in an uprising by local tribes.

Each mass grave uncovered around Tharthar and elsewhere in Iraq — so far at least 12 burial sites — appears to offer more evidence of the fate of Iraqis who challenged al-Qaida and its backers.

The graves help explain the decision by Sunni tribal leaders to fight back. Of the 23 sets of remains in one grave, authorities were able to identify only Awad and two others. That is typical in Iraq, where officials usually lack such forensics aids as DNA and dental records.

An estimated 375,000 Iraqis have vanished as a result of checkpoint kidnappings and other violence by Sunni and Shiite extremists.

Isn’t it about time we finally admit who the real bad guys are?

Tom Cruise Weeps As Germany Says No To Scientology

Scientology is a major no-no in Germany. In fact, it’s been ruled unconstitutional!

BBC:

Germany’s federal and state interior ministers have declared the Church of Scientology unconstitutional, clearing the way for a possible ban.

The ministers have asked Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to examine whether the Church’s legal status as an association could be challenged.

Scientology is not recognized as a religion in Germany.

A Church of Scientology statement said the ministers were “completely out of step with the rest of the world”.

The attempted ban is “a blatant attempt at justifying the on-going and never-ending discrimination against the Church of Scientology and its members in Germany,” said the Church in a statement.

Bummer Tom.