Store Greeter Puts Out Car Fire , Gets Fired

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Originally Posted By: Nick R
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
A 71 year old greeter here was choked by a pregnant lady and her mom:

http://www.morningjournal.com/general-ne...al-mart-greeter


Oh god I've been to that walmart. Jesus. That's insane, and they were released! Should have kept them in Jail. At least the mother.


Funny how they think calling us a cracker is an insult,when in reality it's a compliment.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Our welfare system means this hero greeter would have to rely on Meijer's worker's comp insurance if he got injured fighting this fire. Meijer would then (directly or indirectly) shoulder the cost, not the car owner, his insurance, or the government.


and if he made a mistake in putting out the fire (i.e. grabbing a bucket that looks like water and throw onto the fire but it turns out to be a fuel of some type) he would have been made a lawsuit target.
 
This is not a US only phenomenon; it is way worse in China.

In the last 10 years people have stopped helping old people who got hit by vehicles, fall down in the middle of the street, or children that got ran over by buses, all because if you are the last person touching them you get sued, regardless of whether you have wealth or insurance to pay for the amount the others are suing for.

At least in the US we have a real system that lawyers will throw out lawsuits against bloodless individuals, and corps have insurance for these.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
This is not a US only phenomenon; it is way worse in China.

In the last 10 years people have stopped helping old people who got hit by vehicles, fall down in the middle of the street, or children that got ran over by buses, all because if you are the last person touching them you get sued, regardless of whether you have wealth or insurance to pay for the amount the others are suing for.

At least in the US we have a real system that lawyers will throw out lawsuits against bloodless individuals, and corps have insurance for these.

We have a "good samaritan" law here. If you are trying to help someone then you can't be sued for it. Quebec even has a law requiring you to help someone in distress, if you can without serious risk.
Now a burning car is not a person, but still, common human decency says that if you know where an extinguisher is, go get it and use it... You might win a customer for life for no real risk.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
This is not a US only phenomenon; it is way worse in China.

In the last 10 years people have stopped helping old people who got hit by vehicles, fall down in the middle of the street, or children that got ran over by buses, all because if you are the last person touching them you get sued, regardless of whether you have wealth or insurance to pay for the amount the others are suing for.

At least in the US we have a real system that lawyers will throw out lawsuits against bloodless individuals, and corps have insurance for these.

We have a "good samaritan" law here. If you are trying to help someone then you can't be sued for it. Quebec even has a law requiring you to help someone in distress, if you can without serious risk.
Now a burning car is not a person, but still, common human decency says that if you know where an extinguisher is, go get it and use it... You might win a customer for life for no real risk.


That's criminal law, but if you made a mistake and end up changing a small fire into a huge one, or burn the car next to it, it is hard to say. The way it works in US is if you have big pocket and you do anything, you are a target to be sued.
 
I can't argue against the legal aspects already established, except to say that it's sad to see corporate entities taking such measures. If I headed up that company, I'd congratulate that man, and if he was injured, I'd take care of him. I feel that's the way it should be, but alas, it's gone so far away from that.


Originally Posted By: PandaBear

and if he made a mistake in putting out the fire (i.e. grabbing a bucket that looks like water and throw onto the fire but it turns out to be a fuel of some type) he would have been made a lawsuit target.


Really? Accidentally grab a BUCKET of flammable liquid? I've seen some crazy worry warts, but this takes the cake. You sir would make a fine addition to any corporate legal team. Because who knows where people store their flammable liquids... Especially in department stores. The man used a fire extinguisher. Why should this even be considered for the "What if's" category?
 
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: demarpaint


Another option would be to clock out, and help on your own time. lol


I would do just that, too.


Sadly that is one of a few messages they're sending. Too bad there isn't one of their stores near me, I'd stop doing business with them.
 
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Originally Posted By: PandaBear

and if he made a mistake in putting out the fire (i.e. grabbing a bucket that looks like water and throw onto the fire but it turns out to be a fuel of some type) he would have been made a lawsuit target.


Really? Accidentally grab a BUCKET of flammable liquid? I've seen some crazy worry warts, but this takes the cake. You sir would make a fine addition to any corporate legal team. Because who knows where people store their flammable liquids... Especially in department stores. The man used a fire extinguisher. Why should this even be considered for the "What if's" category?


Yeah, I had to take a double look at that myself. What a ridiculous concept. Who the heck stores buckets of flammable liquid in a department store where someone may grab them thinking it is water to put a fire out? OY!
33.gif


I mean come on this isn't a 3 Stooges movie. The guy grabbed a fire extinguisher like any normal person would do( even a dumb one ). Oh, we can't have an employee trying to help put a fire out because he/she might grab a 5 gallon bucket of keresone to throw on the fire.

Jesus what has this site come to.
crackmeup2.gif
 
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I could see saving a burning car with baby in it or passed out person.

I personally would not bother with this watching a smoking car in our work parking lot turning into an inferno after the owner opening the hood.

Fired for this lame. Scolded and written up for not following work policy, for sure. If you don't like policy work elsewhere.
 
Wonder what the unions position is on that since Meijer is unionized? It would appear that they will drop virtually anything that will cost them money or bad publicity. They dropped their "Pain Compliance" program after it cost them 13M$.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
I could see saving a burning car with baby in it or passed out person.

I personally would not bother with this watching a smoking car in our work parking lot turning into an inferno after the owner opening the hood.

Makes sense.

I can totally imagine this scenario playing out differently if the employee had actually saved a life.
 
Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Definitely will make me think twice before the next trip to Meijer.


+1

Don't think that this is something exclusive to Meijer. Every major corp has similar policies, and would probably do the same.
 
To me, it seems that having the store safety policy in place should be all the protection that the business needs. IF the employee chooses to ignore the policy, then that is his choice and it "should" let the business off the hook.

Since nothing bad happened here, the business should just reprimand him. But, I suppose this would set a precedence also.

What a catch 22 situation we have. I stopped to help a person in a turned over car a few months ago, all the time thinking "what should I do if the car catches fire......what shouldn't I do to make myself liable for anything".

I will always choose what is "right" for now, in spite of having dealt with the judicial three ring circus once in my life.
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
What a catch 22 situation we have. I stopped to help a person in a turned over car a few months ago, all the time thinking "what should I do if the car catches fire......what shouldn't I do to make myself liable for anything".

I will always choose what is "right" for now, in spite of having dealt with the judicial three ring circus once in my life.

The difference is you're not a multi-billion corporation. You're protected by good Samaritan laws, but the big business has only it's polices to protect it.
 
I and another poster mentioned that we both would clock out and do the good deed on our own time. Does anyone know what a company's typical reaction would be to this way of handling the situation?
 
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
I and another poster mentioned that we both would clock out and do the good deed on our own time. Does anyone know what a company's typical reaction would be to this way of handling the situation?


That was me. They'd probably fire us for not asking for permission to clock out, unless by some Miracle the event went down when it was time for us to clock out. It's a sad world we live in.
 
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