@zacox: ALLEGEDLY robbed. Isn't he innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?

A few times I've seen someone shoplift from us, then ask for an application right after. On one of these occasions, I was able to get the two women to stay and fill it out in store, which gave our loss prevention plenty of time to get police to the store. And we now had all their information willingly given to us. It's crazy how stupid some people can be, or how smart they think they are.

Yes, the applications get thrown away. Good luck ever getting a retail job with shoplifting on your record.

I would have to be hard up to go back to retail though. Too much stress, which is considerable because I am working on my MBA right now while working full time and I think retail just beat me up more physically and mentally.

I am having the SAME exact problem. I can offer full-time work, but it's nights and weekends. I explain with more management, I can give Friday or Saturday nights off to each manager, but it's required you work holidays - and nobody wants to work Christmas or New Years Eve. If you need a job that badly, you need to compromise on some things if you're offered a job - like working nights and holidays.

I have people applying for a retail job at a store that's open 365 days a year, open until 9-11pm, and they can ONLY work 9-5 Monday thru Friday and NO holidays. Do you even know what kind of a job you're applying to?

I'd LOVE to work those hours, but if I'm here weekends, so are you. I'll be working Christmas. And I'll be working NYE. Do I wish I had another job? Yes. But as they say -

the best time to look for another job is when you have one.

Current EEOC law (check your mandatory break-room posters, people) says that "Applicants to and employees of private employers....are protected under Federal law from discrimination...."

They didn't say anything about lay people who want to apply, though as mentioned above, discrimination is still possible.

HOWEVER, all that being said, CRIMINAL RECORD is one area in which employers are free to discriminate at will. Since this guy just robbed the business to where he'd be applying, one would presume the business would have ample legal ground to decline the application.

Every HR person I've ever worked with in retail will confirm that if it's not a bona fide law, it's at least common-law or widely enough practiced that for all intents and purposes it is a law to make applications available to anyone who asks for them.

This keeps employers from discriminating by telling applicants they're not hiring when in fact they may be. It doesn't stop them from tearing up the application as soon as the applicant leaves, but it keeps the lawsuits down.

Plus, especially in retail, businesses ARE always hiring, at least they should be. There are tons of people looking for jobs and some are more qualified than others, even moreso than current employees. Since, according to [employeeissues.com] , all states to some degree or another are at-will states, meaning employees can quit or be fired with little or no notice and for little or no reason (getting fired usually takes some doing, but you can quit whenever you want). There is always turnover, even when the store is full and there's no extra payroll hours to spare, people quit or move on or up all the time.

Wait, on second thought that actually may be a good idea!

@sonneillon: I haven't even gotten to drug tests. our company has developed a 100 or so question test that attempts to weed out bad applicants. Ironic part is one of the store managers sisters failed said test once. If you fail the test you are ineligible for hire for up to a year.

@h3llc4t, breaker of office dress codes: I hope so too, interviewing today YAY!

Hate to blame the victim here...but doesn't arbitrarily saying "no" to a request by a guy with a gun seem equally stupid?

I live next to a guy back in '93 who was just as stupid. I'll never forget his name either; Jamie. Actually he was a really nice guy and seemed smart. He weighed about 90 lbs, black, but looked like a musician and grew up in the South. We used to listen to blues and jazz when I got home late at night from my band gigs. Just hang on his porch and listen to music because he lived next to me. Well he worked at a Bob Evan's restaurant and he would cash his checked at a bank near where we lived. One day he decided that he wanted to rob that very same bank so he took a sawed-off shotgun and walked in. he called me one day from prison and I asked him what the fuck he did something so stupid. And he replied, "man, it was my gf's birthday and I wanted to buy her a car". No kidding, true story. Honestly you would never think that this guy would ever do something like this.

Are we sure that this did not happen in Detroit?

"Not yet."

The man then walked into the manager's office, which is located at the back of the store...The manager didn't see the attempted holdup. The suspect did not point the gun at the manager, said Lt. Peter Murphy.

The manager didn't see the attempted holdup. The suspect did not point the gun at the manager, said Lt. Peter Murphy.

But then I have to ask: If the manager knew the guy just tried the rob the place why are they telling someone with a gun 'No'?

Next time I'll just have to take my dad's .44 with me. THEN somebody'll hire me!

@VioletPheonix: I'm crazy as well then because I was thinking the same thing. In fact I assumed that was going to be the story when I read the title.

Ooo but what if he ended up getting hired because no one realized it was the same guy? They couldn't get an accurate description from any of the witnesses.

Wait, isn't this the way everyone is applying for a gig now?

THAT'S why I can't get a job.

@tbax929 is rooting for a Phillies repeat: A lot of places will go ahead and take an application and keep it on file for a while. Then if someone quits or gets fired, they can just go through the pool of applications on file to see if any of the qualified people still need jobs.

@tbax929 is rooting for a Phillies repeat: Yea I think that's more of a corporate or store by store policy vs. a statewide policy

Probably not the first time this idiot was in Taco Bell ~ further proof that junk food rots your brain.

@bonzombiekitty:
I don't think so. Why would you give someone an application if you're not hiring?

@diasdiem:

Positions Held:

Spork Bandit
Soda Jerk
Ham-Burglar

It's only when a person becomes an applicant that the employer has to treat the applicant with non-discriminatory practices. And a person doesn't become an applicant until filling out an approved application.

My boss and I posted a job on our website a little over a week ago. We have gotten 155 job applicants for a low level retail job paying maybe 10/hr.

Unfortunately only 50 passed our test and out of those 50 only less than a handful are willing to work for what we want to pay and hours we have.

it's quite sad.

I wanna know what this guy's thought process was. "I'll try to rob them but if I don't get anything I'll try honest work. Obviously a Taco Bell with no money in the drawer after the lunch rush is going to be hiring, right? Right?"

This one's easy. He was simultaneously job searching and protesting South Carolina's strict open-carry laws.

Maybe he just wanted to leave his references so they would know he really meant business...

"I can't have police draw a picture of him, because I can't remember what he looks like," Tom said sketchily.

This reminds me of that sketch in The Onion Movie where an armed gunman holds a bank up in order to get a job.