Tag, you're out!

Recently ABC has started airing episodes of a summer reality series focusing on what real people will do when confronted with illegal or immoral behavior in all sorts of circumstances. Shortly after this series returned to the air, I spotted an article in my local paper that fit right in...and gave me pause.

An employee in a retail store spotted someone leaving the business with a computer without paying. She stepped in, stopped the theft, and apparently got slugged for her efforts. But that's not the worst of it. She was fired!

I'm dying to know the intended moral of this story. Step up, protect your employer and his property and lose your job over it? That's a fine lesson to convey to anyone.

I'm sure there are a lot of very legitimate regulations in place that only certain employees should stop a suspect fleeing in a shoplifting incident. Employee safety might very well be tops among them. But the bottom line is that this employee went above and beyond in her attempt to do the right thing, and for that she lost her livelihood and her ability to support her child. That seems flat-out wrong to me.

Now perhaps there are other factors at work here. Perhaps she made a habit of doing wild and dangerous things. Perhaps she was considered a bit of a rogue. The article didn't suggest that, though. She'd just violated a store rule.

I'll accept that rules are in place for reasons. I'll even accept that she may have violated one of the store's most important tenets. But fired? Come on. What she did may have indicated a lack of judgment and a risk for personal safety, but she also demonstrated extreme loyalty to her employer and for that she was soundly punished. What's wrong with a reprimand? Perhaps even a suspension, though, frankly I think even that's too harsh.

I hope by now saner minds have prevailed and this single mom is back on the job. Heaven knows, if I had a business, I'd want someone like this working for me. How about you?