This is my story. In April of 08 I started out as a 3rd key on Galion Ohio. I was quickly promoted to Assistant Manager, due to my work ethic and willingness to break my back to get the job done. Later in that year I transferred to Mansfield store #4638, a store that did a third of the volume that I was used to working in, as Assistant Manager there. My fiancé (who became so after I was transferred) was still the manager at 10401, performing at the top or #2 of our district. In April 09 his store, which was first to be Model Store Certified, was chosen to become a perfect store, so for 12 days he worked 10-12 hour days, sometimes over night, hand in hand with the team from Corporate to get the remodel done. The day that it was completed we had a district managers meeting in my current store (4638). My fiancé comes out and says that he has been suspended along with another manager because they couldn’t find a paper trail from the literacy deposits in either store. No money was missing, just no paper trail. Now if you work for this corporation, you are familiar with how much pressure we have put on us to collect literacy, but it just goes in our store deposits, so he had no doubt that they would find out whatever the problem was, fix it, and reinstate him. WRONG. One week later the DM called him and the other manager into another store and fired them for “Misappropriation of Company Funds”. 1st, literacy is NOT a company fund, and 2nd, no lawyer could help them because as managers they were “at will” employees.
Meanwhile, I am still employed at Dollar General in my same position. I assumed that I would be next because by that time my fiancé and I were married, and I assumed that in the companies eyes, my still being there would be a conflict of interest. I inquired a few times but my DM assured me that he had no doubt that I would be a star in this company, and that he had such big plans for me, and that he wanted me in my own store as soon as possible. One week before I was moved to my own store in Ashland #6729, I caught an employee who admitted to stealing at least $1750 from our store alone (she had transferred in from 2 other stores in our district). I then was promoted to Store Manager of store #6729 on May 22, 09. When I got there the store had been without a manager for about 2 ½ months, so it was 8 plan-o-grams behind, and just a mess. The Assistant Manager who has been there 5 years still cannot do a MAAP, and both the Asst. and Lead forced balanced their tills at the end of the night, just sticking any extra monies in an office drawer. Then if they were ever over that’s what they could pull from. The Asst. informed me that it just got to the point that when things were short, there was never any money in the little “till”. I tried to put a stop to this because I knew the extra money was going in someone’s pocket, but up to the day that I left for Managers School in Columbus OH, she was still bringing me her till to count with the forced slip on top. The day before I left for school I had made it clear that policies and procedures would be followed, or I would start the counseling process. My third key turned in her keys and walked off of her shift that day.
I started school on 6/15/09 after calling my DM (JIM HIKE), and making him aware of what had happened, and also alerting him that on my weekly statement it showed me short $500+ on a day two weeks prior, and that I was concerned because I had no record of this. It was also a day when my main printer was down, and that my credit/EBT machine was replaced on that side. His response was for me to take the statements to the school and maybe the instructor could explain it. In the meantime I had figured out that it was just that my EBT and credit card deposit had not hit that day. When I called to inform Jim of this for 2 days straight, he would not answer or return my calls.
Yesterday 6/19/09, at the end of my day of class, I was called out and told that I had a visitor. It was Jim Hike and the area Loss Prevention guy, Terry Serb. I was told that before I came to my store, there were NEVER, any transaction voids, and that he had gotten a report yesterday on me that I had done several 8-9, in the last several weeks. I told them that I had not done anything fraudulent because I have the logs from other keys having had to do them as well. Of course I couldn’t remember the details on each receipt, so Terry proceeds to tell me they already know everything except the why. He wanted me to admit to stealing whatever the amount came too, and then just be done with me. Now this store has no camera system, which I have begged for, so there is no way for me, or for that matter, them, to prove or disprove any wrong doing. I wrote a statement for them saying that I would willfully participate in any investigation, and that I felt that I was being discriminated against because I am the wife of a terminated previous manager.
This company has so many fishy practices, and they hide behind the “AT WILL” statement that we all sign at the beginning of our employee handbooks. My husband lost a $3000 bonus and 40 hours vacation. The other manager lost the same. When Terry was done reading my statement (I don’t believe that he knew that I was married to a former employee) he then said that he thought he would have to suspend me.
I have been nothing but faithful to this company, even after all that has happened. I would state under oath that I had nothing to do with any false anything. I find it strange that Dollar General employees a District Manager, who owns a bar that is stocked with Dollar General property, who patronizes and lives with known addicts, and the head is turned the other way. The company car sits in the front of that bar EVERY night.
I want my position back, I want my vacation back, I want my STARS reward (for the arrest of an employee who stole enough to get arrested for a felony) and I want an apology. Any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected]. Any one involved with the company, I welcome your calls or correspondence.

Sincerely,

Jessica Baker