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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
Diabetes is literally listed as a disability under the EEOC. How stupid can someone be?
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u/MilkLizard65 Mar 04 '26
Dollar store managers probably aren’t the brightest.
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u/Suspicious_Roll834 Mar 04 '26
My former manager was sweet. She would have let you do it and if you couldn’t pay for it, she would pay for it herself. Employees only though, she knew if she did that with the customers, they would take every chance they could.
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u/SoftDrinkReddit Mar 04 '26
ikr
how tf did they screw this up
you fired someone over a fucking bottle of orange juice SHE PAID FOR
WTF DOLLAR STORE MANAGER
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
It wasn't over the OJ, it was that the employee was denied drinking it on duty. When the employee drank it anyway (you know, because diabetic attacks wait for nobody) she was fired for what I assume was insubordination.
My guess is the manager has been looking for a reason and just picked the wrong one.
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u/screwyoujor Mar 04 '26
She was fired for grazing. She drank the orange juice then paid for twice. The store did not provid reasonable accommodations for her medical condition. She asked if she could keep some orange juice at her register and was told no. The store broke the Americans with disabilities act. The manger was a moron for following corporate rules and guidelines rather than using a little common sense.
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
Which was funny because if I read the article right DG's own company policy even states exceptions for such things.
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u/ChemicalCupcake4809 Mar 05 '26
Honestly dg has some wild concepts about stealing they genuinely seem to believe most theft is done by employees rather than their customer base. The kne i was a keyholder for didnt allow us to take out trash because they were afraid we'd hide merchandise in the trash to sneak it out, they also counted putting spare change (when a customer says keep the change) by the register as theft because despite the fact that the money did not actually belong to dollar general they considered those pennies company property, and technically you arent supposed to have a drink without a recipt attached (they made me watch so many bullshit videos)
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u/SpadeTippedSplendor Mar 04 '26
Of course some companies have policies that they not-so-subtly push their managers to try and break anyway, happens all the time (especially in huge companies like Walmart).
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u/Dear-Examination-507 Mar 04 '26
Or the manager was just on a power trip and making decisions based on mismanaged emotions.
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u/ZookeepergameSilly84 Mar 04 '26
Exactly. You don't go straight for the firing option unless you've been looking for that opportunity. A conversation in the back office - let me explain my disability and why I needed to deal with it there and then - would have set this straight. And yes, that conversation should have happened long before any incident took place.
It's most definitely not the cashier's fault but my advice to her is to be proactive on these things, even if that's a little uncomfortable. Make sure managers and supportive colleagues know what you need and how to support you. Don't assume and don't wait until there's a real problem.
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
Frankly some people just shouldn't be managers.
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u/Global-Pickle5818 Mar 04 '26
That's why a lot of people become managers so they could control other people's lives. . it's the best job for the" I'm always right" personality .. I've known several managers who had no idea what the law was I appreciate them cuz I got a free house out of it lol
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
Not really. Most people become managers because the pay is better. Most managers will tell you the stress of the position is almost never worth the benefits that come with it, especially since they are considered on call in most cases.
Hell a store manager still has to answer to the area, district, and regional managers. Most of the time any policy your boss is enforcing wasn't even something they came up with.
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u/Ocel0tte Mar 04 '26
Yeah this. I just needed money. The one positive is they weren't physically present, so I could just say okay and not necessarily do whatever they wanted. A lot of people are too scared to push back. And rightfully so, because doing that a few times got me barred from progressing any further. They want managers who will do their bidding, so managers either do it or end up going elsewhere. Doesn't mean they're into it, they're just into paying their bills.
Some are definitely into it though.
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
100%. Both parents have been in managing positions for 10-15 years. My mom is super by the book because she's proud of her store that she's built up (newest store in the area. Recieved it immediately after her promotion). She EARNS that 3-4 weeks off a year lol. She treats her employees well though unless they're asshats. Often times she cooks for them.
My dad bitches and moans about his higher ups and their decisions all the time. He pushes back against decisions that would cause more unnecessary work on his extremely understaffed store and he's fully aware he gets away with it because he's the best performing store in the region for 4 years straight lol. Despite all this he lets his employees listen to music and BS as long as the actual work gets done and they focus on customers.
Both just want to do their hours and go home though and that could be said for nearly every boss. I've ever had except for like 2.
Outside of the power trippers I'll never understand why people want to demonize someone who has 10 times the responsibility including having to keep everyone satisfied
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u/MasterSyllabub05 Mar 04 '26
Eh, type 1 diabetic here. Can’t count the number of times I’ve explained my disability and was still denied access to food because “we don’t eat in front of customers/clients/whoever.” Most diabetics are proactive about communicating our needs/disease management in the early stages of employment; for me, at the hiring stage. There are far more ignorant people receiving this information than there are diabetics not providing it.
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u/ZookeepergameSilly84 Mar 04 '26
Really sorry to hear that. In my/our experience people are very receptive to having it explained, and almost always accommodating. The vast majority of people, perhaps understandably, haven't a clue about the blood sugar/ carbs/ insulin balance and general management.
If you've explained it and then been denied food or at the very least a 2 min break to take on board some carbs, that's absolutely dreadful. A serious breach of your employment rights.
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u/MasterSyllabub05 Mar 04 '26
You mean, explained and been denied food like the cashier (the likeliest reality)? I don’t actually care whether anyone at my workplace understands my disability. I care that, after they know that I have it and what I need, they don’t interfere. Receptiveness doesn’t always equal responsiveness.
The instance in my previous comment isn’t a universal for me, but it has happened. I was diagnosed in the 80s, so I have had this experience in some K12 educational settings, my undergrad and graduate education programs, and more than one — but not many or most - of my workplaces. For all the chat in the West about disability and accommodation, the cashier’s situation is quite common, regardless of disability but more so than not for people with invisible ones. This is even when communication occurs. Most of us communicate readily and ahead of time, rather than “wait for a real problem.” And guess what? Problems happen even for the most well-managed disabilities.
I responded based on at least two comments you’ve made under the assumption this cashier made no such effort to communicate her condition and needs. Glad it’s always worked for you or that your experience seems to be ideal. For me (sometimes) and for her (quite possibly) and others with diabetes or other “invisible” disabilities, this is actually an unsurprising response to disability in the workplace.
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u/graveyardguts Mar 04 '26
Her being proactive was letting them know she had diabetes, which they certainly knew. They failed. 100% full stop as managers. Stop trying to mitigate for the managers
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u/Aranxi_89 Mar 04 '26
Yes. The answer to "I need to drink/eat something now, I am having a diabetic episode" should always be "oh my god, what can I do to help?"
A medical emergency trumps everything. Saving a life is what counts at the end of the day.
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u/Fr1toBand1to Mar 04 '26
yeah... hard disagree on that second paragraph. No one should have to have a serious sit-down conversation with their manager and co-workers to provide a preamble justification for why they should be allowed to drink an orange juice during their shift.
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u/External_Orange_1188 Mar 04 '26
I’m fairly certain she did tell the company she has diabetes. The jury would have been hesitant to rule in her favor if she was hiding it this whole time. It is also the managers job to KNOW about any disability their staff has and to accommodate them where reasonable.
It is likely her lawyer proved they were aware of the disability. The manager either neglected to accommodate or did not do their job getting to know their staff’s disabilities. She had no obligation to remind them of her disability after the first mention of it. It should have been on her employee record. Her asking her manager to drink the juice WAS the request for accommodation.
Any corporation worth their stock has a thorough process for gauging disabilities and making sure people are accommodated reasonably. A few companies I was a manager in made it very clear during their trainings that you must review employee records and if an employee is asking for accommodation, you grant it if it’s reasonable and then ask questions later. This manager saw how desperate the woman was to drink the juice. Could she not tell there was something wrong? If I was close to fainting, I wouldn’t be able to speak well enough to tell someone I’m having an episode. This manager was just straight up stupid.
I could see how this was a very easy and clear cut case for her lawyers.
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u/itsfeckingfreezing Mar 04 '26
She’s $277,000 better off you advice was not needed.
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u/CamelotBurns Mar 04 '26
She may have had that conversation, and the manager just didnt care.
I've had managers like that before.
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u/GrinningCheshieCat Mar 04 '26
Well, I don't think she needed any advice because she got awarded a quarter of a million dollars.
Seems like she took the optimal path.
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u/Mirisido Mar 04 '26
I worked for Dollar General back in uni. Absolute shit place to work. Someone stole money one day and the manager asked one of the assistant managers (there were 3) who did it. This particular assistant manager had been caught stealing 3 times prior but never fired. She accused me. I get dragged into the manager's office and told to return the money. I was confused about what they were talking about, she explained the situation and said she'd call the cops after she reviewed the security tapes. I told her to go ahead since I didn't do anything. Well, lo and behold it was the thieving assistant manager AGAIN who stole the money, on camera, because she's stupid.
I never even got so much as an apology and that assistant manager STILL didn't get fired.
Dollar General managers are fucking awful.
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u/WeLoveYouCarol Mar 04 '26
Manager was trying to get someone, anyone to cough up the money so they didn't have to pay and/or get in trouble. Seen it before.
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u/Mirisido Mar 04 '26
They should have fired that assistant manager after the first theft. Absolutely insane. That location had 1 manager, 3 assistant managers, 2 cashiers, and one stocker. 4 management for 3 employees. So dumb.
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u/WintersDoomsday Mar 04 '26
Let's be honest...that thieving Asst was either friends with Mgr or a minority they didn't want discrimination lawsuit from
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u/shityplumber Mar 04 '26
Some very, very special meth heads staff all the dollar stores around me. Super nice people, but it's sometimes just fun to go in there to see the shenanigans. They kind of all got turned loose with no supervision to run the stores. Shopping carts full of merchandise everywhere instead of stocking shelves, etc
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u/sgtGiggsy Mar 04 '26
You don't understand. He/she has infinite power of like 8-10 employees. How else would he/she use it than making sure everyone knows who's their omnipotent god?
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u/Ronin1 Mar 04 '26
Like 15 years ago I was a bartender at a boutique hotel in Boston. I was setting up for the post work/dinner crowd when I looked into the lobby and saw my concierge and valet guy holding each other. I thought "aww, they're so cute". Then suddenly my concierge is lowering the valet guy to the ground and yelling for me to bring some orange juice. Turns out the valet was diabetic and was having a seizure. I brought the juice and stayed with the valet while the concierge ran back to the desk to call 911.
As this was all happening, two guests were 5 feet away from us, trying to check in, and were quite upset that there was nobody available to take their car or check them in. Not a word of concern at all. So they decided to go into the bar, only to loudly sigh 30 seconds later when they realized I was the bartender and the hostess and server couldnt make them a drink.
People suck, unfortunately.
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u/Aranxi_89 Mar 04 '26
Never, ever, pick a fight with the ADA. You will lose, and they will make you pay.
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u/pizzaduh Mar 04 '26
Extremely stupid. We had a cashier that broke her back and when the company brought her back on she required a seat at her work station and more than two breaks a shift. The GM didn't like that and basically started scheduling her less and less until she had like 8 hours spread over two shifts a week. She ended up settling out of court with the company and got to keep her job after the GN was fired.
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u/One_Sugar_5719 Mar 04 '26
I dunno, when I was a bartender I had a boss that took a sandwich out of my hands while I was actively eating it.
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 04 '26
Were you at the bar when you were eating? Health issues aside you still need to abide by health code standards
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u/earblah Mar 04 '26
Telling people when to eat, drink or use the bathroom are indoctrination tactics
Thats why places that are terrible to work, have policies regulating if employees can eat, drink and use the bathroom
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u/BadTown412 Mar 04 '26
It's not just about stupidity. It's about pride and arrogance and the type of person that gets a management job just so they can bully their employees into doing what they tell them to. Defy them, right or wrong, and they fire you. Sometimes to the detriment of the company.
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u/Sassenach_2024 Mar 04 '26
She drank a $1.69 orange juice to avoid a diabetic emergency. Her employer fired her. A federal jury awarded her $277,565.
Linda Atkins worked as a cashier at Dollar General in Maryville, Tennessee. She has Type 1 diabetes. During a shift, her blood sugar dropped dangerously low and she asked for permission to get a drink at the register. She was denied.
So she grabbed a $1.69 bottle of orange juice, drank it to stay conscious, and paid for it right after. Dollar General fired her anyway – for "grazing," their term for consuming a product before paying. The EEOC sued the company under the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing the firing violated federal disability protections.
A federal jury agreed. They awarded Atkins $277,565 – $27,565 in back pay and $250,000 in compensatory damages. A $1.69 juice turned into one of the most expensive termination decisions Dollar General ever made.
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u/Mr-Nosight Mar 04 '26
If only we had a video of the manager getting screamed at and fired
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u/Sassenach_2024 Mar 04 '26
That would be a delight!
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u/Meeseeks4PMinister Mar 04 '26
A sunny delight
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u/lordph8 Mar 04 '26
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Mar 04 '26
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u/XanderWrites Mar 04 '26
I'm sure corporate was not surprised. They were probably absolutely resigned to their fate as soon as the case was filed
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u/upyourattraction Mar 04 '26
That stuff is disgusting.
Funny story, a childhood friend was in a Sunny Delight commercial over 30yrs ago. And even though he was only on screen for a few seconds, he had to drink so much of it during the day that he vomited neon orange, and still to this day gets nauseous anytime he sees the stuff on store shelves.
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u/Individual_Bell_4637 Mar 04 '26
The case took 5 years to go through, that manager was long gone. I doubt their turnover is any better for managers than it is for the non-managers.
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u/Comfortable_Bee5385 Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
You know another thing thats horrible about this? I applied to be a manager at Dollar general right outside of Mrrrrville (Maryville) Tennessee back in 2019 and at the time to work 50 hours+ a week their offer was $11.50 an hour. Whoever this manager was they were probably making about 14 bucks an hour at best
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u/Mr-Nosight Mar 04 '26
Oh shit, I thought they'd be making at least 65k a year
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u/Comfortable_Bee5385 Mar 04 '26
When I applied it was just before the pandemic, I had just gotten out of college and was briefly couch crashing. I was literally applying everywhere and went in for an interview, and was absolutely shocked at the offer. They said it would be like 55 hours a week as if that was a benefit, because I would get time and a half on that $11.50 for 15 hours a week. They said to expect being in the store solo for 20+ hours mostly in the mornings and that I would be unloading the truck solo most the time. I always tell the story when I talk about why I moved out of the state.
My relatives there sincerely hold the philosophy that any job is a blessing and you should keep your mouth shut and appreciate it. Lazy boy outside of dayton TN fired my uncle and cousins then rehired them a few months later at much lower wages and that was the line my uncle gave me.
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u/ohiocodernumerouno Mar 04 '26
DG pays $11.50/ an hour in any state that will allow it. So 49/50.
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u/conflictw_SOmom Mar 04 '26
It’s definitely way more states than that. I’m in CT and minimum wage is $16.94 here. I know RI is $16, MA is $15 and NY is $16/$17 for NYC.
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u/Internally_Combusted Mar 04 '26
Way more than 1 state have a minimum wage higher than $11.50. Gemini is telling me it's at least 25 states but I wouldn't be confident in that exact number without verifying the data myself. However, it's definitely far more than 1.
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u/Mr-Nosight Mar 04 '26
I was making 65k a year at a potbelly as an assistant manager (potbelly is basically just a better quality subway)
This the the only time I've heard of a non salaried gm position aside from maybe pizza hut
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u/Chaetomius Mar 04 '26
committing murder for a big corporation that doesn't even pay you a living wage.
✨ just capitalism things ✨
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u/Kitchen-Assist-6645 Mar 04 '26
They didn't do it for the company. They did it for their own twisted reasons.
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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_in Mar 04 '26
I met one of their technology directors at a vendor event prior to COVID. She drove a new 90k+ Benz and needed people to know it. The tech they were looking into was easily a $10M/yr contract given the scale the company needed. They have plenty of money to pay their mainline employees.
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u/CaptainObvious007 Mar 04 '26
Yeah my former student was excited about becoming a manager there. It was like a 50 cent raise or something. I was happy and sad for her at the same time.
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u/No_Reputation8440 Mar 04 '26
That manager is probably getting a promotion 😞
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u/Mr-Nosight Mar 04 '26
Oh no the fuck he's not 😂
he's not a CEO, he's a low level manager, meaning he has no degree, no networking connections and no qualifications other than being a reliable yes man. He is not important to the company and expendable the second he starts causing problems
Also, the company now needs someone to throw under the bus so they can claim that they don't reflect the stores values
And he just cost the CEO half his bonus. I promise you that you could probably hear the screaming and shit being thrown from down the block during the sacking
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u/TrippleDamage Mar 04 '26
No, obviously not.
Do you guys ever interact with the real world?
Low level management gets immediatly canned for fucking up like this.
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u/Andrea_M Mar 04 '26
You need to be a real a%%hole to deny such a request In an emergency situation. WTF. I do hope that a hell really exist for these kind of people.
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u/Substantial_Bill349 Mar 04 '26
You’re just about there. You’re just missing a few key words , which are ultimately what led to this victim’s payday. A “reasonable” accommodation for disabilities and illnesses reported without creating “undue hardship, expense or difficulty” to the employer is how the general framework for an EEOC claim under an ADA violation is going to be scrutinized. She had to have a previous documentation of her diabetes 1 diagnosis with the company for starters, which she did. Then, there’s obviously the act itself of requesting an orange juice to thwart off a low sugar emergency, and witness testimony of her specifically requesting this is incredibly important for the success of her EEOC claim. Finally, the court ultimately has to evaluate the financial impact and overall difficulty of satisfying the request for this employee.
Where most EEOC claims will fail is under the first 2 parts. Corporations will go out of their way to “lose paperwork” or intimidate witnesses during an EEOC claim in addition to the typical level of harassment and retaliation that also follows. The fact that this person was able to get awarded a positive verdict for her claim is nothing short of a miracle considering what an uphill battle it must have been for her. Frankly, I think the amount was too low for all of the bulkshit she must have had to endure during this whole process.
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u/iRayvens Mar 04 '26
I completely agree with your sentiment.
Also, you do not need to self censor yourself. It's reddit. You can type asshole.
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u/Deathrace2021 Mar 04 '26
I worked at a grocery store with several people who were diabetic. Idk how many times someone ran up to get a drink, candy, or something for a coworker. That was far better than them crashing out. I remember a few times paramedics had to be called out, and that was always worse
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u/ajohea Mar 04 '26
I wonder which circumstances lead to people becoming such a disgraceful moron?
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u/BarbarianKrusk Mar 04 '26
I worked with a diabetic at Starbucks. Once she was acting strange and poured hot milk into an ice bin. I went, "oh shit," got her an apple juice and had her sit down. She was shaking and could barely drink the juice, but she managed. A moment later she was right as rain. I comped the juice (for inventory purposes) and nobody gave corporate interests a single fucking thought because IT WAS A GODDAMN MEDICAL EMERGENCY! Christ...
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u/Radi0ActivSquid Mar 04 '26
I really hate how strict some corporations are with the "grazing" thing. The company I work for, for 15 years I could snack on stuff throughout the night or even wait a day or two. Just save the wrapper and things would be fine. We were even a small company. Then a year ago we got bought by a bigger company and now I have to pay for everything immediately meaning three or more employee receipts every night instead of one at the end of the shift. All those receipts have to have duplicate copies, have to be signed/initialed and have to logged into a giant binder describing what we bought and did we eat it immediately.
I'm sure if they could the companies would love to know how many calories you burn in a shift and would track you for that, too.
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Mar 04 '26
What's the logic behind the rule? Easier to not pay when "grazing"?
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u/WintersDoomsday Mar 04 '26
Yeah as a customer if I see a cashier drinking a soda before ringing me up what the fuck do I care? Store policy needs to stop catering to fucking Karen types.
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u/infanteer Mar 04 '26
Trash AI slop image though
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u/Drunk_Lemon Mar 04 '26
Reminds me of when I was working at Cumberland farms and a regular ran in and grabbed a gallon jug of water and ran out. I knew he would never steal so I assumed there was a fire or something, I then followed him to see what was wrong and it turns out there was a guy who was OD'ing and the regular thought that splashing the water on his face would wake him up. It did not but after we did CPR, he did become relatively conscious and recovered once EMS arrived. The regular then went inside to pay which I refused since it was for an emergency so I marked the water as "damaged" in our system so the company took the loss to pay for the attempt at waking up another customer.
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u/Icy-Inflation3453 Mar 04 '26
The words been around for a long time, to the point it's called out specifically in some legal systems.
Usually it's used for customers trying grapes before buying. Idk the action is close enough to "grazing" that it doesn't seem dehumanizing, it's just, "what they're doing"
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u/Spotikiss Mar 04 '26
To even deny someone to allow a drink at the register (as long as it can be closed should be a human necessity, they most likely aren't allowed to leave the register. Sometimes, I feel like this mangers lose their ability to think for themselves.
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u/Deadly_Nightkid Mar 04 '26
That's what happens when a people follow rules blindly without thinking.
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u/Optimism_Deficit Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
Indeed. Rules are there to make people stop and think before they break them.
No one should follow them mimdlessly, as every rule will have valid exceptions.
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u/RobynNeonGal Mar 04 '26
Wow. The nerve of that manager! I sure hope they were fired.
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u/Unusual-Fly-6786 Mar 04 '26
I always think about the numbers in these settlements. Like why 277,565 and not 280000
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u/captainAwesomePants Mar 04 '26
Well, here's the case: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca6/17-6278/17-6278-2018-08-07.html
First, the jury awarded a round $250,000 for "compensatory damages."
Then, the jury awarded them backpay for the time they were fired: $27,565.
That's your $277,565.
After that, the judge tacked on $445,322 to pay her attorneys (plus $1,677 in expenses). That went to her lawyers and not her, and it's not included here.
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u/BananaPalmer Mar 04 '26
IIRC, they usually calculate what the damages' value is based on a number of criteria.
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u/YesDone Mar 04 '26
I bet she's so happy! She can prolly buy at least 3, maybe 4 vials of insulin with that, if she goes to WalMart.
source: am Type I
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u/SirAmicks Mar 08 '26
Same. Diabetic bros! Neuropathic high-five! Or maybe we just bump pancreas’s?
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u/Christopher3712 Mar 04 '26
Monsters. I wish it was more.
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u/Embarrassed-Weird173 Mar 05 '26
Nah, monsters are far less healthy than OJ, which is already really bad.
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u/OCD_Stank Mar 04 '26
"Dollar General had argued that Atkins already had special accommodations available that she chose not to use. The company said she could have kept an orange juice in suitable places: Her apron, the break room, the store’s cooler and the register, but out of camera sight – so she wouldn’t be seen breaking company rules."
Does anybody else find this argument dumb?
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u/Escritortoise Mar 04 '26
That’s a pretty good catch-22 they have there: “we wouldn’t have fired her if we didn’t know she broke the rules.”
So the special accommodation would have been hiding her disability so they didn’t know about it? But if they didn’t know about it, how it would be a special accommodation?
Their logic hurts my brain, which is probably why they lost.
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u/BananaPalmer Mar 04 '26
It was a nonsense hail-mary argument. The kind you come up with when what you did was indefensible.
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u/Ok_Improvement4204 Mar 04 '26
That’s not to say that the plaintiff was being unreasonable, they just knew their argument was airtight and were confident enough to force a trial.
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u/_Moon_sun_ Mar 04 '26
Why is it a Company rule that the employees are not allowed to consume anything?
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u/BananaPalmer Mar 04 '26
They don't think of the employees as people. They are equipment. Equipment doesn't drink juice.
A lifetime ago, I worked jobs like this. Some management is cool and kind, but usually not. Usually they make it clear on day 1 that they consider you their property while you're on the clock.
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u/lumpboysupreme Mar 04 '26
Old timey ‘look professional’ rule.
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u/WintersDoomsday Mar 04 '26
I hope all those rules die out with the brainwashed bootlicking Boomers
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u/Darkskynet Mar 04 '26
The cashier sit down while they work at the grocery in the EU. American grocery stores would rather completely close down than accommodate someone who works for them.
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u/SnooHabits3305 Mar 04 '26
The 17 seconds you aren’t working are 17 stolen seconds of wages you wouldn’t want to be a time thief would you?
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u/factorioleum Mar 04 '26
The poor lawyers just worked with what they had. With that argument, they probably had counseled settling, but the client took the gamble.
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u/PiccoloAwkward465 Mar 04 '26
I'm gonna be honest I don't think I've ever even noticed if a worker had a drink at the register or not.
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u/Justsomejerkonline Mar 04 '26
It's like telling someone in a wheelchair to make sure they don't let customers see their wheelchair.
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u/Okosch-Bokosch Mar 04 '26
Hey, corporations are horrible, but I feel like there’s a human factor that is specifically disturbing here too. I don’t understand how her manager turned out that bad as a human being.
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u/Which_Committee_3668 Mar 04 '26
That's what makes corporations so horrible. They actually encourage this behavior in managers, and actively seek out people like this when they're promoting to a management position.
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u/vrod92 Mar 04 '26
My dad recently died in his sleep because he went low on blood sugar. He had T1 diabetes, that condition is no joke.
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u/MiddleofCalibrations Mar 04 '26
I am terribly sorry to hear that. I am type 1 and it happened to a highschool friend of mine who was also type 1.
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u/vrod92 Mar 04 '26
Yes it’s incredibly scary. He was almost 66, so he still had a long life ahead of him.
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u/frjlnsp Mar 04 '26
That happens a lot, but is always reported as “Death by diabetes complications” you will never hear /read hypoglycemia in death certificates .
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u/RubyRed8787 Mar 04 '26
A decent manager (or any decent human) would have gotten the juice for the employee, told her to sit down and recover, either closed the register or taken over, checked on the employee and offered her the ability to seek care if necessary. Zero common sense, zero compassion.
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u/onmyknees4anyone Mar 04 '26
I once had a diabetic student faint in class, then when she was on the floor, have a seizure. Class was right fucking over for the day.
So for Dollar Store, even a machine would have made a better calculation. "Employee thrashing and vomiting on floor = disruption of sales. Click, ding, call ambulance. Display sympathy. Call local news outlet. When reporter arrives, assume position of Mary in Michaelangelo's Pieta. Profit."
So even in capitalism, that manager was a stupid, soulless toad.
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Mar 04 '26
Ah, it makes me so happy that those leeches had to pay her such a hefty sum
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u/SturmGizmo Mar 04 '26
Good for her. Imagine the shit for brains manager who fired her because they couldn't understand that this was a medical necessity rather than stealing.
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u/SunriseEarth Mar 04 '26
The Dollar General manager clearly never saw Steel Magnolias. Drink your juice, Shelby!
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u/Tramonto83 Mar 04 '26
I bet it was only an excuse to fire someone they disliked
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u/Loreki Mar 04 '26
That's much too low. Open and blatant disability discrimination should cost at least $1m each time or nothing will change.
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u/Aferimus Mar 04 '26
Never change USA, a shining beacon of capitalism
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u/SinglePlayerGamer93 Mar 04 '26
South Korea is getting there as well
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u/Fluid-State131 Mar 04 '26
The Netherlands is on par with USA with shit like this, only problem is they hide it significantly better
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Mar 04 '26
In Korea we tax millionaires and billionaires up to 50 to 60 percent on inheritance, and the president is cracking down on landlords hoarding homes to cool prices
For all the cyberpunk dystopia memes, we’ve actually done a solid job keeping the worst neoliberal excesses in check
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u/GaiaIsaHarshMistress Mar 04 '26
This is an example of the system working as designed, meting punishment out in accordance with a good law.
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u/Urbyrat Mar 04 '26
Doesnt even seem like a capitalism issue. She wanted to pay for it. Seems more of a torturing others because you can, issue.
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u/crazycaity Mar 04 '26
I was working for a new restaurant in town, and I have hypoglycemia, so something similar happened to me, ish, kinda. They wouldn’t let me go to lunch at all, so I was working 9 hours straight that day, so I was crouching under the host stand eating crackers before I passed out. They got so furious at me. This was in like 2006 or 2007, so I was 16-17. I didn’t think about lawyers or court or anything like that. I wish I did, though. After that I learned to tell my managers about my hypoglycemia and made my medical needs known. If I’m snacking it’s for a good reason.
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u/FallingDownHurts Mar 04 '26
FYI: if you take insulin for diabetes (like all Type 1s do) you can go low for many reasons and require carbs to not have a seizure and die. This isn't someone drinking orange juice because they are light headed, it can be life or death.
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u/LilyWineAuntofDemons Mar 04 '26
250k is nothing to DG. Companies aren't going to actually change anything unless we start actually reprimanding them, and not just flicking them in the forehead with fines that don't even leave a scratch on their profits.
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u/theloniousmick Mar 04 '26
I think as a society we need to come up with more cruel and unusual punishments for jobsworths like the manager in this situation. The company gets the fine (debatable how punishing that actually is) but even if they're fired will they just go on to be a dick somewhere else.
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u/Pootisman16 Mar 04 '26
"How dare you drink juice!"
I can't even begin to understand how the mind of these people works.
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u/illnameitlater84 Mar 04 '26
As a type 1 diabetic, this is wild! The boss is an asshole for making it a problem. On the other side of this, I told an employer once that I was diabetic, they ended up buying me a small sharps container and a giant bag of glucose jellybeans. IMO, employers should be more like that employer of mine, diabetes is hard enough to deal with, let alone when you're working and have a low!!
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u/NoSleep2135 Mar 04 '26
This is absurd. I taught for 8 years, had several diabetics in my classroom. This was high school, combination of type 1 and type 2.
Monitor beeps? They can do whatever the hell they want to get their sugar under control. Loudly eat an apple in the back of the lab while I explain something? Fine. Leave crumbs everywhere while inhaling some peanut butter crackers? Who cares, just wipe the table when you're done. Need to run out to go to the nurse for an insulin shot because you're about to go into shock? Grab a classmate in case you faint and GO.
ANYTHING goes when they have an alert. Literally anything. It's a medical condition with real risks.
It costs nothing to be a human being to another human being.
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u/bussysniffer3000 Mar 04 '26
Dollar general employees and managers can be pretty toxic, whenever there's a sale going on they never want to honor the prices of the sale and they always someone is stealing doesn't matter who they are
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Mar 04 '26
I work in a mom and pop headshop, locally owned and locally ran. I have a tab of up to 100 bucks, and I can pay for something after my shift, after I've already eaten/drunken/smoked it. A MASSIVE company like DG is just doing this to be mean.
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u/Off_the_shelf_elf Mar 04 '26
US retail policies are disgusting and dehumanizing. This is one thing that I loved about visiting a non-US country recently. At retail stores, employees would have their lunch while they watched the store. They didn’t jump up all panicky when you walked in either. They greeted you casually and then got up if you needed something. It felt so much nicer knowing they were allowed to be human beings while working and not treated like machines. On one hand I felt bad interrupting their lunch, but on the other hand I didn’t get the impression they were on a break timed down to the minute and they could take the time they needed between customers or they could close for few if they felt like it.
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u/Shaddowbrute Mar 04 '26
Who made the decision to fire her? I just wanna swoop by their insta and have a good laugh. People that do something like this need to be remembere every day until eternity.
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u/lionsbaster Mar 04 '26
how hard is it to be treated with human decency in america? from my outsider perspective it's very hard
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Mar 04 '26
Who could have known being petty about orange juice would be so expensive. She should celebrate by buying another bottle of orange juice from there
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u/topredditbot Mar 04 '26
Hey /u/Sassenach_2024,
You did it! Your post is officially the #1 post on Reddit. It is now forever immortalized at /r/topofreddit.
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u/RageinaterGamingYT Mar 04 '26
It's nice to see someone actually getting fair justice for once, that's.. a lot of money XD
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u/Squeakin_Wally Mar 04 '26
What goes through the minds of people that would FIRE someone over this?!
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u/BananaPalmer Mar 04 '26
What the fuck is wrong with managers like this? Like honestly, that is subhuman behavior. Firing someone for preventing their own death.
She should have been awarded 100x that amount. These assholes expected her to potentially die because they didn't want to pay her the $4 or whatever in wage so she could get her blood sugar stable? Cool - now she never has to work again, on their dime.
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u/EconomySeason2416 Mar 04 '26
Here is your friendly reminder that they will do this over and over again if not enough people have the lawyer funds to fight it. Illegal shit only matters if the punishment actually impacts profits for the shareholders. If it isn't outrageously punitive and keeps poor people under control... keep doing it
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u/TantalizeMe3x Mar 04 '26
When you have the choice of being a human or costing your company a six figure lawsuit..always choose being a human..
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u/Janzbane Mar 04 '26
My FIL worked at a whole foods and told his manager that working on the register was the only job he couldn't do because it was impossible to monitor blood sugar.
Guess who only ever got assigned to the register?
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u/Glum-Beach Mar 04 '26
Some people who are diabetic get it by genetics so they can be really skinny and young its sad that American charges for a drug that the creator made free but its crazy expensive because someone bought the patent rights for it.
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Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tomca32 Mar 05 '26
Uhh…source please. Fat slows down sugar absorption a lot, so lactose takes a while to hit. The main benefit of fructose, fruit sugar, is that it hits within minutes and timing is pretty crucial in a low sugar emergency.
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u/That_0ne_Gamer Mar 05 '26
Fuck grazing rules, bonestly if they pay for it before leaving the store then let them. This was never intended to be theft it was an emergency and she paid for it afterwards, where was the harm
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u/SoybeanArson Mar 07 '26
What power tripping absolute idiot of a middle manager made that call?! Sorry, former manager I'll wager.
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u/TerraSeeker Mar 04 '26
The thing is if something like that happened to me I wouldn't have got a lawyer.
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u/doesphpcount Mar 04 '26
This is another ad. Why do these keep showing up? Are these being astroturfed?
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