On the 23rd March, I was called to the managers office without warning or any indication of why I was being summoned, where I found Anjella and a BTC Loss Prevention Officer (LPO) waiting for me, whereupon I was cautioned and asked if I wanted a witness (Anjella was the witness for Boots The Chemist) - I didn't request a witness at the time as I had no time to acquire one and couldn't think of anything I had done wrong that required a witness to be present. I was then asked if I understood Boots The Chemist rules re staff purchases/theft, and then accused of stealing a sandwich from Boots The Chemist in February.
I immediately explained that I had been told by Anjella previously that when working 8/8:30am-6:10pm as a sole pharmacist to "grab a sandwich from the shop and eat it in the corner of the dispensary when it slowed down", but she said she had told me no such thing. So now she was both a witness for BTC and involved in my defense of the accusations! - surely not best practice in law.
After more discussions about my "theft" and Anjella still denying her "grab a sandwich" statement, I was released without charge by the LPO after a half-hour long consultation with Boots head office. By this stage I was so upset that I was unable to work, and asked to go and visit my wife in hospital who was waiting for an operation before she could have another operation. I myself was transported by ambulance to the A&E at the same hospital later that afternoon when I started to suffer chest pains with the stress and anger, and was held in overnight for observation, at one stage being told I had suffered a minor heart attack that afternoon - later tests did not confirm this.
I resigned a week later and had 3 weeks off with bronchitis and stress in total.
Another member of staff heard about my treatment about a week later, came forward (she had transferred to another store by then) and told Anjella's boss - Kate - that she had heard Anjella tell me to "grab a sandwich" too thereby verifying my statement to that effect. Weeks later another pharmacist said she had been told by Anjella to grab a sandwich when sole pharmacist too.
One thing the LPO said I should have done is close down the pharmacy and healthcare counter when there is no-one waiting, to go and get my wallet to buy lunch, but this is not possible in the big Boots stores when the lines never disappear and the store is not really set-up to close off sections of the store, you think you are doing Boots The Chemist a favour by keeping things open and customers happy. If I thought I could have closed down the pharmacy and healthcare counter areas for an hour and had lunch, like I did at Cowes when they refused to pay me for any overtime, I would have but the bigger Boots do not close over lunch. Anjella closed half-an-hour early one day for personal reasons and Kate was not happy.
I had a meeting with Anjella's boss (Kate) whereby she told me she couldn't do anything about the witness statement unless I made an official complaint and anything reported to her by the other staff member was not valid, so I initiated an official complaint.
So in May I had a meeting with Kate (with witnesses) to complain about the way I had been treated and Anjella's not supporting my account of, or lying about, my recollection of the conversation we had re "grabbing a sandwich". The outcome of the meeting was that they would investigate, but Boots The Chemist wouldn't be able to tell me the outcome as it would be a private matter between Boots The Chemist and Anjella which left with no confidence in the process as I would not know if even anything had been done or followed up.
In the meantime as I was leaving (I was offered another job in an adjacent area outside Anjella's area - but it would involve a ferry and bus trip to get to that store each day) I had to sort out my TIL statement, so on 23rd April I met with Anjella (the same Anjella I had complained about!) whereupon she told me I owed Boots The Chemist 2 hours, and by my calculations Boots The Chemist owed me 20 hours (about £320 before tax based on my hourly pay rate of £16)!
She agreed to email me her calculations to show how she arrived at her figure, which she did - 4 weeks later, on my last day at Boots working at another store so I had no way of obtaining proof (by way of pharmacists logs at my original store) to support my claim.
After a bit of email communication she did acknowledge that she had some of it wrong and said BTC now owed me 11.5 hours. As I went through her calculations I realised she hadn't gave me TIL for times I had worked in August 2005 as sole pharmacists a couple of days during the pharmacist holiday/sickness shortage when asked to work extra by the adjacent area manager - Amanda H. - I emailed her back to this effect, but she replied that I was wrong and I had support pharmacists those days and so had not worked a longer day solely as according to her records X, Y and Z had worked. Yes they had worked, but not with me but at other stores to cover gaps in the pharmacist rota. Why wasn't this disputed in September 2005 when I first put in my TIL for that time in August, when it would have been fresh in everyone's minds and easily proved. I was told I would be getting paid for those 11.5 hours (not August 2005) she did acknowledge me working , around the 20th July 2006.
The 20th July went by and no money arrived, so in the middle of August I engaged a lawyer to get my money, so she sent off a letter to request my money and the extra money. Boots The Chemist replied that they had not sent me the money as they didn't have my new address (we moved to get a new job) - even though I had been in email contact with Boots The Chemist and Anjella and Kate; Anjella had my mobile number; and Boots The Chemist had my bank account details for the last two years, they couldn't contact me or put the money into my account!
So here it is 1st week in September, I finally have a cheque for some of my TIL for 11.5 hours, won't get paid any TIL for time extra in August 2005, can't claim against Boots The Chemist for lawyers fees or shifting expenses, even though if you stole from Boots The Chemist they can claim expenses involved - called civil recovery - like cost of security/lawyers/court costs. But I had trouble when I went to put the cheque in my bank account.
This letter from Anjella, shortly before I was accused of theft, means nothing in context to me
Hi everyone
I am very sorry for the lack of support from me in these difficult times, and I do recognise all the very hard work and effort everyone is putting in to keep stores open, deliver sales and items.
Alot of individuals have made tremendous sacrifices (very early starts and late nights) to make the best of the current situation and these efforts have not gone un-noticed.
I guess it is sometimes difficult to see others' stresses when you're in a cloud yourself, but hopefully my cloud is going and I can serve you all better.
I just like to say a very big thank you to YYYY and ZZZZ in particular for their efforts in re-distributing staff etc.
I am committed to making this better for the future, so please can you contact me and I will do my best to help.
With many apologies
Anjella
One of the things that upset me the most about the way I have been treated, is all the extra work I have put in for Boots The Chemist eg I would work from 8/8:30am to 6:10 as required to supervise end-of-day procedures, but only get paid until 6pm - a small 10 minute loss I know but this 10 minutes is equal in value pound-wise to the sandwich I "stole", and this was practically every day (and I didn't "steal" a sandwich everyday). Other times I would work as extra 20 minutes because of staff shortages and not taking being able to take breaks or waiting for Anjella to arrive (late) - imagine if I held a disciplinary meeting with the company and accused them of stealing my time (and money) every time I worked past my 7.5 hours without pay/TIL.
One Pharmacist said "Boots was trading on the good-will of pharmacists" to keep stores open by working early in their own time, working through lunch and working late without reward, but what do you get for this good-will - accusations and stress.
All the extra cover I did for Anjella like when she turned up late to work, or she had written up the roster incorrectly and I would be called in early from home as no-one was rostered on and I lived closed to the store and was available, other times covering her while she went home early for personal reasons (she was so pleased one time when she had to leave aerly as so had forgotten about a parent-teacher meeting, she said she would "buy me a block of chocolate" for my help and understanding - which I never saw of course) or sickness, and how does she reward me - by not backing up the statement she made re "grabbing a sandwich". Her commitment to the company at times was lacking, but I am the one punished. She can claim many many hours of TIL which she has.
If you complained to Anjella about the work-load or lack of staff, she would then tell you how bad she had it and how Kate gave her no support, James (a higher up manager) gave her no support and Pitel(?) (an adjacent manager) was useless, and she had it so bad compared to everyone else and her pay as a manager was barely more than some pharmacists were getting.
All the extra stress because of staff shortages (working with the bare (or below) number of staff (including some who could barely speak English and others in training)) while you tried to do your professional best with the staffing resources available - a lot of customers voted with their feet and decided not to stand in a long line - as alluded to in the above letter from Anjella, and what support or reward do I get ... anger/stress, a trip to A&E, and lawyers fees to get some TIL owed to me (I thought), and non-payment of still other TIL.
I have been so distraught by the way I have been treated by Boots The Chemist, that I never claimed my bonus shares for working for Boots The Chemist, I missed deadlines for appeals - perhaps this is Boots The Chemist's way of saving money - make the staff so angry/stressed/depressed that they become Boots Robots, who can barely function outside of work.
I haven't mentioned travel expenses either, Boots go on about me stealing a sandwich, yet I never claimed for travel expenses EVEN WHEN I WAS SENT TO THE WRONG BRANCH BY ANJELLA and I had to travel around to get the branch that was expecting me. Quite often I would turn up at one branch (say Gunwharf or Northend) only to find another pharmacist there and to be told by that pharmacist "didn't Anjella tell you I'm working here today now, and you are at the Commercial Road branch ... I was told yesterday - weren't you" , so off I'd go on the bus/taxi to the "right" branch. Other pharmacists would claim travel expenses but I didn't because it seemed petty, little did I know what Boots had in store for me.
Boots promised me, and required by law, a copy of the statement that was taken down by the LPO during the meeting on 23rd March. I never received a copy.