Golden

7:44am the phone rang.  Caller ID showed:  Walmart and a phone number not from around here.   The DC's District Manager, Debbie Hodges, was calling as promised.  She was super friendly and very nice.  She didn't know that the DC had already taken care of me and she was glad that they did.

She understood my reserve to name names but promised that the information that I gave her would be regarded with the strictest of confidence and that Jerry and I will never see any ramifications from my conversation with her.  She wants to use my "issue" as a learning tool.  Whereas, this should never happen to another associate.  While the policy is that after an LOA, I am given 30 days to find a position within the facility BUT the DC made a couple mistakes and I was put through something that should never of happened. 

FIRST - I should have been told everything up front.  Communication is key.  I went into the office before Maternity Leave knowing that I was going to go over the 12-weeks LOA and asked straight out how this was going to affect my job.  Not once was termination every mentioned.  Not once did they say I would have to reapply for positions.  The only thing that was told to me is that I would have a position just not my position when I returned. 

SECOND - When I was able to return, since my job was not filled or even posted yet, I should have been offered the position on August 4th, not a month later.  It should have been HR's priority to get me back working.

We spent about 30 to 40 minutes talking on the phone.  Debbie was really curious as to what I thought was the biggest issues at the DC.  She likes to take a little knowledge away from every issue that she deals with and she wanted to know what I thought.  I told her that working in a store and working at the DC were completely different - as they should be.  But I said that management in the DC looses sight of the people.  In a store, you are reminded everyday why you are there.  You are there to service the customer.  Because without them, you wouldn't have a job, a paycheck or a company.  In the DC it's not as transparent.  We are up against production and how fast we can ship groceries to our customers, the stores.  It's all business, no play.  And while I believe it needs to be business orientated, I look at it like this:  To management, we, the associates, should be their customer.  We come to work and do the job, without us there would be no business to run.  We make them look good.  If we fail at something it looks bad on them and the iron fist comes down.  But if we succeed, they look good and get promotions.  HR is the Human Resources Department, they should bend over backwards to help every associate that crossed their desks.  I literally got shoved from desk to desk with a different answer from everyone.  Not a person in there treated me as if I was important.  I was just another needy associate who was wasting their time because they had something better to do.

A while I was promised by both Debbie (DM) and Kathy (GM), that what stems from my issue will be much more than a conversation, I will never see or know the end result.  As it should be, I will never see the punishments handed down.  I have to trust that they all use this as a learning experience and know that I am here to stay, I can't and won't be swept under the rug.  And while I expressed my feelings very well, Debbie asked if she could use my words in a quote.  She said that she won't use my name but she has conference calls with ALL her DC's and she said that this is something that she wants them all to hear.  I opened up a new way of thinking with the whole associates are the DC's first customers.  And they need to help us, make them look good.  Communication has got to be there.  It is the key to running a successful business.

Unlike Kathy, who was disappointed that I didn't go to her first (I did but that's another story), Debbie was thankful that I got her involved.  She told me that if I ever had an issue or concern with the DC, I am welcomed to get into contact with her at anytime.  :-)  She valued my opinion as a long time associate and thanked me for my dedication to our company.  She also said that it was refreashing to hear honest complaints with resonable ideas to fix them.  I wasn't just a hostile employee just complaining to complain.  I was positive and obviously respected among my peers.  I am a gem to the company and she doesn't want to see me go anywhere but up.  :-)  However, I did let her know that at this time in my life, my first priority is to be a mother.  I would love to become management some day but only after my kids are grown.  But what kind of wife would I be if I hadn't mentioned Jerry's desire to go up in the company.  She asked about him and his goals and I told her that he is wonderful father and husband and I know that one day he will be a huge asset to the management team at the DC - thus the biggest reason I didn't want to rock the boat with my contacting her.  Then of course, we shared mommy stories.
 
After our conversation, I am not 100% sure that Debbie was the one that contacted Kathy and gave me my job back already.  However, Kathy knew something so if it was the Ethics Department that contacted Kathy, she might be surprised when she gets a call from Debbie.  Or vise versa.  Ooops.  ;-) In my defense, I was trying anything to get my job back!  lol