Jerk Home Depot Manager Makes Employee With Severe Allergies Work In The Flower Section, Gets Justice Served
Some managers are nice enough, others… not so much. A Redditor who used to work at Home Depot has shared a story of how carrying out an ill-advised order from a manager who made no effort to accommodate a serious pollen allergy got the callous jerk fired, and commenters are pleased to see karma doing its job. Bored Panda even reached out to the Reddit user for comment, which you can find by scrolling down!
The story was posted on r/MaliciousCompliance, a subreddit for stories about deliberately following instructions that one knows won’t end well just to stick it to the person who gave them.
Image credits: William Brawley (not the actual photo)
A Reddit user who goes by tortellini21, while working as a cashier at Home Depot in high school, was ordered by a manager, “Bob”, to cover the garden department. Bob was unmoved (to put it nicely) when asked whether he was sure he didn’t want to staff the department with someone who wasn’t severely allergic to pollen.
Lacking a doctor’s note and driven by spite, the cashier went and gave it a try anyway.
Luckily, it just so happened to be audit day, and the regional manager wasn’t too pleased to see a cashier trying to serve customers while covered in rashes and throwing up under the counter.
Check out this Redditor’s story of “malicious compliance”
Image credits: tortellini21
Fortunately, this time, the case was clear-cut enough that the regional manager shut it down right away, but if you’re in a situation where allergies are interfering with your work and your manager isn’t taking it seriously, they could get into legal trouble.
Many countries in North America and Europe have defined severe allergies that can prevent one from breathing or doing their job as protected disabilities. A manager who just wants to cut corners and not have their will questioned will probably want to avoid a lawsuit.
Here’s what commenters had to say
Still, if you have severe allergies, having a record of them will probably make things easier for you when negotiating for accommodations.
Bored Panda reached out to tortellini21 for comment and lessons learned: “This experience has made me realize that not every person is fit for every job they want to work. I got lucky that Nick was there when he was, but I also have learned to be my own self advocate. I stand up for myself a lot more now,” says the Reddit user, who we hope stays far away from huge greenhouses packed with flowers now.
I agree that the employee should have had the medical condition on file with the employer, especially since the likelihood of him coming into contact with pollen at a DIY store was pretty good. But the manager was probably not fired for defying the executive and more likely fired for throwing out registered complaints over the past 5 years since that kind of action can open Home Depot up to a class action lawsuit by former employees and an investigation by the FLSA.
It is important to have any medical condition that might impact your job to be on file with your HR department. And having a pollen allergy while working in a facility that sells plants is definitely something to document Not that I believe their boss acted correctly - he should have made the accommodation pending appropriate documentation. And if appropriate documentation was not provided within the next 10 business days, then there would be disciplinary action to avoid the chance that it was just because they did not like the garden section.
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Do you really have to vomit from hay fever? Honest question. I have a friend with hay fever, and it never got as bad as vomiting. Just tears, sneezing and headaches.
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But lets not get laws in place to protect the workforce, or god forbid... UNIONS!
Yeah, don't believe it. Too many people like to Tell Stories to be Victims and get their social media likes these days.
Being given a vacation was the icing on the cake. But he forgot tbe part where everyone clapped.
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Protip : If someone uses the "Did I stutter" routine counter it with "I didn't ask for your speech impediment, I just wanted to know if you really were that stupid."
ALWAYS ALWAYS have any kind of medical conditions documented with employers. Also file FMLA paperwork. You can't use it until after you've been employed with a company for 90 days but it saves time down the road. I'm type 1 diabetic and I had to learn those lessons the hard way.
I had heard when I was much younger that the pollen from garden-type flowers is way too heavy to cause allergies, but maybe I remember wrong. (Or maybe the type of work he was doing blew it up into the air enough to bother him.) In any case, I've never heard of anyone being allergic to the pollen of the types of flowers people buy.
I'm puzzled as to why the employee followed his managers orders knowing that he would become violently ill. Surely no low paying job is worth that. Common sense should tell you to stand your ground. You could always appeal a firing, or at worst, find a new job.
It's ironic his manager was fired from a hardware store, because he's a real TOOL.
I'm glad Bob was fired. Regardless of the employee's medical condition being on file or not, the person had an actual condition and Bob undermined the seriousness of that; putting an employee at risk and diminishing the employee's ability to perform quality work. Bob was being spiteful. It was no coincidence that the employee wound up speaking to Bob's boss. Yes, that was God setting that moment up so that Bob could real what he sowed. Spite never gets very far and always fails. I love how the employee just went along with everything Bob said so as to allow Bob to dig a deeper hole for himself. It pissed Nick off and he got fired. Good! When these types of things happen, report it immediately!
You should always let your company know of any medical issues that could affect your job. I agree bob was a boob but he had a point.
Just get any sort of note from your doctor, photoshop out the text and replace it with your own crappy handwriting. Nobody is going to go to your doctor's office and do a handwriting analysis.
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I can't believe I didn't know Asthma was covered under the ADA! I'm so glad to learn about this now! It could be a life changer for me!!!
That was really a case of some good old Karma. Though I'd have to agree with the last commenter that he should've gave them the paperwork. But still that is no excuse for being a jerk.
What luck that the big boss happened to come in. This is such an awesome case of a crappy boss getting their comeuppance.
Not all HOME DEPOT hire ups are like that. HD totally abuses veterans that they brag about to press that they hire. High turnover
My husband has been ill for about 2 weeks now and his boss won't even give him half day off because he 'needs him'. Next time off he'll have is in the new year. I mean, f**k sake, my husband needs a doctor/ medicine but he can't do anything- unless he wants to be jobless. Some bosses are asseholes- simple. You might not believe it but it does happen.
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There was one post that turned out fake. As far as I know, pretty much anyone can post to boredpanda. I don't know that there's any fact checking done.
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I do throw up in the morning when my allergies are really bad and I've had drainage all night, but I've never heard of anyone reacting so quickly to pollen by vomiting.
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I agree that the employee should have had the medical condition on file with the employer, especially since the likelihood of him coming into contact with pollen at a DIY store was pretty good. But the manager was probably not fired for defying the executive and more likely fired for throwing out registered complaints over the past 5 years since that kind of action can open Home Depot up to a class action lawsuit by former employees and an investigation by the FLSA.
It is important to have any medical condition that might impact your job to be on file with your HR department. And having a pollen allergy while working in a facility that sells plants is definitely something to document Not that I believe their boss acted correctly - he should have made the accommodation pending appropriate documentation. And if appropriate documentation was not provided within the next 10 business days, then there would be disciplinary action to avoid the chance that it was just because they did not like the garden section.
Load More Replies... Do you really have to vomit from hay fever? Honest question. I have a friend with hay fever, and it never got as bad as vomiting. Just tears, sneezing and headaches.
Load More Replies... But lets not get laws in place to protect the workforce, or god forbid... UNIONS!
Yeah, don't believe it. Too many people like to Tell Stories to be Victims and get their social media likes these days.
Being given a vacation was the icing on the cake. But he forgot tbe part where everyone clapped.
Load More Replies... Protip : If someone uses the "Did I stutter" routine counter it with "I didn't ask for your speech impediment, I just wanted to know if you really were that stupid."
ALWAYS ALWAYS have any kind of medical conditions documented with employers. Also file FMLA paperwork. You can't use it until after you've been employed with a company for 90 days but it saves time down the road. I'm type 1 diabetic and I had to learn those lessons the hard way.
I had heard when I was much younger that the pollen from garden-type flowers is way too heavy to cause allergies, but maybe I remember wrong. (Or maybe the type of work he was doing blew it up into the air enough to bother him.) In any case, I've never heard of anyone being allergic to the pollen of the types of flowers people buy.
I'm puzzled as to why the employee followed his managers orders knowing that he would become violently ill. Surely no low paying job is worth that. Common sense should tell you to stand your ground. You could always appeal a firing, or at worst, find a new job.
It's ironic his manager was fired from a hardware store, because he's a real TOOL.
I'm glad Bob was fired. Regardless of the employee's medical condition being on file or not, the person had an actual condition and Bob undermined the seriousness of that; putting an employee at risk and diminishing the employee's ability to perform quality work. Bob was being spiteful. It was no coincidence that the employee wound up speaking to Bob's boss. Yes, that was God setting that moment up so that Bob could real what he sowed. Spite never gets very far and always fails. I love how the employee just went along with everything Bob said so as to allow Bob to dig a deeper hole for himself. It pissed Nick off and he got fired. Good! When these types of things happen, report it immediately!
You should always let your company know of any medical issues that could affect your job. I agree bob was a boob but he had a point.
Just get any sort of note from your doctor, photoshop out the text and replace it with your own crappy handwriting. Nobody is going to go to your doctor's office and do a handwriting analysis.
Load More Replies... I can't believe I didn't know Asthma was covered under the ADA! I'm so glad to learn about this now! It could be a life changer for me!!!
That was really a case of some good old Karma. Though I'd have to agree with the last commenter that he should've gave them the paperwork. But still that is no excuse for being a jerk.
What luck that the big boss happened to come in. This is such an awesome case of a crappy boss getting their comeuppance.
Not all HOME DEPOT hire ups are like that. HD totally abuses veterans that they brag about to press that they hire. High turnover
My husband has been ill for about 2 weeks now and his boss won't even give him half day off because he 'needs him'. Next time off he'll have is in the new year. I mean, f**k sake, my husband needs a doctor/ medicine but he can't do anything- unless he wants to be jobless. Some bosses are asseholes- simple. You might not believe it but it does happen.
Load More Replies... There was one post that turned out fake. As far as I know, pretty much anyone can post to boredpanda. I don't know that there's any fact checking done.
Load More Replies... I do throw up in the morning when my allergies are really bad and I've had drainage all night, but I've never heard of anyone reacting so quickly to pollen by vomiting.
Load More Replies... 
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