WICHITA, Kan. — Heather Ravenstein tried to save Wal-Mart some money Friday by foiling a shoplifter's plan to steal a $600 computer, but it cost her her job.
"I'm a single mom, and I don't know what I'm going to do," says Ravenstein, who is 30.
She's worked at the West Kellogg Wal-Mart for almost two years, most recently as a customer service manager.
Friday night around 10:20, she was standing near some registers when she saw a man with a computer coming up the main walkway of the store.
"Action Alley is what they call it," she says.
"He was walking rather fast, so it caught my eye."
Ravenstein says the man kept walking and set off an alarm. She went after him.
"Let me see your receipt, and then I'll take this off for you," she told the man, referring to a sensor on the computer.
Ravenstein says the man refused and kicked her.
"And then he punched me in my shoulder, and then he finally gave up and just let go of the computer."
Ravenstein walked back into the store and sat on the floor.
"I was shaking pretty bad," she says.
Assistant store managers immediately checked on her.
"They all came out and made sure I was OK," Ravenstein says. "They thanked me."
The next day, about two hours before her shift was over, Ravenstein says an assistant manager asked to speak with her. He then told her it's against Wal-Mart policy for anyone but a manager or someone in asset protection to try and stop a customer from stealing.
"He said there's really no gray area," Ravenstein says. "It just goes straight to termination."
She was told to turn in her badges and keys.
"I was in shock at first," Ravenstein says. "I didn't think anything like this would happen."
Nor did she know about the policy, Ravenstein says.
"I've never heard of it."
She says she's stopped people for forging payroll checks on more than one occasion.
"They never once said, 'You're not supposed to be doing that.' "
Read more of this story at Kansas.com