WESTLOCK - A Westlock fast food chain fired a 17-year-old employee who chose to take his injured dog to the vet — treating it as a family emergency — and asked for his shift to be rescheduled.
Vayen Demskie was scheduled to work a 7.5-hour shift at the Westlock Tim Hortons Aug. 21 at noon. Early that day, at around 3:30 a.m., while his parents were out camping and he was home alone, his dog, Soleil, had a run-in with a porcupine. Demskie phoned a veterinary clinic in Barrhead and drove Soleil out there — he texted his mom a photo of Soleil at the vet at 4:51 a.m.
He got home around 5-5:30 a.m., he remembers, and phoned Tim Hortons to ask if he could come in an hour later or another day.
He explained what had happened and a co-worker told him not to worry, that they’ll figure it out.
About 30 minutes before his shift, he phoned again to clarify what they’d done — if they’d rescheduled for a different time or a different day —only to hear: “Either you come in or you’re fired.”
“I had a perfectly valid reason in my mind. Like if it was my own laziness, I’d get that, but I was up until like 7 in the morning. And I thought they’d be more lenient to give me a little more than three hours of sleep or four hours of sleep. And they tell me I have to show up. And it was a family matter, so I was mad.”
His bosses didn’t think he had a valid reason though. Vayen was told over the phone that only people count under ‘family emergency,’ not dogs. Vayen and his mom, Tessa Demskie, disagree.
Tessa was naturally outraged. She left a post on a Westlock Facebook page about what happened, and most commenters agreed it wasn’t OK.
Except, as Tessa later heard from the Tim Hortons corporate office, it’s perfectly legal. Some commenters had warned her about this too.
Vayen had started working at Timmies June 21, he recalled. He was still under the three-month probationary period, which means the company can fire an employee without cause.
But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s right, Tessa says. Vayen’s only prior offence, they say, was that he was late by one minute only one time.
“The day before (I was fired), they told me before I left that I did very well at work,” Vayen said.
TC staff reached out to Tim Hortons Aug. 26, but they didn’t return a request for comment by press time.
Several commenters on Tessa’s Facebook post did say that this isn’t an unusual practice at this particular location though.
One person wrote: “I worked there for five months at that location. Loved my coworkers! Didn’t see eye to eye with the (general manager).” That seems to mirror Vayen’s experience too.
“Tim Hortons is the worst place to have a job trust me I worked there,” wrote another. Customers contributed too: “Tim Hortons has gone to the dogs for sure!!” wrote one of them.
Social media outrage doesn’t do much for Vayen, though. The teenager, who’s going into Grade 12 at St. Mary School this week, is out of a job and has bills to pay as he’s covering his own truck payments, insurance, and gas.
“I’m pretty uncertain about getting a new job. I have no idea what direction I could be going. I thought I had some stability with my job but it’s hard to find something like that over again,” he said, although he’s definitely in need of work.
Andreea Resmerita, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @andreea_res
