Cause & Effect

White Marsh Electronics, Inc.

1000 Bel Air Rd.

White Marsh, MD 21236

April 1st, 2004

John Leonard

1313 Wake Forest Way

Baltimore, MD 21234

Dear Mr. Leonard:

This letter is to inform you that because of numerous offenses against the company’s rules and regulations we are terminating your employment with us effective immediately. This letter will spell out all documented occasions with times and dates in which these offenses have occurred. Upon starting with this company, you were given the bylaws to read and sign. After numerous violations of those bylaws, there is no other action to pursue other than termination. Consistently poor customer service, frequent violations of the company dress code, falsification of hours, and several other issues call for your immediate termination upon receipt of this letter.

Being an electronics company, we rely heavily upon good customer service to drive business in the store over our competition. You have failed to provide good customer service on several occasions. On January 3rd, 2004 at approximately 4:30 pm, you were helping to load a customer’s 36” Sony television into their truck. The customer asked to have some of our courtesy string which is located just inside of our loading dock, but you refused to get it for the customer. On January 18th, 2004 at approximately 11:15am, you were helping a customer pick out a car audio amplifier, which the customer subsequently asked if the product was in stock. You then told the customer that you did not feel like checking because you had hurt your knee the previous day playing soccer. The customer then proceeded to leave the store and purchased the amplifier at Circuit City. On March 12th, 2004 at approximately 7:55pm, two customers entered the store and wished to have two different sets of high end home audio speakers demoed for them. You refused to help the customer because it was five minutes before closing time and did not want to be late for a college party you were planning on attending. This customer became so irate that he demanded to speak to me, even though I was gone for the evening. Needless to say, he will not be shopping at our store anymore which is completely unacceptable. Lastly, on March 28th, 2004 at approximately 2:15pm, I observed you helping one of our oldest customers pick out an entire home theater for his summer home. Once the equipment was selected, you handed the customer off to another salesman in order to take your lunch. Ultimately, the customer was dissatisfied and disgusted at the way he was treated and decided to purchase his equipment elsewhere.

As well as numerous instances of poor customer service, there have also been several instances where the company dress code had been violated. On January 3rd, 2004 at the beginning of your shift, I observed you entering the store wearing black sneakers with your dress attire. The proper style of shoe is either a black penny loafer or black sketcher with no more than 3 lace holes. On January 12th, 2004 after returning from lunch, you were observed without a tie on the sales floor. The dress code states that all employees must wear a tie on the sales floor at all times. On January 20th, 2004 after returning from lunch, you were observed wearing cargo style kaki pants. The company dress code is either straight legged or pleated dress pants with no more than two pockets in front and back. On February 15th, 2004 at the beginning of your shift, I observed you wearing two gold ear rings. The company policy regarding piercings is that no one may wear any body jewelry of any kind while on the sales floor.

Not only had customer service issues arose, but many occurrences of hours being falsified as well. On January 3rd, 2004 just after you had punched in from your lunch break, I decided to check timesheet adherence. It was found that the time in the computer was twenty minutes prior even though I had just observed you punching in. On February 23rd, 2004 during your scheduled shift, you were seen utilizing another employee’s time card in order to punch yourself in. The company policy clearly states that use of another employee’s time card for any reason is strictly prohibited.