Actually, if you are physically incapable of heavy lifting or long periods of standing, Walmart is really great about finding a workable position for you. They are assholes about a lot of things, but this is not one of them.

They might have a thing about not letting costumers help you in the contract you sign before you start working there. If for whatever reason the OP dropped the heavy paint on themselves, causing injury, while helping the employee the company might be liable and I'm sure that's something they would want to avoid. I think it would be understandable for them to make it clear that it's not ok because it could be dangerous when dealing with heavy objects.

They are required to do that under the Americans with disability act.

You must be joking.. 1)YOU'RE** 2) That was NOT disrespect. She was helping the poor old lady. 3) You must be an idiot.

You, sir, are an asshole. I think it IS showing respect to the elderly to help them if they are unable or have trouble performing a task. If an elderly person gets on a bus and looks like s/he needs a seat, I offer my seat. If they decline, no harm, no foul. The elderly woman in question was clearly grateful for the help, and the boss is an asshole for 1) having an elderly employee lifting heavy boxes and 2) firing her for getting help before he found out the facts of the case. And as #46 pointed out, the proper way to handle it would be for the manager to tell the OP that while he appreciates her kindness, he can't have her lifting boxes because of liability issues if she gets hurt and that he will have another employee help the old lady with the boxes or shift the woman to a job that doesn't require lifting.

Woah chill 90% sure this is sarcasm we're dealing with here.

I highly doubt an elderly women would be hired for jobs requiring lifting from the get-go if a random bystander like OP can tell she is having a hard time doing so.

Well, there's really no way to know if she was doing her job or not, but if you want to look at it from a business pov, wouldn't it be a good thing that she was getting some help? Her work would be getting done faster, and the boss wouldn't have an extra person to pay for it. And on the heavy lifting subject, jobs nowadays are harsh. The good ones are few and far between. I know a girl that's 18 years old, no taller than 5'2 or 5'3, and she works as a package handler at UPS. Which involves lifting packages up to 75 pounds, which is probably more than double her body weight. Why? Because she lives on her own and has bills to pay. There's no easy she could do it on her own, but the bigger guys at the plant get the really big ones got her. Why? Because people help people, it's what we do. I'm not sure where this post of from or if their economy is as bad as ours, but jobs in America are hard to come by, people are taking what they can get. And maybe this woman just wasn't doing her work, or maybe she just didn't sleep well the night before, but I don't think she was the one in the wrong here.

75 pounds is double her weight? I call bullshit.

If the job did, in fact, REQUIRE heavy lifting, then it begs the question: Why hire her in the first place?

83, I meant half, that was my bad. Thanks.

83, even if that wasn't a mistake, ever heard of an exaggeration? I got the point. Take a seat.

Maybe the boxes weren't her job ? I have had experiences where people are hired for one dept or position and will wander around working but never doing what they were hired for. For all we know she wasn't fired because getting help was being lazy or causing her to not do her job, perhaps she was being fired because she was avoiding her actual job or position after all an accountant or sales agent etc is usually paid more than the box boy.

Agreed, I wish OP could have been a bit more specific. I mean either way though, the boss was still an ass for yelling at her like that. She still deserved to be treated respectfully. On a completely unrelated note, please tell me that that's a real tattoo, because it's ******* awesome, haha.

Lol not to thread jack yeah it's a real piece but to let you down a bit it's being removed too limiting in the workplace where I live at. I love the tattoo but I want a job I can make a career out of and support a family on one day.

Ah, bummer /: but it's perfectly understandable, a very good reason indeed. Good luck with the removal, and the job search! You're right though, done with the threadjacking, sorry everyone.

You totally missed the point, 18, and I hope you're never a boss with an attitude like that.

I'm pretty sure it said elderly..

or you could just hate them because they're shitsacks.

There are lives over there? Awesome! I was down to my last one in Mario.