A company I work with employs many of their sales force from Nordstroms, since they're on about the same playing field market-wise. Its been a few years, but I did once have a conversation with one sales guy about a story I once heard of a person returning a used tire to a Nordstroms which stood on the grounds of a tire store that was demolished to build the Nordstroms. He explained how he viewed the philosophy behind things like this rule.
If I remember correctly, where needed, they also have a large set of rules which do state things that cannot be done, but they are also very broad. Examples that come to mind involve observing shoplifting by employees, sexual harassment and absenteeism. It basically says that if one breaks the law or does things that negatively effect other workers or customers, the offending employee was subject for review and generally if someone is reviewed for these actions, the employee is most likely fired.
The sames person I spoke with gave me the impression that the 75 word "handbook" was a facade to make the company look very good from the outside, but they also had enough internal rules to cover their rear end for these types of scenarios.
My girlfriend works at a Home Depot, and I recall her telling me a story about one of the stores in her area accepted "returned" tires, despite the store not actually selling tires. They are hanging on the wall in the store as a decoration now.
If I remember correctly, where needed, they also have a large set of rules which do state things that cannot be done, but they are also very broad. Examples that come to mind involve observing shoplifting by employees, sexual harassment and absenteeism. It basically says that if one breaks the law or does things that negatively effect other workers or customers, the offending employee was subject for review and generally if someone is reviewed for these actions, the employee is most likely fired.
The sames person I spoke with gave me the impression that the 75 word "handbook" was a facade to make the company look very good from the outside, but they also had enough internal rules to cover their rear end for these types of scenarios.