Looks to me like the subway cat could use some brushing-up in her geography.
Anyway.
Now the picture gets clearer. It's probably likely that my fellow Nebraskan's relative is older middle-aged, and has been in bad health for quite some time. Maybe somewhat on the heavy side, or something like that.
He probably lost a better job due to the booming 0bamaconomy, and took whatever he could find.
Convenience store work doesn't pay well, and so sometimes the people who get hired are "rejects" from other occupations; the old, the fat, the tattooed, the nose-ringed, the semi-literate, &c., &c., &c.
This being Omaha, there's no doubt the older heavy relative was threatened with violence, and even given violence, in his job. But that part's irrelevant here.
So maybe the guy was busting his ass; I kind of don't doubt that--being dependable and reliable and all that. After all, he was desperate for a job, and wasn't prime employment material.
But on the other hand, obviously he had health problems (high blood pressure, fatness, whatnot) that made him, really, a "bad fit" for the job.
Despite what Omaha's Ed Norton always seems to try to allege, Nebraska does have employment laws and those employment laws are generally observed, and if not, enforced.
If this relative was in fact dependable and reliable and hard-working--and I don't doubt that he was--there's something else missing in my fellow Nebraskan's tale here. Either he was not dependable and reliable and hard-working, or Omaha Steve isn't telling us a certain pertinent fact that of course detracts from the "message" he's trying to deliver here (i.e., the oppression of the working class).
Either, either. Time for my fellow Nebraskan to illuminate as to the truth.