Veteran says he was fired for giving a corn muffin to a homeless man - Polidicks

[QUOTE=woolio1;45309822]So am I correct in thinking you can't use a gift card for the shop you work for, regardless of how you got it? Because that's pants-on-head retarded, full-stop.[/QUOTE] So making purchases at the place you work at, and having them break a year later, then oh well i'm just out all that money. You get a card for in store credit when you return items past 30 days. It's the same exact thing as a gift card.

Wow a muffin, that'll really mess up this billion dollar chain of restaurants, better fire him!

[QUOTE=brianosaur;45308080]Seriously How much does a muffin cost? like not even .20 cents? You can buy a package that makes a dozen or more for like 99 cents.[/QUOTE] Those are some insanely low prices. I wish I could buy things for american prices.

[QUOTE=woolio1;45309822]So am I correct in thinking you can't use a gift card for the shop you work for, regardless of how you got it? Because that's pants-on-head retarded, full-stop.[/QUOTE] as long as you're not on the clock it's not an issue. I work for a corporate megastore and management gets on to employees every now and again about them using gift cards and discount cards when on the clock. They don't want them to do that because they can't discern where those cards came from. If they were given to them by a customer, or if they didn't give them back to a customer, or if they never gave them to the customer if they got the card with a product-promotion, then it would get the employee in trouble or possibly terminate them, and it's a pain in the ass for ap to investigate that.

[QUOTE=Richardroth;45314028]Wow a muffin, that'll really mess up this billion dollar chain of restaurants, better fire him![/QUOTE] Look at it from this angle: You own your own business. You have an employee, someone you pay to work for you. How much of your property is this guy allowed to give away without your permission before you get mad? My answer, if I were the owner, is zero. He can give away his entire paycheck, I don't care. He can't give away anything that belongs to me though. This old guy should have brought it up to management if he felt that strongly about it, it's their decision to make. He's old enough and probably crafty enough to figure that they wouldn't dare fire him and risk the bad publicity. He miscalculated. Now he has to hope that this becomes a big enough thing to pressure Cracker Barrel or maybe some other business to offer him a job.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;45314292]Look at it from this angle: You own your own business. You have an employee, someone you pay to work for you. How much of your property is this guy allowed to give away without your permission before you get mad? My answer, if I were the owner, is zero. He can give away his entire paycheck, I don't care. He can't give away anything that belongs to me though. This old guy should have brought it up to management if he felt that strongly about it, it's their decision to make. He's old enough and probably crafty enough to figure that they wouldn't dare fire him and risk the bad publicity. He miscalculated. Now he has to hope that this becomes a big enough thing to pressure Cracker Barrel or maybe some other business to offer him a job.[/QUOTE] Its still just one fucking muffin, I don't think he deserved to get terminated for it. That's just me trying to sound like a reasonable human being though.

[QUOTE=Richardroth;45314474]Its still just one fucking muffin, I don't think he deserved to get terminated for it. That's just me trying to sound like a reasonable human being though.[/QUOTE] It sets the precedent. If they decided to let this incident slip, let the man off instead of firing him, how many more times would similar incidents occur without punishment, each resulting in a loss for the organisation?

[QUOTE=Antdawg;45314556]It sets the precedent. If they decided to let this incident slip, let the man off instead of firing him, how many more times would similar incidents occur without punishment, each resulting in a loss for the organisation?[/QUOTE] muh 25 cents I see where you're coming from, and that the organization is important in the first place, but they could just have a policy in place that encourages such behavior in the company books, then terminate people who misuse it for unintended purposes. A little charity now and then especially at the grassroot level isn't such a bad thing. Either that or the food just gets thrown away and wasted to begin with.

So a guy knew he's breaking the rules, broke it anyway because "it's the right thing to do" and thus knowingly got himself fired... what's his problem now?

[QUOTE=Richardroth;45314474]Its still just one fucking muffin, I don't think he deserved to get terminated for it. That's just me trying to sound like a reasonable human being though.[/QUOTE] Read the article, he got written up for shit just like this before in the past. Even if it's just 1 cent, a loss is a loss. Shrink like that adds up and it's bad for business. When people see a war vet getting fired for giving out coffee and muffins, what are younger (and more expendable) people going to think when they consider giving out shit for free that doesn't belong to them? [editline]7th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45314570]muh 25 cents I see where you're coming from, and that the organization is important in the first place, but they could just have a policy in place that encourages such behavior in the company books, then terminate people who misuse it for unintended purposes. A little charity now and then especially at the grassroot level isn't such a bad thing. Either that or the food just gets thrown away and wasted to begin with.[/QUOTE] Big corporate places like this host charity events all the time. It's not up to the people at the bottom to decide who deserves free food and who has to pay.

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;45314580]Read the article, he got written up for shit just like this before in the past. Even if it's just 1 cent, a loss is a loss. Shrink like that adds up and it's bad for business. When people see a war vet getting fired for giving out coffee and muffins, what are younger (and more expendable) people going to think when they consider giving out shit for free that doesn't belong to them? [editline]7th July 2014[/editline] Big corporate places like this host charity events all the time. It's not up to the people at the bottom to decide who deserves free food and who has to pay.[/QUOTE] And what I'm saying is that they have to encourage this as actual company policy instead of asking where every last ketchup packet went. It'll make them look more generous in the long run. It's just what I feel could be better done regardless of what's already happening. I know it isn't up to the people at bottom to decide who deserves free food, but all I'm saying is that I see no problem with giving them that power.

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45314599]And what I'm saying is that they have to encourage this as actual company policy instead of asking where every last ketchup packet went. It'll make them look more generous in the long run.[/QUOTE] Aka "bye bye investors and business partners"

The issue is all the lost stock ends up on the managers head. To the operations director or regional director all they see is a manager who Crabtree keep a tight ship. I've seen stuff like managers get investigated for fraud for letting their servers have free cokes here and there

[QUOTE=gudman;45314618]Aka "bye bye investors and business partners"[/QUOTE] I kind of forgot about that, yeah. I guess it's too well entrenched to see any change in that direction, in that case. Well, I'm off, see you next thread.

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45314599]And what I'm saying is that they have to encourage this as actual company policy instead of asking where every last ketchup packet went. It'll make them look more generous in the long run. It's just what I feel could be better done regardless of what's already happening. I know it isn't up to the people at bottom to decide who deserves free food, but all I'm saying is that I see no problem with giving them that power.[/QUOTE] You're smart enough to know that giving away a product without any profit returns is bad for business. Theft and giving away product is on the same level as far as business is concerned; it's product that goes missing because of an employee. A zero tolerance policy on giving away free food or stealing food is a perfectly rational thing for a business to have. Like I said, it's not up to the people at the bottom to decide who deserves free food and who doesn't. They're not paid to make that decision and nor should they be.

Aside from the "it's not the employees right to decide who gets free food" argument there's the obvious problem of attracting homeless people... It sounds cruel but think about it- you go for a cuppa and a muffin/ 5 obviously homeless people are in line. Most people would not get in that line. Now the company lost money because they give out free food as well as lose customers. As for the incoming "they're homeless not seagulls" argument- a good percentage of the homeless have mental illnesses. I'm sure some are great people- others are irrational and violent. You can't seriously expect me to believe most customers would put themselves in danger rather then go to the store down the street. This is why restaurants donate to food shelters rather then feed the hungry at their tables.

Article is extremely/unfairly emotionally loaded. Sure it does truly suck that he lost his job over doing a good deed but he [I]did[/I] break the rules, many times. I feel tremendous sympathy for the guy but he definitely brought it on himself

Am I the only one who hates that it mentions he's a veteran? It sucks to get fired and all, but being a veteran does not excuse him from violating company policies. Multiple times.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;45317871]Am I the only one who hates that it mentions he's a veteran? It sucks to get fired and all, but being a veteran does not excuse him from violating company policies. Multiple times.[/QUOTE] It's called propaganda

I've been to Chick-Fil-A before and one time I ordered something someone in the car with me didnt want. And they gave it to me anyway because they weren't allowed to take it back, and they still gave me the rest of my order. That being said, if Chick-Fil-A can part with a chicken sandwich why the hell cant Cracker Barrel part with a Corn Muffin. I understand it's in his contract and all, but I dunno for some reason I feel they were a bit harsh.

[QUOTE=Map in a box;45318009]It's called propaganda[/QUOTE] sensationalism* [editline]8th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Pikabuu2;45320727]I've been to Chick-Fil-A before and one time I ordered something someone in the car with me didnt want. And they gave it to me anyway because they weren't allowed to take it back, and they still gave me the rest of my order. That being said, if Chick-Fil-A can part with a chicken sandwich why the hell cant Cracker Barrel part with a Corn Muffin. I understand it's in his contract and all, but I dunno for some reason I feel they were a bit harsh.[/QUOTE] Your experience regards a returns policy. This is some guy who, by his own accord, is giving away free stuff.

It's pretty likely that that muffin would have simply been thrown away at the end of the day anyway. Wasted food is a much more substantial loss to business than someone giving away some free food now and again. Learn to use discretion instead of rigidly adhering to policy.

[QUOTE=SgtCr4zyGunz;45322410]It's pretty likely that that muffin would have simply been thrown away at the end of the day anyway. Wasted food is a much more substantial loss to business than someone giving away some free food now and again. Learn to use discretion instead of rigidly adhering to policy.[/QUOTE] I get where people like you are coming from but I can't help notice you pass right over the fact that the guy was giving away something that did not belong to him. Even if you remove the profit loss, business cost aspect of this, it's still not the employee's call what to do with the property.

VA nowhere to be found

[QUOTE=G-Wash;45325157]VA nowhere to be found[/QUOTE] Pretty sure the VA doesn't handle job disputes even when they involve corn muffins....