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Technically the owner has the right to fire her, as it wasn't her coffee to give. Having said that were I the owner, and given the circumstances and her good intention, I don't know that I would fire her. I would however make it abundantly clear that in the future things like this need to be cleared with me first! It's not like she was giving away free stuff to her friends. She was actually doing a good deed, all though she just went about it the wrong way.
What I get from the story, he fired her for giving away the coffee AND lying about it. Who knows what he would have done if she would have been honest and said I did give it to him.
Its kind of funny. All these places throw away left over coffee and pastries and foods if no one buys it at the end of the day or night. They are not allowed to sell it even at discount. So much food goes to waste.
I agree.......we had a little store not far from me and the owner knew of people who had hit hard times, he would make sure that the food not selling went to people at a discount or free toward closing. What was left he delivered to those he knew could use it. Some people do understand good food shouldn't go in the garbage.
Which is most likely why she was fired. If she had been honest, I think most employers would have informed her that while her intentions were good, it was not her coffee to give away and that in the future she should just pay for the coffee or ask her employer if she should pay for the coffee.
Having an employee who gives things away without permission and then lies about it isn't good.
The President does it.......where has she learned it from?
The owner can do what he wants, it's his store. However, firing the poor girl for giving away an overpriced cup of coffee is a complete over-reaction, and it makes me think that the guy had other problems with her. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.
...However, I don't think she is a bad person. Just someone who is young, naive, didn't think things through before offering the coffee and she had a good but misguided sense of charity.
She's not a bad person for having compassion, but she definitely was wrong to lie about it. She also learned a good lesson.
This is for those who need it spelled out to them, (not necessarily you, griffon, I'm just using the same post) so I'll share a little story because I learned this lesson when I was about 10 years old. See if you can spot the similarities:
My mom used to make the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Ever. She would buy all the goods to make them, (home made), and she would bake huge batches of them. She would then store the extras in the freezer, for much later use. Well, this particular storage freezer was in a small garage that we had, where we also stored our toys for outside use, (baseball bats, things like that).
When I was 10, I had my neighbor kids come over, and I snuck these frozen cookies, little by little, over several weeks, out of that freezer and gave them away to my friends. (Okay, it's not a "need", but I was sharing my "good will" to everyone in the neighborhood.)
Naturally my mom figured it out. And since she didn't know, for sure, at the time who did it, she expected one of us to tell her that we did it. Well, I didn't want to get in to trouble, so I did not fess up. Hours went by. Yep, I lied my ass off that I didn't do it.
Long story short, I did finally admit that I shared those cookies. I got in trouble mainly for lying about it, and a little trouble for giving something away that did not belong to me.
I later overheard her telling that story to some ladies in church, (I was forced to go to church as a kid), and they were all laughing at how "cute" it was that I enjoyed my mom's cookies so much, I wanted to share them. But, they did not think it was cute that I a) lied about it and b) gave away what was not mine to give away.
If I wanted to give all the kids in the neighborhood some cookies, then it was up to me to buy the ingredients, put my OWN HARD work in to making them, and THEN I could give them away just as freely as I wished. THAT is the difference between theft and sharing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Keegan
Retaliation? Sure, to THEFT. And being fired is not an unfair retaliation to theft.
Retaliation? Sure, to THEFT. And being fired is not an unfair retaliation to theft.
Theft of $1? Why not capital punishment?
Now that I've read a little more about this, I'm pretty sure it was retaliation for asking for Sundays off. Do you think other employees don't "steal" a dollar occasionally? I've known of kids working in fast food to give their friends something for free; I've known of them letting their friends in free to the pool or rec center if they're working admissions; this stuff happens. I even knew a parent who thought her kids' friends should do the above! At 19, it's common to lie to get out of a jam. In fact, it's common at a lot older ages as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by geofra
I'll bring up the other theft here...
charging a dollar for a friggin' cup of coffee.
The owner can do what he wants, it's his store. However, firing the poor girl for giving away an overpriced cup of coffee is a complete over-reaction, and it makes me think that the guy had other problems with her. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Exactly! It probably cost the owner what, 25c max, for that cup of coffee, including cup and labor to make it.
I think firing is over the top for this. Owner should make sure to address training issues here. Good opportunity.
So parents are doing such a crappy job of bringing up their kids that employers now have to train people to not steal and give away what doesn't belong to them?
I don't remember when I was taught that it was wrong to steal, but it sure wasn't from my first employer.
Now that I've read a little more about this, I'm pretty sure it was retaliation for asking for Sundays off. Do you think other employees don't "steal" a dollar occasionally? I've known of kids working in fast food to give their friends something for free; I've known of them letting their friends in free to the pool or rec center if they're working admissions; this stuff happens. I even knew a parent who thought her kids' friends should do the above! At 19, it's common to lie to get out of a jam. In fact, it's common at a lot older ages as well.
Exactly! It probably cost the owner what, 25c max, for that cup of coffee, including cup and labor to make it.
As soon as you start tossing around the ridiculous hyperbole of capital punishment for minor theft, you lose all credibility in this conversation. But I'll play along for a bit.
I've managed retail stores. If you catch someone stealing once, chances are VERY HIGH they've stolen much more that you didn't catch. Once you catch them, you get rid of them, because it's not going to stop if you don't.
As to the notion that the firing wasn't really about the theft; so what? Maybe you're right. Perhaps it annoyed him that he couldn't put her on the schedule on a day that he needed her to work. But he didn't fire her for that, did he? Would I be surprised to learn that, since she was a difficult employee in some respects, he took the opportunity to fire her as soon as she screwed up on something else? No, I would not. Perhaps if she's been a model employee, easy to deal with, available to work as needed, perhaps he'd have reacted differently to this minor theft. But she wasn't. So she didn't. That's how life works, and I have absolutely no issue with that. Why would you?
And really? Are you actually advocating theft? Saying that it's ok, and that there shouldn't be punishment for such a minor theft? Since others do it in similar circumstances, that it's ok for this girl to do it? At what level would it be OK for the owner of this store to punish someone who steals from him? How much does he have to lose in small increments before it's an issue he's allowed to pursue? $5? $10?
An attitude like that is just a complete & total lack of respect for other people & what belongs to them.
This is interesting...the next time I need some money, I'll just go in to people's wallets and take a dollar. It's ONLY a dollar, so it's okay. I'm sure the police will understand.
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