At least they weren’t eating all the sprinkles…
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When I worked in a coffee shop, we were strongly encouraged to make ourselves familiar with the product. But one rule - no disposables. Cups and lids were the 2nd & 1st most expensive components.
We worked out espresso itself came down to about 7 cents for a double (including beans & roasting but no other overhead). Totally worth it.
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ok. bullshit, a waste of time, charges filed or not. It’s still essentially theft. And depending on the seriousness of the employer they can terminate someone without prejudice.
Is it silly over some deli…yes. But that is the store owner to decide.
Exactly. An employee that isn’t familiar with the products is far less valuable to the business than one that is.
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Why are such facile arguments like this so attractive (40 55 likes and growing) to this community?
"She deserved a higher wage." "She didn't steal alot." "Probably what she took was going to be thrown away."
Look. You can’t steal from your employer, and no amount of phony rationalization makes habitual, systematic theft OK.
And, as to the last argument, I had a roommate who did take home meat perfectly good meat (that was past the sell date), because employee policy allowed it. If there hadn’t been a policy, if she hadn’t had permission, she would be a thief, not a glorious “liberator” of The Man’s meat.
You compare her systematic theft to absently taking a pen is worth $0.25. I’m only surprised you didn’t go with: “But investment firms and bankers steal all the time with impunity, so it should be alright for the lower classes themselves to steal.” But to address your analogy, if a banker was intentionally stealing $20 in office supplies every day for a year (lets up the amount since he earns 10x as much as the deli worker), any good manager would fire such a manifestly dishonest employee in a second.
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yum…human cheese! 
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Money lost to waste is real, and often shockingly high. But poor management often cracks down on employee meals and limited snacking because it assumes some one is maliciously taking from them. Sort of the same way struggling restaurants often cut quality and prices thinking it will improve things. When its often one of the worst things you can do.
Barring theft or some pretty extreme behavior its not a big loss though. It usually pales in comparison to things like spoilage, or plates ruturned due to quality issues.
In all likelyhood this doesnt ammount to theft. In food bev staff food is usually required by law. Its based on working hours and break structure. Less than 8 hours on a shift you have to either provide a break of a certain length or a meal at at minimum 50% cost and the time to eat it. Over 8 hours a much longer break or a meal at no cost. Its part of the required cost of business. Is the usual structure. And employee snacking slots into that cost. As a business you know feeding your employees costs you x per head in a given time frame. This is not illegal, as evidence by the fact that she wasnt charged.
Delis usually fall under these rules.
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Most employers wouldn’t even consider this “theft,” let alone a fireable offense for a person who had been performing an otherwise satisfactory job for the better part of a decade.
Ever notice how it’s only working-class schlubs who get kicked to the curb for this kind of thing? I have a hard time imagining an investment firm firing one of their agents for taking a ballpoint pen home now and then.
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Not to mention that petty theft of food seems to be more common the higher ranking an employee is:
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Ah, the law, in its majestic equality…
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You know how much food grocery stores throw out every day??? This is ridiculous. Capitalist shitheads.
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Or taken the other way, still assuming 2080 (which would be low in that business). They’re claiming she ate 4.42 a day. For up to five slices of ham. For usual deli hams thats more than a 1/4 lb (small) sandwich portion would retail for. Which contains well more than 5 slices. Likely well above what it cost the employer.
And almost certainly below the cost of state mandated paid breaks or meals in states where that is required (dunno if Ohio does).
Unless this is a high end ham, or she was noshing on thick ass slices that cost doesnt wash.
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First of all, you seem to be referring to restaurants(?) And this woman worked in the deli section of a grocery store.
Money lost to waste is real, and often shockingly high. … Barring theft or some pretty extreme behavior its not a big loss though. It usually pales in comparison to things like spoilage, or plates returned due to quality issues.
Is this to say: if a company is inefficient, its OK for workers to accelerate the process by looting the company themselves? If a customer wastes food, that doesn’t mean the employee is also allowed to waste food. Your last sentence is again a “Well, when employees steal, they never steal alot.” From personal experience, I knew of: a kid in high school was constantly handing out hordes of candy he looted from his grocery store job. Another was a manager at a K-Mart; he literally backed up his truck after hours on the weekends to take home his hauls. Your assumption that “theft stays small” is baseless. If anything, it increases: by the employee himself and by others who are corrupted by the “new” status quo.
In all likelyhood this doesnt amount to theft. In food bev staff food is usually required by law. Its based on working hours and break structure.
What are you talking about? We’re not talking about an employee consuming food that is allowable by employee policy. We’re specifically talking about food stolen, either in the absence, or violation of, such a policy. [This addresses your post, Comrade Tovarish @armozel]
This is not illegal, as evidence by the fact that she wasnt charged.
Which is ridiculous. She was fired. For stealing $9000 worth of food. Of course it was illegal. The fact that she wasn’t charged is immaterial. You are claiming any crime I successfully get away with and/or may be impractical to prosecute, is by definition, not a crime.
Also: Think about if what you say actually were true. That any employee at all levels is allowed to steal what they think no one will miss or what they think they deserve.
Yes, the famously corrupt Greek economy, brought low by people eating 3 to 5 slices of their employer’s ham per day
You’re deep in broken windows territory. Maybe take a deep breath, think about how bad zero tolerance policies are, maybe consider that anyone who takes a smoke break has taken something that’s worth at least two slices of ham on the balance books
ETA: your relationship with your employer will always involve a certain amount of give and take. If they felt super strongly about the ham, maybe they could have mentioned it to her instead of calling in the sheriff
edit 2: I just realized that I 100% definitely spend enough time on boingboing to pay for, like, an entire ham per day
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“What’s good today, Mary?”
“Mmphh!”
“Ok, gimme a pound of that.”
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Details are lacking. Did someone else in her department exhibit the same behaviour, leading her to believe it was acceptable(since it is, in some sectors of the food industry)? Was she in fact alerted that it was against company policy? Was she provided a warning before this kerfuffle entered the news?
At the very least, she helped determine if the product was spoiled before the customer took it home.
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You’re saying it was not corrupt? This was not “broken windows.” That’s the point.Greece was brought low because people were “eating” a great deal more 3 to 5 slices: no one was paying their fair share of taxes for 20 years. And, the government was inflated and had no-show jobs. And, various farcical accounting practices allowed them to continue on without it being apparent. And no way to recover because theyd locked it all in with a non-depreciable currency. And a slew of other things. I removed my reference to corruption in other countries. Clearly this will derail the thread.
so, you’ve just detailed all the way your comparison to Greece bares no real relationship to the situation at hand . . . ?
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Its called corruption. If one person is corrupt you get her. If some people are corrupt you get Greece. If many people are corrupt, you get Romania. If corruption is a way of life, you get Russia. And, you’ll reply, “Yup, America is just one ham sandwich away from being Russia.” Which is amusing, but not what I’m saying.
It’s a grocery store, tho, so no requirement to provide you with a meal.
You get minimum wage and the freedom to buy your own food (probably no employee discount either).
