I’ve worked in a Chinese kitchen at a grocery store adjacent to the deli, what she did isn’t unusual. In fact, our store supervisor usually had no issue marking down stuff that was a day or two away from being expired to give to the general staff. So, nothing personal, a few slices a day over ten years don’t amount to jack on the quarterly reports.
Okay rocket scientist, you realize well over half the food in produce, meat, and deli goes unsold, right? Maybe you don’t know this because you never worked in a grocery store, but I did so I know this too well. You’d be surprised how much stuff just gets chucked into the trash can. It’s why no one gave fuss over it. If you were in the grocery business you’d just ignore it too. It’s not worth the trouble if she came in on time and even covered other shifts. You realize it’s not a factory job we’re talking here. It’s a royal pain in the rear to find workers who know how to open/close a deli properly. Making sure all the cases are cleaned, machines working, and know the fussy customers quirks by heart because they make bank on them. Good luck with your naive “efficiency” excuse if you ever try becoming a supervisor in a grocery store. Most likely, you’ll be fired before the low level staff once you piss off the store’s buyer enough times.
There is a restaurant near me that has a family style meal for all of the employees every night after they close. They unwind, talk about the insanity of the night and bond.
This is Giant Eagle, not Despaña. They’re the bottom rung, basic supermarket in the Pittsburgh area. Nothing there costs more than $10/lb wholesale. And if this was Despaña or Eataly, or some other high end meat emporium, the meatmonger would be expected to eat some and give out plenty of samples to ensure they knew the best stuff to recommend.
Confession…over my lifetime I’ve eaten about $17.81 worth of grapes one at a time to see if they were ripe before buying the bag. If caught I’ll demand a jury trial.
Again, I don’t care about that. It’s irrelevant. If you prosecute everyone for anything that breaks the law even if it doesn’t fundamentally harm the other person or parties then you’re going to get a society where most of us are on parole or breaking rocks in a quarry. This law and order grift of yours is pathetic. No one, and I mean no one, worth their salt in this world is going operate under such absolutist nonsense. Maybe that’s why propertarian types like yourselves are being pushed out of the growing anti-propertarian consensus across the world. People are getting tired of this “but the law” thing when we’re throwing everyone and their grandma in the slammer for the slightest of indiscretions such as minor theft but we’re a-okay with war criminals and rapists so long as they made us laugh (Cosby) or aren’t Donald Trump (GWB). Sorry if I don’t have sympathy for corporations or your terrible sense of morality and justice.
I started in the restaurant business at 14 as a cook and sandwich maker in a deli. And since that time have worked in a few places that get involved with cold cuts. I know a bit about the subject, wholesale costs waste areas etc.
In a supermarket or not delis typically fall under food prep regulations. I currently sell beer wholesale, including to some supermarkets. And their deli counters are typically licensed seperately, their workers are in a different non-grocery union (if union) and some of them are even organized as seperate businesses. Because they’re food service/prep areas rather than grocery ones.
No its to say that if a company is prioretizing a difficult to police, minor loss at the cost of employee morale, loyalty and productivity. Instead of major sources of waste that are simplier to solve. Their prioreties are jacked up, they are poorly managed, and they treat their employees badly. Every supermarket I’ve ever been to in the course of my current job is throwing out thousands of dollars in spoilage, damage and what have a day. And has tens of thousands of dollars a month in “stop loss”. Largely customer theft. Loss to an employee snacking on ham slices, at a threshold below the waste caused by the very act of slicing meat. Isn’t the problem.
WATCH OUT YOU GUYS ITS A SLIPPERY SLOPE.
I’m sure this lady is 30 seconds away from performing mob hits.
I’m not saying policy. I’m saying law. The law dictates minimum compensated time off or food. As a minimum. Often dictated in dollar amounts. These people would have little in the way of success under the law itself because the consumption level likely falls within the bounds of those legal requirements.
They claim $9000. Over the course of 8 years. By snacking on a couple slices of ham. Check above for back of napkin math on why that number is likely horse shit. Unless she exclusively ate the most expensive ham sliced thick, there’s almost no way that adds up. They’ve likely taken the tactic of calculating loses based on full retail price in the most expensive format. And assumed the highest level of consumption she would admit to. Something that does not in anyway actually reflect loses. I doubt they could actually figure out actual loses, if there were any above normal waste levels.
Also: Think of what would happen if your position was how reality actually operated. Everyone always punished, to the maximum allowable level, for every infraction.
Because. Morals?
I’d be willing to bet you’d be in prison. Hell I’d be in prison.
You must love the Punisher
No hes saying the sitiation in Greece has nothing the fuck to do with people nicking a couple ham nuggets.
Where I’m at at least the deli section falls under “food service” for regulatory purposes. Most supermarkets go with the break rather than the food. Employer is paying a labor cost for a paid break rather than for food. Either way there’s a dollar value/cost to the employer attached to employee breaks. 3 slices of Boarshead is a decimal point compared to that.
Yeah, a lot of places do this. I’ve always had it before the shift. One place I worked would actually make all of the specials for the night so that the chefs could practice and servers would know what they were talking about. This is called “line up” and at or place I worked included a uniform inspection (clean clothes, trimmed nails, etc). Sounds authoritarian, but that place ran like a machine and everyone was able to handle heavy surges with ease because everyone bussed each other’s tables, ran food and drinks and had each other’s backs. It was a freaking brewpub, too. Very high standards.
Oh yeah, the brewer would do the same with the new beers and would also review he heritage of beers already on tap. So you got a slight buzz on before the shift, too.
I mean, you let someone get away with eating a few slices of deli a day and before you know it eight years have passed and now she’s… uh… still just eating a few slices of deli meat a day.
Its good management practice. As if the formal shift meal where theres a set break before service and everyone eats together. Aid “unit cohesion”, and makes sure people know the menu. It also tend to be cheaper than everyone ordering a meal personally when they can. Not enough places do that. And it doesnt work great if your cooks dont give a shit. Good chefs care about feeding their staff, and feesing them well. Bad chefs slop out overcooked pasta with chicken and peas.
That’s 8 years there, bro. She must be a Greek politician by now.
From what I have seen this makes for a good business. Employees feel some love, get to eat together, and learn the menu and the chef’s can refine dishes from feedback. The small amount spent of the food is trivial to the good will and knowledge gained. It’s always a bit concerning when I ask a server about something and you can tell they have no idea what any of the food is like. And I don’t mean that as a knock against the server but that seems to indicate the management do not treat the employees well and the place usually has a high turnover.
And it helps get people to their shift on time and ensure they don’t bottom out after five hours on their feet.
Ugh. One place I worked had a d-bag like this. He’d make salads that were 95% red onion. He didn’t last long. Actually, no one did. That place sucked and the “executive chef” was an Ayn Rand adherent who was fond of telling everyone that they were expendable. Years later he hit me up for a job.
I can’t revisit the same points, when all you are doing is revisiting the same greatest hits of rationalizations: "Stealing small isnt stealing" "Stealing always stays small" "The company is wasteful so stealing isnt noticed" "Everybody does it" "Employees arent paid enough as it is"
They claim $9000.
If you’re disputing the only asserted fact of the case, then how would any discussion be possible.
There are a few people from my past that made work life really miserable. I dream of the day one of them walks in looking for a job or business contract. [clenches teeth]
Kant proposed that we think of our actions in terms of the consequences of every person everywhere acting with the same moral values that our actions express.
What happens if every person, everywhere, takes some small amount of material product from employers without permission or extenuating circumstance? Seems pretty untenable; I would not do it.
Of course, profitable and intelligent employers generally either pay wages high enough to make zero-tolerance policies acceptable to employees, or provide some means for lower paid employees to profit from unsaleable product (such as meat-ends, products past sell-by date by not past consumable date, etc.). It’s just good business practice. My employers let me take anything they aren’t going to sell or use, and it saves them money they’d otherwise have to spend on disposal.
$9000 wasn’t the only asserted fact - they also claim three to five slices of ham per day. Their numbers are highly suspect, yet you seem comfortable accepting the more shocking one at face value
Just to be clear, the actual story states only that the loss prevention team “received a tip that the employee had been nibbling on the meat at the deli, eating about three to five slices of ham nearly every day over a space of eight years.” In other words, an employee saw them eating ham, said “hey you’re eating ham” and they said something like “ha ha yeah, I do this all the time” and they ratted them out.
The $9200 number is the estimate that the loss prevention guy used to fire her for the paperwork. They have no way to know how much product she actually ate (unless she was keeping a tally for 8 years), so it’s a made-up number, not a fact.
