Starbucks Fires Employee on Food Stamps for Eating a Sandwich from the Garbage

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Last Monday, 21-year-old barista Coulson Loptmann says he was fired from a downtown Seattle Starbucks where he’d worked for more than a year. The reason? He ate a sandwich that had been thrown away. Really. Like most cafes, the coffee giant gets rid of food that has expired; they donate what they can and toss the more perishable items.

Loptmann, who says he couldn’t get enough hours to pay his bills and survives partly on his food stamps, explains, “I hadn’t eaten all day and I was on a seven-hour shift.” A coworker had just marked some breakfast sandwiches out of stock, and he figured no one would mind if he grabbed one of the plastic-wrapped sausage sandwiches out of the trash can.

But Starbucks did mind. According to Loptmann, his manager sat him down a week later and told him she’d found out about the sandwich and contacted HR, “and they consider it stealing, and it’s against policy. So I’m sorry, but I have to terminate you.” She fired him on the spot.

The incident comes up just as fast-food workers prepare for another strike this Thursday—and this time, they're asking baristas to join them. Seattle's fast-food walkouts this spring were extraordinarily successful, shutting down multiple restaurants, and this week, organizers for Good Jobs Seattle are encouraging low-wage workers in coffee shops to join the national push for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

The rest at: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/08/27/starbucks-fires-employee-on-food-stamps-for-eating-a-sandwich-from-the-garbage

[noiretextatique]

1. how is it stealing if they were going to trash it?

insane.

[HughBeaumont]

6. Ask McDonalds. Or any fast food restaurant that tosses perfectly good shit out . . .

. . . and fires their employees for eating it. Just like they did to me when I was 17 . . . and they offered the absolute flimsiest excuses for doing so. Never worked in fast food ever again.

It's the same thing as H&M willfully destroying their throwaway clothing rather than have homeless people wear them or donating it.

[rurallib]

21. Well I will try

My recollection is that if employees could eat (or wear) product that was no longer saleable, then they (the employee) would be trying to rig the system such that they or a buddy would mark the item as unsaleable even though it was saleable in order to get something free.

Had the manager given the marked the item and then GIVEN it to the employee that would probably be OK.

That was always the policy in all the retail jobs I had back in the '60s.

[Niceguy1]

30. thst is why he wss terminated

Sucks, but it as legit

[CrispyQ]

104. It's a reasonable policy.

I worked at a grocery store many years ago & the policy was that if a package of cookies or chips broke open, no one was allowed to eat them. Then one of the vendors said that they only needed the package to issue a credit to the store, they didn't need the contents, so the store changed the policy. Of course, what happened was that bags of cookies & chips were 'breaking' open all the time, so management changed the policy back.

[OldEurope]

111. So maybe...

...they shold pay their staff a decent wage and some benefits. Then they will be happily supporting their company and would not commit fraud. (I'm an internal auditor and I know why people commit fraud)

[heaven05]

119. ding, ding, ding

we have a winner here. Couldn't have said it better.

[CrispyQ]

122. This was back in the 70s. We were union with good wages & benefits.

The employees ruined it themselves.

[noiretextatique]

161. this kid stole because he was hungry

and he works for a wealthy corporation that could easily withstand the loss of one or two or a thousand trashed sandwiches. so yeah...if they paid him a decent wage with benefits, he wouldn't be forced to look for food in their trash cans.

[progressoid]

121. Pfft. That was never the policy at the store I worked at.

Of course, it was a locally owned store and we were paid a decent wage too.

If something broke open, it often went to the break room for employees to snack on. The owner often gave us nearly expired dairy products to take home.

[DebJ]

137. Yes one of the ways employees do this is to over-produce intentionally

so that items WILL go in the trash because they KNOW they aren't going to sell that much.
Fast food wages need to be higher.

[iamthebandfanman]

49. all fast food places have this policy

its silly.. but its like that everywhere.

you should see the amounts of food that places like mcdonalds trash... I mean, A LOT.

you have to remember that they are only allowed to keep food that's been prepared already for a certain amount of time and then they cant sell it... and places like mcdonalds that mass produce their sandwiches end up throwing tons of uneaten food away

[Rockyj]

110. Boycott Starbucks

I live in WA & refuse to get coffee there!

[Earth_First]

2. Insanity.

I fuc*king hate what we've become.

[Delphinus]

25. I do too.

It's overwhelming.

[n2doc]

3. Greatest Country On Earth!

USA! USA! USA!

[Locrian]

4. wtf?

What kind of idiot manager thinks that whatever 'company' policy trumps being human?

[Incitatus]

13. typical obedience to authority. nt

[LiberalElite]

24. Just following orders... eom

[warrant46]

78. Sounds like Walmart

[Scootaloo]

54. Workers are expendible parts, not people

So are franchise managers, according to the regional managers. Who are also expendable, according to corporate. Corporate is of course made of people.

[calimary]

120. I believe the proper term is "fungible assets."

[Hassin Bin Sober]

84. Buckin' for district manager.

What was that quote about paying half the poor to kill the other half of poor people?

[DebJ]

138. The one who needs their paycheck to feed their family.

[Locrian]

146. not how I read it

And this guy didn't need the job to feed himself?

The article says Starbucks didn't think that alone would warrant the firing. And that the manager though of it more as 'stealing'. I stand by my opinion that the manager was being a robot employee not a human one.

[kelliekat44]

5. Really, they should ask their employees if they want the left overs. nt

[X_Digger]

9. The reason they don't is probably a liability issue.

Imagine if they agreed to that, then an employee got sick from expired food.

Many folks here would be outraged over a company feeding employees expired food.

[Rex]

16. Have them sign a wavier...just that easy.

nt.

[X_Digger]

20. Those 'liability waivers' don't have as much force as you'd imagine, reading them.

Especially not for recklessness or gross negligence.

[Niceguy1]

32. can't wave rights

And if they allow it and employee gets sick they woykd be eligible for workers comp

[LiberalElite]

26. Feeding employees expired food is one thing -

this employee chose to remove it from the trash. As they like to say in insurance law - he "assumed the risk."
(DISCLAIMER: I work in a law firm but am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.)

[X_Digger]

27. *nod* Good point. n/t

[Rex]

29. Good point.

nt.

[NickB79]

101. My boss at Quiznos did that all the time

We'd always have some soup left at the end of the day we couldn't reheat, as well as meatballs. Hell, I used to take home the butt ends of the bread that we'd cut off the loaves to make the sandwiches look "pretty".

I practically lived off chili, clam chowder, leftover meatballs on spaghetti or ground up into meatloaf, bread butts turned into garlic toast, and expired cookies and cakes through most of my college life. Compared to the ramen packs most of my friends lived off of, I was eating like a king!

I think I spent a whopping $20/mo on groceries.

Hell, he used to give free cups of soup to the local homeless population if they asked nicely. He was a really good boss.

[lunasun]

156. this happens at restaurants and grocery stores a lot

& even if it wasnt policy there, if he only did it a few times, not fill a cooler with expired Starbucks sandwhiches everyday then seems a warning would suffice


It was headin for the trash anyway plus like you say the trash is better than what even friends can buy and make.
it has to go - but doesn't have to go - to waste!!

[FiveGoodMen]

7. How very Third World

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. actually this is very first world. nt

[freeplessinseattle]

73. Yep. I have a feeling this would have played out differently

in a 3rd world country

[La Lioness Priyanka]

82. yeah for many reasons. some good and some not so good

but either way it would not have played out like this

[WestSeattle2]

8. Howard Schultz needs to fire the store manager and replace

that person with the fired barista.

We're watching, Howard.

[Incitatus]

12. Did he have nothing to do with writing his company's policy? nt

[DRoseDARs]

71. Almost certainly not. Corporations have "legal departments" for a reason. nt

[Incitatus]

80. Okay, then I will withhold judgement for the moment. nt

[KamaAina]

11. "who says he couldn’t get enough hours to pay his bills and survives partly on his food stamps",

Looks like Walmart isn't the only megacorporation that screws its workers to the point that they end up on public benefits. For shame, Starbucks. P.S. Peet's (Bay Area chain) is better.

[KamaAina]

14. "I admit it! I'm Jean Valjean!"

[elehhhhna]

48. Look down! Look down! You're standing in your grave!

yep you nailed it

[Ilsa]

67. Rec KamaAina's post! nt

[marions ghost]

15. How about

letting the employee have a sandwich that wasn't being thrown away? Officially and all.

[adirondacker]

34. Exactly! nt

[bluestate10]

46. How about paying the employee enough so that the employee can afford lunch, or

paying the employee fairly AND providing lunch. A free sandwich and non alcoholic drink for a hardworking employee won't break a well run business.

[marions ghost]

75. A lot of restaurants will provide

one meal or snack if the employee works a long shift. Especially if the wages are low. Not many tips in a Starbucks.

Starbucks, you suck.

[freeplessinseattle]

76. oh, but how they love to squueze every cent they can from employees

Giving employees short-dated food rather than wasting it means they might lose out on employees putting their earnings back into the company by purchasing product.

A****les

[freeplessinseattle]

81. I shop at the Grocery Outlet a lot, mainly short-dated foods there

but people know it going in and the risk is theirs. There's quite a few products that are past the sell by/use by/best by exp. date up to a month, and I have got some fantastic deals (though personally only buy things no further than a few days after the sell date, for taste sake).

The get new things in all the time, from all over the country, and when they say "when it's gone it's gone", they mean it, so I've learned to snag multiples of exceptional deals on favorite things.

Sometimes there must be only a few of something left and not enough to use up precious shelf space, when new product is waiting in the back, so I've wondered if the employees are given the chance to take the random short-dated leftovers, or if they would throw those away even though they aren't technically expired according to that store's standards, and philosophy?

[heaven05]

153. you're talking

too much sense for a greedy franchise like starf**ks. Profit is king and damn everyone else including the employee. I never go there. NEVER WILL.

[Rex]

17. Fuck Starbucks. The Wal Mart of coffee houses.

nt.

[Safetykitten]

18. What gets thrown away at an average store or worse, bigbox would make people pass out in shock.

Really, the average person does not have a clue.

[TalkingDog]

28. As a seasoned dumpster diver.... I agree 1000 percent.

My biggest haul was 9, still-frozen, spiral sliced hams that had not yet expired. We gave a couple away and it still took us a few years to finish off the rest.

As a matter of fact, I still have a chunk of one waiting on some cold weather so I can make split pea soup.

[WCLinolVir]

102. These new dumpsters are terrible aren't they?

I used to live by a grocery store with the old style that you could climb into and I was astounded at what they threw out. It should be criminal.

[TalkingDog]

108. The couple of places I frequent still have the small ground level ones.

And Yes, it should be criminal. But HEY! CAPITALISM!

[lunasun]

160. Round here some stores pour bleach over the meat when they put it in the dumpster

imagine all that ham gone to waste sad

[MrModerate]

19. The employee violated about a million health and safety laws . . .

Not to mention company policy.

However, if this was the only instance, he should have been counseled and not fired. Bad call by the manager.

[hatrack]

23. Well, then, we'd better not just fire him - how about some flogging?

Maybe a day in the stocks?

[Art_from_Ark]

31. And if he spends a day in the stocks,

he'd better not each the fruits and vegetables that are thrown at him

[MrModerate]

86. And counseling is equivalent to flogging how? n/t

[hatrack]

93. Was counseling involved? I thought it was a straight-up firing . . .

Maybe I missed something.

[MrModerate]

94. Yeah, you missed reading the post you responded to.

I'll give you another chance, however, as long as you take this as a lesson and make a commitment to following the rules from now on.

(That would be counseling.)

[heaven05]

151. and just ask me for a day old sandwich

would be part of my counseling.

[MrModerate]

159. I'd say day-old might be pressing your luck . . .

Depending upon the temperature under which it was displayed, but basically, yeah.

[heaven05]

36. ????

you've never had to subsist on food stamps, I have. You've not been hungry lately or ever probably. How about he should have been told to ask for a sandwich. If I was manager of a stargivemeyourbucks, that's what I would have done for one of my employees. Oh I forgot, money and profit was involved. Health and safety laws? Tell that to someone who doesn't know what hunger is about.

[MrModerate]

87. Gee. I think health and safety laws should be followed.

That must make me a bad person.

I also think business should be able to set reasonable rules about workplace behavior. So now I'm a fascist.

That chip on your shoulder seems to be weighing you down.

[Cal Carpenter]

103. Yeah, hunger and poverty are a 'chip on the shoulder'

It's a crime to be poor in America.

Fortunately for the real beneficiaries of the system there are plenty of cold-hearted folks helping keep it in place...

All that water you are carrying for the ownership class seems to be weighing you down.

[MrModerate]

128. Ooh, snap, 'carrying water for the ownership class' . . .

Boy am I schooled.

[heaven05]

141. truth will set you free

no not you, you're stuck and can't get out.

[MrModerate]

147. And fatuous piffle will make you fall on your face. n/t

[heaven05]

107. Yep

you're right. I do agree with everything you say about yourself. Chip no, empathy for our working poor, yes. I sense an amazing lack in you. Law and rules trumps everything, right? You're in the right era and would have been very comfortable in recent modern eras covering say the last 80 years. Done with you.

[MrModerate]

129. I 'sense' a childish lack of discernment in you . . .

Which makes you unable to make any kind of sensible choice. Good luck with that.

[heaven05]

142. I actually

agreed with what you said about yourself and I agree that it was a "sensible choice". What's the problem? Keep "carrying that ownership class" slop bucket, you'll make it to the trough, sooner or later, for your scraps.

[MrModerate]

148. [Makes twirling motion with forefinger in vicinity of temple] n/t

[rl6214]

113. Did the employee tell the manager he was hungry or ask for the food?

When I managed a restaurant I always told my employees if you are hungry just tell me and I will get you something to eat. If you take something without asking, you will lose your job.

[heaven05]

117. did the

manager make the employee comfortable enough to ask for the discarded sandwich or any food for that matter? Good for you on the asking. Shows you have a heart.

[rl6214]

124. Unknown if the manager was approachable or not.

[elehhhhna]

45. oh ell yeah at least a million

[Incitatus]

53. At least? Are you sure that's not a conservative number? nt

[MrModerate]

88. Hyperbole. Mea culpa.

Not that I'm genuinely apologetic.

[WCLinolVir]

126. Feel the warmth.

[Incitatus]

52. Can you cite any health and safety laws he broke?

It is hard to infer that from the article. He picked up and ate an expired sandwich from the trashcan. Assuming he ate in an approved area and washed his hands, the article doesn't say otherwise, what was legally wrong as far as safety and health is concerned?

[MrModerate]

90. Well, it's been years since I worked in Seattle . . .

So I'm not up to speed with their current rulebook, but once something is designated as waste, it's generally considered a violation to consume it (or for the restaurateur to allow it to be consumed).

As the article indicated, Starbucks does try to pass some of their food on to the needy — which is perfectly legal if properly done. But things with mayonnaise (just as an example) and anything else with raw eggs are considered significant hazards.

And if such laws are not scupulously followed, restaurants can be shut down, fined and sued. AND, if the practice is winked at, UN-scrupulous proprieters are quite likely to begin slipping the use-by dates of their offerings.

As I said, the employee should have been counseled by his supervisor, not fired (unless he'd done this before and alread been counseled). And perhaps some arrangement made where food was made available to those who wanted it prior to its designation as waste.

[LanternWaste]

55. hunger ofter supersedes regulations...

On the individual level, hunger ofter supersedes regulations. I would think anyone with even a Mr. moderately functioning brain would realize this...

[MrModerate]

91. And actions have consequences, regardless of motivation . . .

Turn your lantern light on that!

[heaven05]

118. Ten HUT!!!!

[MrModerate]

130. Being an optimist, I'm going to take this as a teachable moment . . .

Last edited Sat Aug 31, 2013, 03:12 AM - Edit history (1)

All the great leaders of civil disobedience movements — Gandhi, King, Savio, et al — even those folks serenading Walker in the Wisconsin capitol — have acknowledged that engaging in such acts can lead to unpleasant and sometimes deadly consequences (although usually no worse than arrest and detention).

That is a fact, the stating of which doesn't make me a fascist, or a martinet, or whatever you had in mind when you posted the response above.

The Starbucks employee is no more invulnerable because his need was intense than anyone else who engages in prohibited behavior. He violated health laws, put his employer at risk of legal sanction, endangered his own health, and broke his promise to follow the workplace rules of his employer.

Should both the employee and the supervisor have handled the incident differently? I certainly think so, and that's what I said in my original response. The employee should have asked first (before the food was classified as waste) and the supervisor should have counseled rather than disciplined.

But a pure heart and moral rectitude are lousy shields for the rock that falls on your head when you break the rules. Rules, incidentally, which are to everybody's benefit.

[heaven05]

145. Some rules

need to be broken if they are going to be fixed. Some rules, and it seems more and more, are becoming more draconian, unforgiving and yes fascist. Ok on the counsel in this case. Yet hunger sometimes does not allow a person to think clearly. I know for a personal fact, this is true. Asking for the food would not have hurt anything, so that was a possible route. Pure hearts and being morally right are shields against rigid authoritarians who brook no breaking of the rules and meting out punitive punishment outside the bounds of the alleged crime. No this person should not have been fired. I supervised for 18 of my 26 years at the job I retired from. Never had a union grievance against me and always accomplished the mission. Breaks for people are necessary sometimes because of extenuating circumstances. Hunger and poor judgement, extenuating circumstances?

[MrModerate]

149. So, as an experienced supervisor . . .

Do you disagree with my original statement?

[heaven05]

150. million? too much

counseled by manager and bad call by manager? Yes.

[AdHocSolver]

83. How many health and safety laws were violated at the factory that makes what Starbucks sells?

The real danger to the public occurs whenever people merely walk into a fast-food chain restaurant.

[MrModerate]

92. Well, I don't know. And neither do you.

And if you don't like chain restaurants, you're perfectly free not to eat in them.

As for me, there are only a few I'll go into. But that has more to do with my tastes in food, not (ordinarily) threats to my health.

[AdHocSolver]

97. I guess you never saw the film "Supersize Me" or read the books about unhealthy food.

There are demonstrated links between the highly processed food diets and poor health, as well as the numerous recalls of food due to e coli, salmonella, and other infestations of bacteria, not to mention the food additives that are considered unhealthy.

[MrModerate]

98. Food additives (not to mention hormones in meat, etc.) are hard to avoid . . .

Whether you cook at home or not. And I agree that's a big problem. As are portion sizes that would choke a horse.

But e. coli and salmonella are not common enough for the statement "whenever people merely walk into a fast-food chain restaurant" to be valid.

Small, non-chain restaurants (even expensive ones) are much more likely, statistically, to harbor such pathogens.

[WCLinolVir]

125. Have you worked in a restaurant?

That reach into the trash for a wrapped item, which was probably right on top, will look down right hygienic compared to some of the stuff that happens behind the cooks station.

[MrModerate]

132. I have, and I know what you're talking about . . .

Last edited Sat Aug 31, 2013, 03:09 AM - Edit history (1)

But getting away with something is not the same as doing the right thing.

[JustAnotherGen]

22. He was hungry

He had just worked a seven hour shift and had not had anything to eat that day.
He subsists on food stamps - but works seven hour shifts without eating all day.
He was hungry.
He was hungry after serving food and beverage to other human beings for seven hours.
He was hungry.

Shame on them.

I don't like their coffee so I never go there - so I can't boycott them. But I can say, "shame on you."

[rl6214]

115. He should have just asked for it.

[JustAnotherGen]

116. They wouldn't have given it to him

It was garbage to them and by their standards.

[rl6214]

123. I managed a restaurant for 25 years and we had the same rules

But if someone told me they hadn't eaten and were hungry I WOULD give them something to eat like something we had made too much of or was about to go out of rotation. I would rather they ask me than just take something. If they just took without asking I WOULD fire them.

[WCLinolVir]

127. Could be a shame issue. I don't think I'd fire a value employee.

Not for a friggin sandwich. Isn't that just a bit much? If it was my employee I'd want to know what we could do help normalize his situation. I don't see why Starfu##s can't have a policy that feeds employees, or at least gives a hefty discount as a benefit. It is so greedy.

[rl6214]

136. A bit too much?

No, not really. I have seen employees intentionally overlook food or damage it just so they could eat it. Not because they didn't have the money, they just didn't want to pay for it. We even gave a 50% meal discount.

[JustAnotherGen]

140. Ahhh

But you are a liberal with critical thinking skills. That manager was not thinking like that. We're you in a large chain?

[rl6214]

143. Yes is is one of the largest casual dining chains out there.

[heaven05]

152. feed a hungry

person and ask them to ask next time. If not you'd have to do what you feel is necessary....too many managers/supervisors take their responsibilities overboard. I had one on the shift after me with more grievances than the pages in the old and new testament. Just talk to employees, they are human just like you. Extenuating circumstances are usually at work. In 18 years, I fired one person. Just would not try to do better. Bent over backwards, just didn't care. Found out later the individual was going through bad marriage and finally divorce. Too proud to talk about it but definitely made the individual a danger to all and their self. One of the worst days of my working career. Even the union stood down. Don't get me wrong they filed the proper paperwork to save this individual, but nothing could be done after so many chances. But many others straightened out after some heart to hearts. And some of the life situations some of these people were going through made me very sad. Human was my way, not robot.

[heaven05]

33. mean spirited

capitalism at it's best. Got fired for being hungry. Ain't amerika grand? geez

[AsahinaKimi]

38. Its the Republican way...

Place a lovely sandwich down in front of a homeless person, and then proceed to stomp the food into the ground in front of them.

[elehhhhna]

44. probably wasn't smiling hard enough either.

eff that shitty coffee anyway

[Politicalboi]

35. Why can't Starbuck's

GIVE their employees lunch. Why can't they allot some sandwiches for employees only. Starbuck's should be ashamed that their workers need to use food stamps to survive. If they gave a decent wage, and 40 hours a week with benefits, maybe the employees wouldn't have to eat their trash.

[Plucketeer]

43. Yeah

For the price of two Starbucks drinks, I can brew a pot of coffee every day for more than three weeks!

Likely, if this hungry fella wanted a breakfast sandwich - he should have paid for it like everyone else!

[TexasBushwhacker]

60. Like many service jobs, most are part time

I had a roommate who worked 2 part time jobs, one being at Starbucks. It paid fairly well. She got $9 an hour and another $3 an hour or more in tips. Unlike many employers, they provide health insurance to anyone working at least 20 hours a week.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

65. "a crime here that goes beyond denunciation"

Behind the fruitfulness are men of understanding and knowledge and skill, men who experiment with seed, endlessly developing the techniques for greater crops of plants...These are great men...They have transformed the world with their knowledge...

The decay spreads over the State, and the sweet smell is a great sorrow on the land. Men who can graft the trees and make the seed fertile and big can find no way to let the hungry people eat their produce. Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten...

The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit—and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.

There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must dill in the certificates—died of malnutrition---because the food must rot, must be forced to rot...

In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

[reformist2]

68. Exactly. Let them take a fresh sandwich!

[BillyRibs]

37. "Don't muzzle the ox who treads out the grain."

Their Coffee taste Burnt, Their Food is second rate and Now I see they Treat their staff like thieves. The Quote is from the old testament.

[Sentath]

135. I was just gearing up to post this

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/dt/25.html#4

Deuteronomy 25 : 9

This concept is so foundational that it gets quoted in the New Testament as well.

[BillyRibs]

139. Every Single Privately owned Restaurant,

I ever worked for had a list of menu Items the staff could eat. they got a free meal on Lunch/dinner break. I mean not the Fillet' or Lobster, but a decent meal. BTW did I say Free! And nobody ever bitched if you grabbed a fry from the warming bin.

[bluestate10]

39. How can anyone work around food while starving? Starbucks management is blind.

Employees should be provided with a meal and drink while at work. Mom and Pop shops provide meals to employees and stay in business, why can't a large company like Starbucks do the same?

[HardTimes99]

154. After a fair bit of sleuthing on my part, I've discovered that a couple mutual funds in my

IRA have small stakes in Starbucks (ticker = SBUX). It's a pittance really, about $25.00 of stock from what I can discern. When you own stock through a mutual fund, you have no shareholder rights the same way you do when you own shares outright, so I'm a little uncertain as to whether I should sell the mutual funds, thereby ridding myself of Starbucks. Alternatively, I could actually buy one share of SBUX, thereby acquiring a shareholder's right to bitch at management about this. Hmm.

[Uben]

40. Go to their website and complain....I did

I told em I would never, ever set foot in another Starbucks. (I've only been there once anyway) Then I proceeded to call them dumbasses for pulling such a boner move and that the brand would suffer in the form of lost customers if they don't correct this mistake. Boycott their ass and write them and let them know you are dissatisfied.

[otohara]

50. They Don't Care About Gun Complaints

they aren't going to give a rats ass about this kid.
Mighty HR has spoken.

[TexasBushwhacker]

41. If the manager "found out"

that means a co-worker saw him and reported him. I wonder if he still had his uniform on and could be seen by customers.

[LanternWaste]

57. I'd imagine that hunger does not recognize uniforms.

I'd imagine that hunger does not recognize uniforms.

[Lizzie Poppet]

59. Stuck Farbucks.

Coffee there tastes like shit, anyway...

[elehhhhna]

42. in 76 my first job (pt, high school) was bussing tables at HoJo's

and we got a free meal on every 7 hour shift, taken midshift, regardless of which shift.


6 dollar coffees, expensiveass décor, and they can't give trashfood to the staff? Fuck Starbucks.








Maybe that's why HoJos is gone now. (sarc)

[reformist2]

69. My guess is that this was the brainchild of some profit-maximizing analyst.

[BuelahWitch]

89. My Mom waited tables for years

She also got a free meal every place she worked. Towards the end she could only work 4 hour shifts, but she still got her free meal. Of course, this was in the '70s.

[questionseverything]

109. yea the good ole days

when employers were still human beings instead of nameless,faceless corps

[msanthrope]

47. Horrible. Jeebus Christ. nt

[BlueJazz]

51. I know what I would have done. "I heard about you eating the sandwich" "One of your ..

...co-workers told me...don't do that any more...company policy and all that"

And any of you know why??

I'm a nice person but also slightly paranoid in these strange times. What if...Just what if this kid was desperate and hungry and homeless and developed a intense anger over the whole stupid affair?

"14 people murdered by lone gunman this morning@8:15"
"Witnesses say a distraught teen was....

[mike_c]

56. friends don't let friends drink Starbucks....

Bumper sticker on my partner's car.

[Orrex]

58. It was hovering.

Like an angel.

[defacto7]

61. I don't need their products THAT much.

Or their open carry gun policies.

Bye bye.. Starbucks.

[reformist2]

70. We need to start unionizing all these fast-food & coffee shop workers.

They are being treated like dirt!

[Snake Plissken]

62. You steal a trillion tax payer dollars on Wall Street and you get a huge bonus

you take a sandwich from the trash and you lose your job

This is what we have allowed our country to turn into.

[dickensknitter]

63. Got to wonder

...about food you are required to toss after 15 minutes. That was the holding time for fries when I worked for the king. We weren't allowed to eat anything from the trash; a firing offense... Since workers might make extra simply TO waste.
I posited I could probably keep alive just from the grease I absorbed through my skin when I 'wommanned' the friers.
I never bought lunch when I cleaned motel rooms, just ate cold pizza or fried chicken out of the trash. Bennies.

[LibDemAlways]

64. A friend's daughter worked in the cafe

Of a local now defunct Borders. This was several years ago. In her first week on the job she was ordered to take the unsold muffins out to the dumpster. Out there she came across a homeless woman with a small child. She couldn't bear the thought of tossing perfectly good food out in the presence of these homeless people, so she gave them the muffins and went back inside. She had been seen by a co-worker, however, and ratted on to the manager. She was.reprimanded and told if it happened again, she'd be fired. This is apparently standard.

[Ilsa]

66. I would love to vomit a sandwich up on that manager. nt

[Historic NY]

72. Well if there is a DD and a SB, I go to the DD.....

why because you can ask for the old donuts or bagles and they will give them up.

[kentauros]

74. This is for all of you that have never worked in the food industry or retail:

Almost all employers are just like that. It's a liability and likely dictated to them by their insurance company as well as the local health department.

Food is considered safe to eat only if it remains outside of the danger zone, i.e., 40F - 140F. If it's going into the dumpster, you're no longer able to control that temperature range, and you'd be liable if someone got sick from you giving it directly to them. The local health department could also shut your establishment down. The fact that you can't control that range, either, once you've sold it to them, doesn't seem to make it a violation of health laws or liability insurance.

Retail may sell food as well, but that's usually pre-packaged and not subject to the danger zone of temperature. However, if any product is damaged to the point where it can't be resold, it must be destroyed, and then thrown out (or done at the dumpster.)

For example, back in the mid-90s I worked at a Williams-Sonoma retail store doing stocking work. Sometimes a customer would return a package of wine glasses because one of them was chipped. Per their insurance policy, we had to destroy not only the damaged glass, but all of the glasses. It made no sense to me back then. Destroy the chipped one and give us workers the undamaged (and unsellable) pieces. But I guess they then wouldn't be able to write off the taxes for the package if we only destroyed part of it.

[WCGreen]

77. les miserables...

It's the rules...

[indepat]

79. What empathy. Oh, the humanity so many corporate giants show their underpaid and

often hungry employees. This is emblematic of the ugly under-belly of so much of America as corporate greed breeds unthinkable inhumanity through not giving a diddle-dy fuck about the well-being of their employees. USA, USA.

[KittyWampus]

85. what also bothers me is that a co-worker apparently informed on him. When I applied for a job

at a large chain bookstore years ago, the questionnaire you had to fill out was formidable. It has questions on it that were very invasive (are you ever depressed?) AND it asked if you saw a co-worker stealing would you say something.

I didn't finish filling out the questionnaire. I knew I wouldn't fit into corporate culture. Yes, I could figure out the answers they wanted to hear but I just can't imagine playing their tune day after day after day.

[lunasun]

158. Yes I have words for the rat and the boss -@$$)*&*%$ !!

[Safetykitten]

95. A Home Depot store throws away an amount that would stun.

EVERYTHING goes in the compactor. Its a closed system so no one sees it. The waste is astronomical. And to you fussy garden types with idiotic complaints that the pansy has a wilted flower? ALL that goes in the garbage. Flats of plants by the hundreds...5 gallons, 15 gallon trees...all go in the compactor. Just because people like you want a tree that has perfect leaves. NO deviation allowed. So think about that next time you go shopping. Also they don't own the flowers. Those are pay by scan....the associates can't seem to get the concept of watering plants Home Depot does not own. In the garbage.

[lunasun]

157. +100

[hunter]

96. Long time ago I was living in my car in a church parking lot.

The manager of a nearby fast food place sometimes gave me food. No reason, just to be human. It wasn't a good neighborhood, you could hardly tell the homeless folks from the paying customers so it wasn't a big problem. (In the city where I grew up homeless people were rounded up and taken away like stray animals. Anyone caught feeding homeless people would get in trouble because they were lowering property values derp, derp, derp...)

Her boss, the owner and licensee, didn't care. I think he used the place to launder money he made, um, growing medicinal herbs.

Frankly the world before computers and giant corporations tracking every last French fry was often a more gentle place.

I haven't worked in a food place for a long time, but I've never worked in one that wouldn't give food to hungry employees. And it wasn't a big loss for the employers either. If you work in a place long enough you get tired of the food anyways.

I don't get the "by the book" people here. What changes about food a minute past the expiration date? Nothing.

[michigandem58]

99. Seems awful, but I understand the policy

Employees eating "expired" food can lead to liability issues or staff deliberately over cooking to create a surplus and a free meal for themselves.

[TBF]

105. FFS. nt

[eShirl]

100. They should have given him a raise instead.

human decency used to be a thing

[TBF]

106. I used to like Starbucks. Oh well. There are other coffee shops. nt

[rl6214]

112. I managed a restaurant for 25 years and I can see why this happened

It's not unusual for employees to mark food as old just so they can eat it so we always had a 'no food eaten unless paid for ' policy.

With that said, if ANYONE AT ALL came to me and told me they hadn't eaten or were hungry, I would give them something to eat.

Our food that was out of rotation but still good we would freeze and donate to a local food kitchen.

[Mopar151]

131. Fair and sensible - if done right. But employees gotta follow the system, or too much shit happens.

There are benefits to do it this way, if you play it right. Quality Control, pride in the product, an easy upsell. I've been a blue collar supervisor - if you take care of your people, the productivity increase alone pays off any cost, pilferage shrinks, AND it's the right thing to do.

[Travis_0004]

133. I agree with this

I worked at a place where employees could eat the food when we closed, since we would be throwing it away, but we had problems with employees making food 1 hour before close, when we clearly didn't need it, just so they could eat it, so we had to make changes. We just ended up talking to the employees, and held the managers feet to the fire if it continued, so we didn't change the policy, but if it didn't improve, we were ready to change the policy that employees do not eat the food at close.

[Egalitarian Thug]

114. I find the rationalizations here fucking hilarious. n/t

[Melynn]

134. Didn't someone write a book about how Starbucks saved his life.

I remember that from a few years ago. I wonder what he would think about this.

[otohara]

144. Not Much Probably - The Man Was Making 6 Figures

Last edited Sat Aug 31, 2013, 01:39 PM - Edit history (1)

and comes from a family with buku bucks, wrote a best selling book, turned into a movie - MEH...he's back on top and could care less about the hungry worker on food stamp.

[lunasun]

155. At least there was no prison time !

yet
and you lnow what I think of the rat and the boss
neither one of them ever living hungry I betcha