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bogfrog

was i fired fairly?

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There must be a limit though? I mean, if someone poured themselves a glass of water from the tap without asking would you consider it stealing? I doubt it. But why?

It would certainly cover ANY merchandise. No one really sells tap water so this is never merchandise, but if it was then it would be included too. It is not up to the staff member to decide whether he can take home even something as simple as a cutting or not. In our retail shop it is even more improtant because we have automated stock control, so any items gone missing would be classed as shoplifting and would influence our decisions on security measures [which may not be appropriate if there is in fact no shoplifting]. Staff simply don't have the big picture to make such decisions.

It's not always just about the owner either. A few years ago I saw an interesting, rare and rather familiar cassava plant and asked where they got it from. Turns out one of our casuals had taken home some left over cuttings without asking despite being instructed to put thme in the compost. He had spread them far and wide as a popular vegetable. Problem is that [unbeknown to him] this was a high cyanide strain that I kept for curiosity in the garden [we have lots of toxic plants here]. I've tried to track them all down, but can never be sure if I got them all, so his freebee indiscretion may result in a death one day.

Although I would personally ask if I could have coffee without paying for it, I don't think it's unreasonable to think this is okay based on my experience in the food industry.

I've had jobs where giving away free drinks was actually my job, so I certainly understand the principles behind it. Sometiems a drink or coffee is the cheapest form of advertising or to simply get/keep bums on seats. However, this is still up to the owner/manager to decide on making such a policy and setting the appropriate limits. It's been a couple of decades since I worked in hospitality, but at that time it was certainly not appropriate to EVER give any merchandise away without the boss' approval and certainly not to friends. When working in restaurants, a free cup of coffee can soothe problems that may have happened earlier in the meal service, but that coffee represents a fraction of the meal bill and is good for customer service, so while I would possibly consider doing that for free [if there was a good reason] without asking my boss [because it is standard industry practice], I would hesitate to do it if they were friends of mine, because of the perceived benefit derived. I'd want to be able to justify the freebee to my boss. Bottom line is that if you think it is a good idea then you should ask your boss. If he agrees then maybe you can take liberties in future. Even better, ask him to give you the freedom to make that decision yourself.

[edit: just to make sure that it is clear i am arguing this point on principle and not on tightassed-ness, our staff get free access to bottled water, gourmet biscuits or cake, Alchemy Cordial, A2 milk, gourmet plunger coffee, and herbal teas, etc. I also approve any reasonable requests for plants & products they want to take home. It is our policy that these things are a small price to pay for happy and productive staff. However, that is OUR policy and other employers are free to chose a different policy, and that is not up to the staff to take liberties on.]

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I manage a resteraunt and i've got to agree with Torsten, i've sacked people for taking cans of coke, food etc. If they asked it would have been fine probably as a one off, no matter what it is if you take it all the time you gotta pay for it, even if discounted for staff. It's the principle, and it's a business not a charity. Best bet is to just ask 1st, give the manager or owner that respect and you'll get alot more back in things like that. And you have to remember, when things go missing or don't add up, whoever is running the show will cop it, and if they didn't take anything it's really not fair on them.

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perhaps it also depends on how expendable the staff member is. I think bakers are much harder to find than shopgirls. I just know as a baker that it's always been assumed that you can eat/drink anything you want. Maybe it's different for shopgirls. Do you apply the same rules to all your staff Bretloth? I mean, if you've just hired an awesome chef after having trouble finding someone, do you fire him no-questions-asked if he grabs himself a can of coke without asking?

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Same rules for everyone on my watch. Had to sack a mate I got the job not long ago for thinking he was special and not following the rules. Didn't like it, we aren't mates anymore but I had to do it. If a manager lets some staff get away with shit others don't, it just creates political dramas and bitching which I hate and when your staff are all bitching it doesn't make a resteraunt inviting for customers.

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But at the same time all my staff are fully aware right from the start what is allowed and what isn't. I make a point of that so there is no confusion. If they choose not to follow the rules they got to go.

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Same rules for everyone on my watch. Had to sack a mate I got the job not long ago for thinking he was special and not following the rules. Didn't like it, we aren't mates anymore but I had to do it. If a manager lets some staff get away with shit others don't, it just creates political dramas and bitching which I hate and when your staff are all bitching it doesn't make a resteraunt inviting for customers.

you a stone cold mother fucka. :uzi:

keep chasing them dollas :crux: at the expense of your friends, maybe you will make it to corporate one day! :rolleyes:

(get ready for a hot thread?)

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I do have to say that I think owners are entitled to protect their business, and if you lay down the rules and the staff don't follow them then they deserve to get the sack. But I also think people deserve a second chance if there is any confusion when the rules haven't been explicitly laid out. I also feel there are limits to what rules a boss can acceptably set out, and if you wouldn't let your staff drink tap water if it was considered merchandise, then frankly I think you're a bit of a cunt :P

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If you start a job and you are told that you cannot give freebies away and then you do - sure then you should be sacked.

But i cant stand situations where the limits arent defined clearly by the boss and then they get all hardarse.

Open up a cafe down the road with your friends, put him out business :)

Australians get sacked for nothing nowdays. A bloke in Swedan was so addicted to internet porn that he had two months off then downloaded some at work, downl;oaded a virus and brought the entire Stockholm train system to a stand still for a week and all he got was a written warning.

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Maybe my supposed mate should have had the respect for me to do the right thing, you can blame the person that didn't allow the behaviour, or you canblame the person that did the behaviour. People need to take responsibility for their actions and stop blaming everyone else. He knew the rules, he knew that using our friendship to break the rules was disrespectful. Nothing to do with money. You crack me up teo, nice troll oops I mean try..

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But i cant stand situations where the limits arent defined clearly by the boss and then they get all hardarse.

What's worse is when they tell you the rules, but the rules seem to be different in practice than in theory. One place I worked at, I was told there are no set breaks and you just take one when you need one. Now most bakers never take a lunch break. It's basically no breaks, or a ciggie break every now and then if you smoke. After about 4 hours of work, I ducked out for a quick smoke and got yelled at by the boss when he saw me outside having a smoke. Next day I sat down to eat something, and got yelled at again and told to get back to work. After that, I was pretty much sneaking around to take one or two quick breaks during the day.

And that's another thing, these places are so quick to talk about what the rules are when they think someone's getting something for nothing, but where's the f'ing rule book when you're working 10 hour days without a break.

At the same place, there was a guy who used to stock up his boot with slabs of soft drink from the supermarket and sell them without profit. He got told off because the staff were no longer putting money in the vending machine. He kept selling them, but we had to buy them off him secretly, lol.

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i can vouch for t's employee generosity :)

those taurine? chocolates where grouse! :)

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