Posted on 08/29/2013 10:30:57 AM PDT by YourAdHere
A downtown Seattle Starbucks employee was fired for taking an expired sandwich out of the trash and eating it, according to The Stranger.
Coulson Loptmann, a 21-year-old part-time barista, said he grabbed a plastic-wrapped sausage sandwich out of the trash can in the midst of a seven-hour shift on Monday. According to Loptmann, the sandwich was one of a few being thrown out because of its impending expiration.
Loptmann’s store manager found about Loptmann’s actions and contacted Starbucks’ human resources department.
The Stranger learned that Loptmann’s manager terminated him on spot because his actions reportedly go against Starbucks’ policies.
Zack Hutson, a company spokesman, said employees are not allowed to consume “marked-out” products because of the health risk of eating potentially spoiled products. However, Hutson added that a violation like this would not warrant a termination unless it was “the culmination of broader, ongoing performance issues.”
Loptmann, who is currently receiving food stamps, claims he had a great relationship with his employees and supervisors. He reportedly was hired in 2012 and has seen his shifts diminish to no more than 30 hours per week.
You ARE CORRECT SIR!
Back in the day, the grocery chain here would set expired baked goods, produce and packaged items out on tables or pallets for anyone to take home for free. No meat or such. Of course, after years of doing this, the government stepped in and put a stop to it. They then started donating the bread to the senior center and the senior center would set out grocery baskets along the street for any and all to take. The government stepped in again and put a stop to it all. Talk about waste. Not once for all those years did I ever hear of anyone getting sick. I doubt they could have been sued (that was before anyone tought of suing over hot coffee) because there were no signs stating they were giving it away. Today, the same store never orders enough to keep the shelves fully stocked and there’s always shelves that are totally empty. I don’t know if that’s due to poor management or they don’t want excess that will be trashed or what. There was another store that would sell dented canned goods or cans that didn’t have labels which I can understand how that would be ripe for law suits.
Jerry Seinfeld: So let me get this straight. You find yourself in the kitchen. You see an éclair in the receptacle... and you think to yourself: “What the hell, I’ll just eat some trash.”
George Costanza: No, no, no. It was not trash.
Jerry Seinfeld: Was it in the trash?
George Costanza: Yes.
Jerry Seinfeld: Then it was trash.
George Costanza: It wasn’t down in. It was sort of on top.
Jerry Seinfeld: But it was in the cylinder.
George Costanza: Above the rim.
Jerry Seinfeld: Adjacent to refuse is refuse.
George Costanza: It was on a magazine, and it still had the doily on.
Jerry Seinfeld: Was it eaten?
George Costanza: One little bite.
Jerry Seinfeld: Well, that’s garbage.
George Costanza: But I know who took the bite. It was her aunt.
Jerry Seinfeld: You, my friend, have crossed the line that divides man and bum. You are now a bum.
Yes, we got a free meal at the end of our shifts. Sounds like that guy was saving the company some money.
As sad as it to waste what was probably perfectly good food, they have to do this.
If this employee got sick off of it, Starbucks could get hit with a workers comp claim because workers comp is a no fault (meaning even if you are stupidly doing something, and get hurt, they still pay) type of policy and after so many of these claims, the policy would increase due to their claim rating.
I worked at McDonalds back in the day when they actually closed.
It was company policy that any unsold sandwiches had to tossed at closing. It became common for the grill guy to take the orders of the employees 15 minutes or so before closing so these items would be “in the bin” at closing time and, as such, subject to being thrown away, yet mysteriously rescued. It was the sole, unspoken, perk of working the late shift.
during my (thankfully!) brief career in a restaurant that also had drive-up service in high school, the kid who handled the outside deliveries managed to consume all the “wrong orders” that somehow got placed just before his scheduled break time. The outside orders were placed via telephones, so he’d just disguise his voice and call in what he wanted from a position where he couldn’t be seen. Eventually he got caught and fired, but before that, he always put the unwanted food bag in the trash first, under the theory that he would then be free to scrounge it out and eat it.
Management on a power trip.
Kind of off topic but remember when we used our nose to determine the expiration date?
Just another fine reason for NOT partaking of ANY of Starsucks’ overpriced swill....EVER!
The government/courts have already ruled on this. They can take your mail and other items from your trash and use it as evidence since they deem it as public once you discard it.
I assume a sandwich follows the same guidelines.
Had she eaten it and gotten sick would she have sued them?
It’s sad but places have to make rules like this because of litigation.
Not to mention employees who take items and remove them from inventory just so they can hand them to their friends.
Recently we stopped at a Starbucks in an unnamed tourist area. We were seated outside in a common area when they closed. One of the workers approached us with a large brown bag. He said, “You had to wait so long I’m sorry. Would you like these? “They were end-of-day leftover breads of various kinds. He said they throw them away otherwise. We had grandchildren with us. They were thrilled.
I didn’t think of it as stealing on his part, but throwing it away would be wasteful.
That was my first thought, too. Sadly enough.
Expired or not, in the trash or not, it wasn’t the employee’s, and it was theft.....Ummmm. Once you throw something out, it is no longer owned by anyone. I’ve gone through many trash/cans/dumpsters/ garbage dumps without a warrant when I was a cop. Once it hits the trash can you lose control of it. I was head of Fire/ Safety and Security for Philadelphia State Hospital at one time and we had a ‘client’ who went to the Krispy Kreme up the road at different times of the day. He dumpster dived for the donuts they threw out, brought them back and sold them to the geebers for a dime a piece. I actually had to investigate. The guy told me “I’m crazy, but I’m not stupid” He made $200 a month.
If he had gotten sick, he would have sued....How? Did he have receipt?
Couldn't one argue that, by instructing the employee to throw the item in the trash, the employer was relinquishing its ownership of the item?
On the other hand, if he ate the expired sandwich in a manner visible to customers, that's different.
I think it's in Deuteronomy that when you're harvesting, you're not allowed to go back and pick up the grapes that dropped from your wagon. Those are for the poor. I think this kind of rule by a company is silly and wrong. If something is trash, that means you didn't just drop it—you don't want it.
But of course Starbucks is free to act OCD and weird about all the wrong things, and I continue not to buy their coffee.
You may not like it, it is not expensive.
$2 for 20 ounces
restaurant $3 for 6 ounces
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