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.
It works both ways. I had a finger amputated several years ago, while working on a machine that had no finger guard. After my finger was amputated, the company put a guard on the machine.
Limited liability for the company.
Hmmm am I the only one that caught the BOLD on the fact that he recently had his hours cut to under 30 a week? Perhaps he complained to the notoriously LIB company about their skirting Obamacare in such a transparent way!!
Is that surprising? What happens if the person eating the expired food gets sick and sues the store?
Never been there, never will be.
The only Starbuck's I've ever been to was about 25 years ago when I was in a restaurant in downtown Hyannis. It was named Starbuck's. Though I doubt it had any connection to the soon-to-be-elitist-coffee shops.
Your local deli in the grocery store takes chickens closest to Sell By dates and rotisserie cooks them or fries them for sale. Then they sit for a few days again, and left unsold get deboned and shredded up into chicken salad, where they sit for another week.
Everyone should be required to work in the food service industry for at least one full year.
My local supermarket (Market Basket) takes these deli 'ends' and repackages them and resells them at about 80% off regular price.
Roast beef, ham, cheeses of all types, bologna, salami, mortadella, olive loaf, chicken loaf, turkey breast...the works.
Great for snacking or slicing for sandwiches on your own home slicer.
A pound of roast beef for $1.50? It is my first stop each week.
Badly roasted coffee = Starbucks
Was his name Costanza?
SHHHH! I did not mention that on purpose! My dad taught me tht as one of my college survival skills without a meal plan. Sneaking into hotels with happy hour buffets was another. Just don’t drink. Local fruit and citrus trees at midnight was another.
“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.”
Back in my serious running around and drinking days we had a local McD’s that would shut down around 11pm. We all learned right quick that if we got there about 10:58pm the employees (who we sorta knew, small town and all) would load us up with items sitting on the shelf ready to go lest they go in the trash. Ate a lot of Quarter Pounders and Big Macs and fries for exactly $0.....
If its in the trash, its fair game, AS LONG AS HE GOT IT FROM THE TRASH AWAY FROM THE PREMISES.
The account isn’t clear about that bit.
Police search trash all the time looking for evidence. Long is it is on the curb, no problem.
Theft is theft, and no employee should be eating (or drinking) any items from the place they work without a receipt for the purchase.
Expired or not, in the trash or not, it wasn’t the employee’s, and it was theft. Could have been handled differently, but I’m sure others will be very happy to know that there’s a job opening now.
True, usually a reasonable store manager will take the expired food and hand it out at the end of the end of the shift as a reward for hard work, but like most things this requires common sense on the part of the store manager and not some store manager that is a complete sheep that follows a zero tolerance policy, this reminds me of the zero tolerance policy that suspends kids who brought a plastic knive intheir lunch because their parents packed it for them.
Some policies that seem screwy like this are meant to eliminate liability (thank you heartless lawyer bastards) because if an employee eats a near expired sandwich and getrs sick they could sue the employer, nevermind the fact the same sandwich could have been sold 10 minutes earlier and make a customer sick with no recourse....
Hardee’s fired a manager of a store for giving the ends of roast beef being sliced (too small to safely slice) to homeless people instead of tossing them in the dumpster as required.
That was back in 1977.
Some policies that seem screwy like this are meant to eliminate liability (thank you heartless lawyer bastards) because if an employee eats a near expired sandwich and getrs sick they could sue the employer, nevermind the fact the same sandwich could have been sold 10 minutes earlier and make a customer sick with no recourse....
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.
It is the fast food version of “Shovel and Shut up”... a good lesson for any teenager to learn if later in life they have to deal with the EPA...
Agreed. I have myself and worked in hotels when a second job was necessary. (Always take the afternoon shift that cleans up the Sunday breakfast buffet. Best lunches ever.)
My children have also and are on their way to being excellent little chefs.
Depending on where the college is, that could get you a backside full of rock salt or #6 bird shot.
Your local deli in the grocery store takes chickens closest to Sell By dates and rotisserie cooks them or fries them for sale. Then they sit for a few days again, and left unsold get deboned and shredded up into chicken salad, where they sit for another week.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, I like the chicken Salad, it has the most tender chicken, it has been partially digested by then, LOL
A lot of people don’t even know WHERE their food comes from, they think Chickens, Pigs, and Cows are pets that farmers keep....
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.
The only problem I see if the enmployees making too much of a product for the express purposes of “thowing it out” at the end of the day...
another O victim..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.