Now I work at a fast food joint. I am a cashier, but my relative works there and is a black shirt and a chef there. Sometimes, he brings food back home. Now sometimes this is food because they made to much. Other times, it's more like because he is a shift lead he says we can have it. I feel a bit like a thief every time we take food or grandma wants a milkshake. Are we thieves? I feel like I should be paying. I even throw money at my relative sometimes. Not actually throw it, but whatever I can scrounge around in my wallet and pocket I give it to him. I guess a boarder question is: Is this kind of employee process moral?
yup i worked in fast foods, restaurants, company kitchens and this is normal, or at least from where i come from. A good chef can always make excess of anything appear or more often it just happens someone ordered something to go but didnt take it or something.
See this is my first job, so this is very much new to me. I feel wrong and guilty. I don't even know why. So I had to ask.
If you feel like it's wrong, then follow your gut... This is the kind of thing that you have to decide for yourself. I wouldn't have a problem with it I don't think, but that's just me... If you feel like you shouldn't do it, then don't, know what I mean? *shrugs* There's no one who can tell you, this is wrong, or this is right. Hope that helps... somehow :redface:
Yes it falls under the category of stealing. Every item ordered, from food to cleaning agents, costs money. I know that MDM charges per piece and then by the mile, when they delivered food to a restaurant I managed a few years ago. Also, most food orders at a fast food restaurant are well in excess of three thousand dollars, with some pushing five to six thousand. So, to answer your question, it is stealing. Why? Because the company's spent money buy the food, so when it disappears and then becomes part of shrink (what the food business calls waste, loss or theft) it costs them money. Nothing is free in this world, so each piece of food, whether someone over produced (and making too much is a way for people to steal) is stealing. I know Boddie-Noel, the largest franchisee for Hardees' will fire employees for doing what you're talking about. Due to confidentiality agreements that don't expire until next year, I can't tell you specific examples, but I can tell you I've personally seen managers fired for taking food home without permission.
I worked in a well known bakery and at the end of the day instead of selling the leftovers half price or even giving them away. The company collected them up to gave them to pigs. It's unfathomable: one minute its full priced pasties and the next it's pig food. Are you thieving food? not at all. I say take it with gratitude before the pigs get it.
Well most of the shift leads don't care. They see people walk out with a milkshake and write it down. It's mostly accounted for. I just feel like I should pay. So that's what I am going to do. Pay.
Depends on the rules on the workplace. While most companies are strict there are also exceptions. There are probably different rules for different kinds of goods. I worked in the hospitality industry my whole life, and it's fairly common. But like I said different rules at different workplaces. Last three companies I worked for have different rules.
As i said where i come from its normal, more often the company will allow its works to eat as much as they want, so what does it matter if you ate there or took it home. And if not you can manage to make excess, usually they would bring you goods and expect certain number of prepared food, if you manage to squeeze couple of more out of it than its yours. And i no longer worry about that now hope will never need to work in kitchens anymore now i just cook for myself and friends (sometimes!)
Look in your employee handbook. It should state fairly clearly what the policy is (I would never trust the word of the person doing it, btw). Around here, the local charity groups routinely pick up excess food from restaurants to feed the homeless, so it's definitely not wasted.
Just because something is commonplace or 'accepted' doesn't make it right. You can only take product the company allows. Period. Anything other then that is stealing.
Snicket, take some advice from a guy who did everything wrong, immoral, conniving and duplicitous. I never thought it was a big deal, so what if I went through women like Drano and lied my butt off? So what indeed. Then I hit thirty-five... Your past really does catch up with you. All of those seemingly 'little' infractions do add up to a load far too heavy to carry. I made a list of everyone I had ever wronged, sat down and called them all. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. In fact, I was so embarrassed about my past I finally apologized to an old girl friend--I hadn't talked to her in 30 years. Don't listen to other people rationalize your behavior and tell you it's nothing. Your moral compass is correct, and wrong doing will come to haunt you. If you feel like paying for a burger while everyone else steals, you go right ahead and pay. So what if they laugh at you? I'll share a dirty little secret with you. Whining, strident criticism, parsing, and sniveling are the earmarks of the weak. Stick to the still, quiet voice within you. Good luck, kid.
Thank you, I will feel better paying for something then having it for free without it being free. I think of what I am doing to the company and feel really bad like I could be hurting them.
In the long haul it's not the corporation that will really suffer--it's you. But if I could go back in time... Pay for the food, it's a lot cheaper that endless guilt.
Yeah. Just pay for the food. If what you're doing now is giving you that queasy feeling in your gut, then that's your moral compass saying, "Um, dude? The crap are you doing? Don't do that!"
If you didn't take the food what would happen to it? Would it go to waste? If so then why let that happen if you could just eat it instead? Regard it practically, waste as little as possible, make use of as much as you can, I know I would. I work at a vegatable and other green stuff warehouse... a different environment but the amounts that go to waste simply because they stayed unused for far too long... on average a few tons each day, and that's just one warehouse. So I eat quite a lot there because I know it won't make a difference, a lot of it will be dumped somewhere anyway.
No offense, bud, but you're flat out wrong. Someone paid for that food, and that would be the owner of the business. If they decide to let you take food home, then they're giving it away and it's fine. To just decide "the hell with it, I'm going to take it so it doesn't get wasted" is still stealing, no matter how you try to morally twist it. Frankly, you don't have a leg to stand on. The legal definition of theft it taking another person's property without permission and not returning it. You can't return the food you've taken, so it falls under the category of theft. So, it's still stealing no matter how you put it. Someone else paid for the ingredients, which makes it their property and they can use their property as they see fit.
If the leads write it down, that suggests that it's company policy to allow the employees to take free food - unless I'm misunderstanding? That's what would make the difference to me. If it's company policy, I'd accept the food without guilt - I would assume that the company considers it added employee compensation. If it's not company policy, if it's just sort of winked at by lower-level management, then I would feel guilty and probably wouldn't accept the food.
I'm going to be honest. I don't think there is a rule against it. And I'm sure they would know if food went missing, right? Plus, this is a common thing. And I don't know how much either of you pay, but I'm sure you guys give more labor and hours a day than you make. So, you should be able to take money. So, I'm pretty sure it's fine.
