Dad fired for taking candy bars out of a trash bin

MrsMush99

Former Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2003
Messages
7,398
Reaction score
8
Fired ... for taking treats from trash
Dec. 21, 2005. 01:00 AM

ST-HYACINTHE, Que.—A single father of three fired for taking chocolate bars from a garbage bin at a Zellers store will get some Christmas cheer from a charitable organization.

Guy Masse, 47, had planned to give the discarded chocolate to his children, aged 6, 9 and 15, for Christmas. Masse, who was on welfare and had been working at the store only for a couple of months, was first suspended and then fired.

"I think it's inhuman," Masse told CJAD radio station in Montreal of his dismissal.

Link
 
The retailer acts like he was stealing, when it states the gentleman was only picking them out of the trash.

But I guess it depends on who put the candy in the trash in the first place.
 
Pook said:
The retailer acts like he was stealing, when it states the gentleman was only picking them out of the trash.

But I guess it depends on who put the candy in the trash in the first place.
Disguarded implies to me they had expired :waitasec:

I think it's the dumbest reason ever for firing someone! Trashing picking candy for hius kids...PLEASE!
 
Pook said:
The retailer acts like he was stealing, when it states the gentleman was only picking them out of the trash.

But I guess it depends on who put the candy in the trash in the first place.
Rest assured, that I am not an expert on this, but food markets must throw literally tons of relatively still good foods out every day. They would rather these items not get back into circulation, as it would effect their sales. Some chains give a considerable amount of slightly out-of-date items to Second Harvest

Kind of reminds me that when they changed over all of the lighting where I worked (a few different times), they made it a point to destroy many 1,000's of 8 foot fluorescents--they made sure they were all run over by bulldozers, otherwise it would have effected sales by hardware stores, etc. I know that Ford took leather seats, with very minimal defects, and slashed them up before they went to the dump. So many usable products are destroyed in this fashion because they don't want them to find their way onto the market..

Too bad that Zellers couldn't have found a way to funnel still edible items into a local food bank, rather than just throw the stuff in the trash, or give their employees a chance to purchase it at pennies on the dollar. Why tempt their employee(s) to go through their trash to retrieve still edible items. Unethical, and illegal, temptation. I wonder how many of their employees had done this before, but poor Mr. XXXX was the one that got caught, or at least was the one they chose to make an example of. Boo Zellers---I hope their Christmas sales go down the tubes--not a very smart thing for them to do right before Christmas---I'd rate their management piss poor--get rid of the manager.
 
Buzzm1, the same thing happens with drug samples. Once the expiration date is reached they must be destroyed. I've been told that most drugs are still "good" for about a year after the "expiration" date on the samples. I feel that they should be given to those who can't afford them, or sent to somewhere that they could do some good.
 
My aunt works for Palmer's Candy and she gives the out of date/damaged chocolate to my uncle for his horses (he has a bunch of clydesdales). They love a little bit of chocolate mixed in with their regular feed.
 
I once worked for a large food manufacturer and was shocked that so much "expired" food was being tossed in the dumpster - in other words it had passed its "best before date" but was still edible.

It was explained to me that if it was donated or sold then the company could be liable in the event someone got sick. The solution was to call a contact and let him know when we would have a lot of "trash" going out. If it was collected from the trash (nicely boxed containers beside the dumpster) then we would not have any liability.

It worked for us, but for me it underscored that there is always two sides to a story.
 
Lili said:
Buzzm1, the same thing happens with drug samples. Once the expiration date is reached they must be destroyed. I've been told that most drugs are still "good" for about a year after the "expiration" date on the samples. I feel that they should be given to those who can't afford them, or sent to somewhere that they could do some good.
If the drug companies gave the drugs to the people who can't afford them, then the companies wouldn't be able to get the government to pay for the drugs for most of these same people.

Burns my a$$, that the government agreed that the drug companies will charge top dollar for all drugs supplied through Medicare. They really stuck it to the seniors in this country, under the guise of providing them with a medicare drug plan. In the meantime other countries sell these drugs for about 1/3 of what we have to pay; however, our seniors can't order/legally buy from those countries. Then there are 75 different medicare drug plans you can join---that's one way to lower the unemployment rate, and boost the economy--think of how many people it will take collectively to administrate the 75 different plans--half the money will be paying for the employees required. Don't worry our government is covering our backs.
 
Buzz--Now there is a subject on which I dare not get started. Might have a stroke, it makes me so angry.
 
PonderingThings said:
I once worked for a large food manufacturer and was shocked that so much "expired" food was being tossed in the dumpster - in other words it had passed its "best before date" but was still edible.

It was explained to me that if it was donated or sold then the company could be liable in the event someone got sick. The solution was to call a contact and let him know when we would have a lot of "trash" going out. If it was collected from the trash (nicely boxed containers beside the dumpster) then we would not have any liability.

It worked for us, but for me it underscored that there is always two sides to a story.
Good Point PT. Kudos to your employer for finding a way to get the throwaways into the right hands; nice to hear of a conscientious company with a heart.
 
Opie said:
Buzz--Now there is a subject on which I dare not get started. Might have a stroke, it makes me so angry.
Now don't go strokin' out on us! :p We would miss ya!

Most of the drug companies do have patient assistance plans for those who fall between the cracks. Low income, but not quite eligible for medical assistance. We are in a rural area, mostly elderly and low income people. Many go without medication because they can't afford it! Our office tries to get as many samples as possible to hand out to those who otherwise wouldn't get their medication. And our cancer patients, if they are not veterans (they can get meds through the VA), I usually give applications to the drug assistance plans, which are directly through the company. So if any of you know any low income people on meds advise them to ask if the maker has a Patient Assistance plan! A lot of people don't even know about it!!
 
I was hoping to find a new link to show some nice person had already offered him a new job too, but can't find anything yet.
 
Pook said:
I was hoping to find a new link to show some nice person had already offered him a new job too, but can't find anything yet.
Bet you that Zellers business has fallen off, and they are very embarassed by what happened; especially after the news got wind of it. Wonder what the complete story is on Mr. Masse??
 
Something about that story reminds me of Mr Scrooge and Tiny Tim.
For goodness sakes, it's Christmas and about giving. I'd like to tell them
where they could put that candy.....
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
109
Guests online
2,373
Total visitors
2,482

Forum statistics

Threads
590,015
Messages
17,929,018
Members
228,038
Latest member
shmoozie
Back
Top