Demanding Something For Nothing

[Sableonblonde]

We had just officially closed our concession stand for the night, and were all in the process of running around, putting things away, closing the shutters, etc. This man comes up and sees that we are closing and asks if we have any food leftover and if we're just going to throw it away. He's standing there badgering us about what we're going to do with the chicken strips and fries that haven't been sold, and then asks if we can give him some for his kids, since we are just going to throw it out anyway.

Well, my co-workers and I were kind of ignoring him, telling him that no, we couldn't just give the food away. He was getting upset and stood there arguing with us, saying how it wasn't a big deal, and if it was getting thrown away anyway, then so what? Eventually though we got the stand shut down and the guy had no choice but to go away.

He was right though - those chicken and fries did just get thrown away. But if management knew we gave out free food, even after closing time, we'd get in big trouble. People there got fired for giving free food out to their friends. Personally, I didn't see the big deal - if I was by myself, and if the guy had not been so freakin' demanding and in-your-face, I might have given the old stuff out. He DID have a point in that it was just getting thrown out. But to go up to a bunch of kids and start demanding and insisting they give you food for nothing - that didn't really sit too well with me. Anyone else ever have anything like this happen?

[Anakah]

But its probably also liablity. Just think if he were to go home and get sick. He could probably sue. I wouldn't put it past someone.

[Argabarga]

Not only is it a liability, but if he wanted food that badly, he'd have no problem, you know, paying for it and getting it. Scavenging is one thing, I do it too occasionaly, but being as bold as to basicaly wait right by the trash can is tacky and rude.

[bainsidhe]

At our store, any perishables a customer reshops has to be claimed out and thrown away. I know not all stores do that, but ours does as a food safety issue. We don't know how long that's been in your cart and who knows how long it will sit before anyone can spare a minute to run something back to the coolers. I'm waiting for the day when someone tells me I should give it to them for free, since it will be tossed anyway. Based on stories from this board, people have asked.

Forgot to say....300th post. Woot!

[Kyree]

Personally, I didn't see the big deal - if I was by myself, and if the guy had not been so freakin' demanding and in-your-face, I might have given the old stuff out. He DID have a point in that it was just getting thrown out.

Nonono. Never give out free food. Not just for the liability, or your job's sake. Those are both important factors though. But...if you give that person free food at the end of the night. They'll come back. Again, and again, and again. They'll figure that they'll never have to actually pay for the food if they just come at closing time and will hand it out.

[PepperElf]

one of my old co-workers worked in a bakery for a while. at the end of the day, they always took the unsold bread and donated it to the local soup kitchen.

but.... that was the owner's choice, and there's nothing wrong with day-old-bread, no chance it'll get someone sick. And the owner brought it to *them* so people weren't dogging the doorstep looking for handouts.


I'd say if you really want to do something, ask the manager if you can bring leftovers to a shelter or something like that... but there's also a chance - because of health laws - that they won't take it too.

[Argabarga]

Bakery items may be allowed, but I know that at least in my city/state, prepared foods, meats, fresh seafood and other similar products have to be thrown out at the end of the night if they weren't sold. On the one hand, yeah, it's a shame, but on the other, in the long run, I can see how you probably wouldn't want to be in a situation where you have to guess about wether something perishable that's sat unattended for maybe 10 - 12 hours is still safe to sell....

[zigcat]

We have a drug rehab center just up the street from our pizza place. Every so often someone will come in and ask if we have any pizza left over or if we can hook them up with something free because they're "starving" or "from out of town"

My response is usually "I'm sorry all of our food is made to order, but there's a church just up the street that hands out free sack lunches." It's great to watch their eyes drop and the indignant expressions as they turn around and walk away.

Seriously makes me want to ask are you really hungry or do you just want PIZZA!

[rvdammit]

"Well I suppose I could re-open the till and sell it to you."

[Sableonblonde]

Well, the food wasn't sitting out for very long, in fact it was probably cooked only 30/40 minutes or so before closing. And all of us employees would have our shot at it before it was thrown away But I agree that giving out free food would only encourage more SC behavior, and let the guy think he could keep getting away with it.

[Sylvia727]

And all of us employees would have our shot at it before it was thrown away

Maybe you should have sat there and ate it in front of him? Complete with nom-nom sound effects and deadpan stare?

[jrh215]

I say if it's good enough to eat, it's good enough to be paid for.

When I used to run my photo lab, we had the policy where you could refuse prints you didn't want and we would adjust the price accordingly. God knows how many times I ran into this situation: customer picks up order, proceeds to refuse half the prints (that they screwed up, by the way), we adjust the price, customer pays.

Then here it comes:

SC: Are you just going to throw those pictures away?
Me: Yes. They will be accounted for as waste prints and then we will throw them away at the end of the month.
SC: Oh, well, if you're just going to throw them away, can I go ahead and just have them?
Me: I'm sorry, but since the prints have been produced and we have not sold them, we have to account for them, so I just can't give them to you.
SC: But why? You're just going to throw them away!

And then some of these idiots actually had the balls to file complaints about it. I would finally just start telling people point blank: if the quality of the pictures is good enough for you to want to keep, it's good enough for you to pay for. Seriously, according to their logic, I could drop of photos to be developed, look at them, then say, "You know, I don't like how these turned out, so I'll just refuse them. But, hey, since you're now going to have to throw them away, just go ahead and give them to me for free."

At least I could appreciate it if some of these freeloaders knew what they were doing and were trying to purposely scam. But most of them honestly couldn't understand why they wouldn't get the pics for free since we were just "throwing them away anyway."

[karl hungus]

But its probably also liablity. Just think if he were to go home and get sick. He could probably sue. I wouldn't put it past someone.

I was working on a film that had a crew of about 100 and about 200-250 extras. The caterer fixed the most incredible stuff for the meals, baked fish, chicken, oriental vegetables, etc so there was plenty of great food. I was chatting with one of the catering assistants and asked him what do they do with all the food left over and he told me that they used to give it to homeless shelters until one time a homeless man claimed he got sick from some of it and tried to sue the studio for a few million.

Now they just throw it away.