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packman

(16,296 posts)
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 10:58 AM Jun 2014

Cracker Barrel fires 73 yr. old vet

for giving away a muffin to man he thought was homeless. Cracker Barrel , in its defense, stated that Joe was in the habit of giving away their product and had been warned. So the muffin was their last straw (ouch) and they terminated the veteran.

I used to work at a fast food place in my green years in the Pittsburgh area and the manager would tell us we would be fired if we gave away food. However at the end of the night, he would put leftovers in separate bags - fries in one, chicken in another, etc. - and put them beside the dumpster, not in it. He followed company policy and enforced it, but he had a soul also. Admired him for this.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/cracker-barrel-fires-veteran-joe-koblenzer_n_5538382.html

26 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Cracker Barrel fires 73 yr. old vet (Original Post) packman Jun 2014 OP
Vets must follow the rules too yeoman6987 Jun 2014 #1
I ate at Cracker Barrel exactly once Aerows Jun 2014 #2
We have eaten there many times and never been sick. Michigander_Life Jun 2014 #4
Olive Garden isn't what I would consider Aerows Jun 2014 #6
Lol Hassin Bin Sober Jun 2014 #7
That is OUTRAGEOUS! Michigander_Life Jun 2014 #8
For the 99%, Olive Garden is the pinnacle of fine dining opportunity Michigander_Life Jun 2014 #9
It's the prejudice Aerows Jun 2014 #12
I'm no 1%er Cirque du So-What Jun 2014 #18
:) Katashi_itto Jun 2014 #25
Olive Garden trumad Jun 2014 #10
Absolutely. It's worth the good poisoning for the exquisite flavors. Michigander_Life Jun 2014 #13
yep... trumad Jun 2014 #21
UMMM - packman Jun 2014 #14
The sprinkle soup in the salad???? dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #16
Damn, you got me packman Jun 2014 #17
Thanks for being a good sport about it.... dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #20
few instances where that Oxford comma makes a difference ProdigalJunkMail Jun 2014 #22
Fire that bastard, giving food to the hungry, what in the hell was he thinking randys1 Jun 2014 #3
He was stealing from his employer madville Jun 2014 #5
1/2 of me agrees with you packman Jun 2014 #11
has nothing to do with that he is a vet, he is a decent person working for an indecent company randys1 Jun 2014 #19
Exactly. Louisiana1976 Jun 2014 #26
I see that is was a bad move for CB's image… Dumb ass management? Sounds like it... MrMickeysMom Jun 2014 #15
they thorw away mess-up pizzas at the place i work at, and have done the same thing at TheFrenchRazor Jun 2014 #23
Why is his veteran status relevant? Boom Sound 416 Jun 2014 #24
 

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
1. Vets must follow the rules too
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:02 AM
Jun 2014

If this was a one time incident, I would be all over Cracker barrel, but he was warned numerous times. And being a vet has nothing to do with working at Cracker Barrel. I say this as a person who served 24 years in the military. What I find worse is that restaurants aren't allowed to give food at the end of the day to food kitchens. They have to throw it away. I find that to be terrible.

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
2. I ate at Cracker Barrel exactly once
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:04 AM
Jun 2014

It was breakfast. Every single one of us were sick as dogs that night.

 

Michigander_Life

(549 posts)
4. We have eaten there many times and never been sick.
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:06 AM
Jun 2014

But go to a fancy, high end place like the Olive Garden on the other hand, and it's a pukefest for at least 24 hours.

 

Michigander_Life

(549 posts)
9. For the 99%, Olive Garden is the pinnacle of fine dining opportunity
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:28 AM
Jun 2014

Keep your 1%er prejudice to yourself!

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
12. It's the prejudice
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:32 AM
Jun 2014

of one who grew up in New Orleans and knows the difference between good food and bad. High end and fancy don't automatically mean expensive - either just means you know where to go to eat.

Cirque du So-What

(25,812 posts)
18. I'm no 1%er
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 12:01 PM
Jun 2014

and I hold chain restaurants like Olive Garden in contempt as well. No matter where one lives, if there are chain restaurants like those in the vicinity, there are almost certainly privately-owned establishments who serve much better fare. With rare exceptions (Chipotle being one of them), I patronize non-corporate restaurants instead of the bland, homogenized profit centers.

 

trumad

(41,692 posts)
21. yep...
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 01:51 PM
Jun 2014

They actually make salad at your table. Those 6 inch breadsticks are at least 2 inches longer that those fake Italian places in Little Italy. I ate in Little Italy last week and they had the audacity to serve my calamari with squid heads. I much prefer the bagged calamari that OG serves.

Oh and don't get me started about the fake Italian language in Little Italy. Nope... I prefer my servers speaking good grammar so I can understand the word Ziti when they say it.

I'm with you on Olive Garden. ..much prefer the chain over those 100 year old Little Italy joints.

 

packman

(16,296 posts)
14. UMMM -
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:34 AM
Jun 2014

endless overly salted bread sticks, salad bowl with a sprinkling of olives and soup. Don't care what you say, I love that Olive Garden - then again I used to love Chef Boyardee mini-raviolis in the can with that thick, pasty tomato sauce.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
16. The sprinkle soup in the salad????
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:53 AM
Jun 2014


Many many years ago when I lived in Mobile, I would go to restuarants with co-workers..
Cracker Barrel, Olive Gardens and Red Lobster were their top choices.
I preferred Ruby Tuesdays, cause back in the day they had a decent side of babyback ribs and a salad bar.
The other joints served obviously pre-frozen food, esp. Red Lobster...what a shame.
 

packman

(16,296 posts)
17. Damn, you got me
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 12:01 PM
Jun 2014

needs a comma according to the Oxford rules - good eye.

from

"overly salted bread sticks, salad bowl with a sprinkling of olives and soup"

to

"overly salted bread sticks, salad bowl with a sprinkling of olives, and soup"

randys1

(16,286 posts)
3. Fire that bastard, giving food to the hungry, what in the hell was he thinking
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:06 AM
Jun 2014

this is AMERICA for christ sake, doesnt he know we HATE THE POOR

madville

(7,397 posts)
5. He was stealing from his employer
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:17 AM
Jun 2014

Sounds like his heart is in the right place but his tactics need some work.

He could have bought an order of corn muffins for the gentleman in need instead of giving it away for free. Almost any business would fire an employee for something like this and probably wouldn't have given him 4 previous chances/warnings. And the needy looking gentleman didn't ask for any food, the former employee was giving away company product unsolicited it sounds like.

And what does him being a Vet have to do with anything? We fired a Veteran at work a few years ago, he was filling up his and his girlfriend's personal vehicles with his company gas card, his veteran status meant squat.

 

packman

(16,296 posts)
11. 1/2 of me agrees with you
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:30 AM
Jun 2014

but the other half- welllll. Being a vet should not enter into the whole thing, but still .... Seems like Cracker Barrel could have given him a job in some other capacity. I see their viewpoint but jobs for 73 yr. olds probably aren't that plentiful.

I really believe a person with compassion and a liberal outlook should never take a job where those values are going to be tested. I believe if I worked in such a place and saw a homeless person who was hungry, I would probably slip something into a bag for him and , yes, I would be a thief.

randys1

(16,286 posts)
19. has nothing to do with that he is a vet, he is a decent person working for an indecent company
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 12:28 PM
Jun 2014

a decent company would have found a way to use his generosity, albeit technically against the rules, to their own benefit

i can think of half a dozen awesome public relations campaigns that could increase their business using this, but instead they decided to be the typical fucking corp assholes

MrMickeysMom

(20,453 posts)
15. I see that is was a bad move for CB's image… Dumb ass management? Sounds like it...
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 11:36 AM
Jun 2014

Could they have made a due process decision to deduct it from his pay upon discovery? Yes, they could have. Now, they look like a place I'll NEVER venture into. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd cost them more businesses, due to this really, really bad PR.

 

TheFrenchRazor

(2,116 posts)
23. they thorw away mess-up pizzas at the place i work at, and have done the same thing at
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 03:55 PM
Jun 2014

other places i worked at. supposedly this is to prevent cooks messing up pizzas deliberately so they can eat them. it's BS and corporate scroogism at its worst. the managers that do it (and it's not all of them) do it voluntarily too; nobody is forcing them to.

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