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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that Birds the bakers were right to sack their employee?

289 replies

Sootikinstew · 30/07/2020 21:17

Employee of something like 25years accepting cash from pensioners and paying for shopping on her own card.

Now I know it likely came from a good place and she was trying to be kind and helpful. But AIBU to think Birds were right to sack her. This scenario opens up her and Birds to all sorts of accusations and would surely come under fraud or money laundering rules?

OP posts:
OP posts:
thebigredbutton · 30/07/2020 21:21

Was she giving them a receipt? Grin i might be missing something but if she was helping them and giving them a receipt and it was just honest help then I don’t see the problem?

Happy to be corrected. I just think no good deed goes unpunished

PinkiOcelot · 30/07/2020 21:26

I don’t agree. She was allowing elderly people to actually go home with bread wtc, which they had already touched btw and would have had to be binned otherwise. She had kept all of the receipts as well.

I’m getting really sick of this card only business tbh.

Rose789 · 30/07/2020 21:26

Can you imagine though a 90 odd year old who has came to buy bread everyday and has been served by this women for 40 years. Imagine turning her away because she doesn’t have a card. Plus customers will have already have touched the items so they can’t be put back on the shelves.
There is no suggestion she did it for any other reason then to help customers. Yes it was against head offices rules but I think she did the right thing in trying to help.

Original poster
Sootikinstew · 30/07/2020 21:26

Article says 'showed them the reciept' not really the same thing.

OP posts:
BearySad · 30/07/2020 21:28

If it was me or my relative I would be glad one one had helped them get the bread of their choice, Fresh bakery bread makes such a difference especially at the moment when small things can mean a lot. After 40 years if this is all she had done wrong it should have been a warning. If they had already picked up teh bread arguably taking it off them and putting it back could create a risk to other customers.

MrsVMorgan · 30/07/2020 21:31

I am shocked that she was sacked. She was doing a good deed! I would have down the same in her situation!

smurfmonkey · 30/07/2020 21:33

Seems a wee bit harsh tbh.

Birds is THE best bakery though. Elephants foot... yum

MysteryParcels · 30/07/2020 21:36

Like many other food outlets, during this pandemic we have asked customers to only use debit cards because notes and coins are not clean – and this poses a risk to our staff who are handling that money.

This worries the heck out of me. A cashless society is not good. Case in point.

Our notes (except £20 ?) are plastic for goodness sake. They could have a pot of Milton or soapy water on the counter and money goes in there, change from pots or sterilising solution too.

I really feel for her. There are no winners here.

ScrapThatThen · 30/07/2020 21:39

Did she get a warning? Not a sacking offence IMO

Blackbear19 · 30/07/2020 21:48

I think the company have over reacted but at the same time could you imagine the outcry if they were a source of Covid.

ChicCroissant · 30/07/2020 21:51

If the company was trying to avoid cash for COVID reasons, then a member of staff accepting cash defeats the object, regardless if she then paid with her own card. The article also points out it was because she breached the hygiene rules that the company had put into place.

PuppyMonkey · 30/07/2020 21:52

Birds’ sausage rolls are the best sausage rolls.Grin

Oliversmumsarmy · 30/07/2020 21:54

I am not understanding exactly what she did wrong.

No money changed hands as it went straight in her purse.

Customers got served.

This sounds like someone using their initiative and common sense and being penalised for it.

I can’t see how she put anyone in danger and went against the companies policies.

ChicCroissant · 30/07/2020 21:56

She handled the cash while she was working in the shop, which was what the company wanted to avoid.

TwentyViginti · 30/07/2020 21:57

On the fence about this. I prefer using cash, taking out my budget for shopping monthly, but used my card since before lockdown out of respect for shop staff.

OP, your username! my god Grin

BigChocFrenzy · 30/07/2020 22:06

Horrible to sack her for a good deed

Thank fuck there's none of this compulsory card malarkey in Germany, where I live
Paying cash is still normal here, especially for the elderly

Tiredmum100 · 30/07/2020 22:07

I've never heard of birds the bakers 🤷‍♀️. Seems unfair, she was only trying to do a good deed.

majesticallyawkward · 30/07/2020 22:09

So from a purely 'head office' / corporate view, the employee ignored their new rules brought in to keep her safe, handled cash while at work and presumably had her purse behind the til which is generally a no-no. It opens up all kind of issues for Birds and the employee. Taking cash from a customer and putting in your own purse is a terrible idea.

I also don't understand why having a debit card is such an issue, even as an older person they presumably have a bank account as you need one to get pensions/benefits etc, and contactless is so easy. Given the increased risk factors of advanced age with covid wouldn't this be the ideal time to use contactless? We're very likely headed for a cashless society sooner than expected.

ChilliesAndSpice · 30/07/2020 22:11

Ok she did wrong, but to dismiss her seems really harsh. I don’t have a Birds near me, but I would be boycotting them for this. At the end of the day she was just trying to help elderly customers.

Actually in my work place, she probably would have been rewarded for going above & beyond to provide exceptional customer service.

Oliversmumsarmy · 30/07/2020 22:14

She handled the cash while she was working in the shop, which was what the company wanted to avoid

Did she?

I read it as the customers put the money directly in her purse and she charged the cost to her credit card so she didn’t handle the cash whilst at work.

letmethinkaboutitfornow · 30/07/2020 22:15

They were right to sack her.
There are rules.
Especially as these rules are screwing us youngsters to try and protect the old and vulnerable! 😡
No cash has been in place for a while.
You don’t like it, take your business elsewhere.

Oliversmumsarmy · 30/07/2020 22:16

letmethinkaboutitfornow what rules did she break?

AgeLikeWine · 30/07/2020 22:16

Birds is a very popular, long established & well respected family owned bakery based in Derby. They have a chain of shops across the East Midlands and an excellent reputation. A Birds cream cake as a treat has been part of growing up in this part of the country for generations.

Birds will not have sacked this woman lightly. They have been taking covid extremely seriously. Initially they closed all their Shops despite being allowed to trade and when they re-opened my local shop has a person on the door to ensure only one customer enters at a time and a strict card-only policy.

Scautish · 30/07/2020 22:21

I’m a big fan of rules but FFS surely the humanity of the woman can be seen here??

I think I’d rather be known as the person who was sacked trying to help a 94year old with her shopping than the person with a job who could say they refused to serve one.

It’s just so desperately sad. Almost as sad as starting a thread to celebrate the sacking of someone who was genuinely trying to help.

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