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

[Sootikinstew]

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?

I would have sacked her, sorry. If it was her bakery and she had complete autonomy in the business and their policies then I wouldn't see an issue, it would be then entirely up to her as to how she implemented health and safety and other policies in the bakery. He would be responsible and accountable for them.
However she wasn't, therefor its not her place to do what she did.

Of course the policy caused issues with the elderly who don't have cards and of course no one wants them to be in a position where they cant buy bread etc. Yes she needs to use her initiative but the way she did it was very wrong, not just by sticking her fingers up at and undermining the companies health and safety policy but by paying for it the way she did with her own card on a regular basis. In a financial sense if the company ever got scrutinised by auditors etc it could create an absolute world of hurt for them as a company despite it being done with the best of interest of some by one employee.

Using your initiative in solving a problem like this, you need to tackle the policies and find a solution that wont raise potential headaches for the company. Other companies will have the same issue and it could be resolved but doing what she did is what you would do as a friend or neighbour not as business the approach needs to be different.

I run a much smaller business and if i found staff doing this I would not be happy at all. Especially if they had gone against my policies and had decided how they were going to deal with it without discussing it first to ensure that it would be ok.

She not he!!!

My disabled daughter had been doing so well learning all about coins and notes and trying to budget with them and use them in shops as part of her life skills training.
It’s really sad that it’s likely to all be for nothing.

There should not be a cashless society

I think if they're the type of business that depends on the elderly,and it sounds like they do.They have basically shot themselves in the foot.

If nearly all their customers use cash and they have basically banned it,I can safely say they are probably going to go down the tubes.

And they'll have no one to blame but themselves.

Anyone can get an account and card, it's not excluding anyone

Actually whilst technically that might be true my experience suggests it isn’t as easy as people make out.

I tried to open a new bank account.

It made my head spin with the 18 passcodes and passwords I was meant to remember and the questions and then the wait to see if I was allowed to open the account.
Then they sent me one of those mini calculator things that didn’t work.
I closed the account before I started.
If my experience has taught me anything I don’t think it is that easy to open an account to get a debit card and if you have someone who isn’t that comfortable with computers then I think it would be virtually impossible.

Blackbear19 True. Women couldn’t open a bank account in their own name until 1975.

I worked at Barclays in the late 70s and wasn’t allowed to have a credit card unless my father said I could. As he was long gone and I couldn’t get anyone to sign for me I wasn’t allowed one.

We don't know if change from the purse was being given out. We don't know if its been a colleague that's complained. If they witnessed ways in which they were being put at risk, then it's right that they did

But from the article it sounded like this woman didn’t touch the purse. It said the customers put the money in her purse and I am presuming they took the change from there as well so I am unsure how she was putting anyone at risk.

I dont think they would need to loose customers over this, I think they could find away of adapting their service to help those struggling with the new policies, it would only take the managers initiative to come up with suggestions to put to head office and work something out.

I think its more the fact that she didnt do this and wasnt transparent with them that was the issue. You cant just start going against policies when you work for someone. Problems like this can only be resolved properly if the managers and employees raise them with head office and suggest solutions so they dont loose customers and can help them instead with the full support of head office. Im guessing this didnt happen in this instance, hence her sacking.

It seems very hard to sack her.

I can see where they are coming from in the safety aspect, but surely a warning would have been sufficient?

She was trying to help customers who would otherwise have had to go without their purchases, and who may have been put at great risk by going into supermarkets.

I wondered if it was because the store has to pay for card transactions, but really it can't be a factor because they'd have had to pay if it was the customer's card.

I think a warning would have been enough, though.

V harsh.

Though harsh, I think they were right to sack her. They've put in rules to make their workplace COVID secure. The risk assessment would have highlighted cash as an unnecessary risk when cards could be used. If there was a COVID outbreak linked to the bakery, and there was evidence that employers were turning a blind eye to the use of cash when they had prohibited it, the employer would be the one facing legal issues, not the employee.

yabu. too Harsh. I signed petitition. I've also made a note to try not to patronise that business in future.

I am guessing you are associated with Birds? I am appalled she was sacked. After all those years of service so no doubt had built a personal relationship with her elderly customers and were helping them out to buy bread. She found a solution to a problem. I would be praising her for trying to help their customers but then explaining why it was wrong and not to do it again. Plus come up with another solution such as accepting cash if it’s exact and having the customer place it directing into something. They are buying food for goodness sake.

Don’t know Birds but it does sound like they won’t be there for much longer.

From what has been said Greggs will probably take this woman on and she has a loyal customer base that will follow her.

As a business I would have been chuffed that she had come up with a safe solution to the problem of not taking cash

I still don’t see how there was a health and safety issue.

Appalling, I know of elderly/vulnerable people who don't like cards as they can't manage them or indeed can get cards. It would have been quite easy to set aside a system for these customers to pay in cash, such as a small cash box where money and receipts could have been kept.

Sacking the employee! Well unless there's something in the background that we're unaware of this seems harsh. Bad PR in my view, Birds.

I’m wondering if she was already on a warning for something else. I was a trade union rep for years as much as I see the humanity in what she did I can see why she was sacked as it was a direct infringement of a rule.

As much as there is outrage over the sacking it will also reinforce to others that they take health and safety seriously so they may find new customers because of this.

Handling any item is a health and safety issue due to transference of the virus.

Greggs is nothing near as good as Birds. Totally different offer imho.

I can see why she was sacked as it was a direct infringement of a rule

Which rule.

She didn’t touch the cash and Birds got their card payments only

Greggs is nothing near as good as Birds. Totally different offer imho
but Greggs is what people will be left with.

I don't see the issue. So long as the money goes in then it's just like she is buying lots of bread

It would have been quite easy to set aside a system for these customers to pay in cash, such as a small cash box where money and receipts could have been kept.

When the shops first"re-opened, our tiny greengrocer's shop, which couldn't safely distance people, had a table out on the pavement. You told the assistant what you wanted; she weighed it out and bagged it for you, handing you the receipt, your card (if you used one) was given to another assistant who was also outside (but away from any opportunist thieves, who then put it through the machine. This assistant also had a cash box for people who preferred to use cash. We are also an area with a very high elderly population, many of whom prefer to use cash.

Rubbish thing to get the heave ho for if I'm honest

All of the shops in our high street, in South London, had rescinded the card only thing within the first couple of days of lockdown being lifted

Even local spoons had a cash till open despite being fully equipped for a cashless, even till-less operation but that's not who their customer base is

Of course the policy caused issues with the elderly who don't have cards and of course no one wants them to be in a position where they cant buy bread etc. Yes she needs to use her initiative but the way she did it was very wrong

Birds needed to implement a policy that isnt age discriminationatory. Surely they must have acknowledged that their customer base would include vulnerable people who don't have contact less. You employ people who have empathy and initative and then sack them for those characteristics. They need robots or computer says No people obviously!

Very poor of them.

Also auditors have to look at material impacts on finances..I doubt a £2 purchase would be judged material so a complete overreaction.

I hope birds sort this. Their mince pies are out of this world. They are a Big cut Above greggs. Birds- realise your error and reinstate her, it will be a good advert for your business And potentially stop you Being boycotted and swallowed up by an unworthy competitor.

I agree it’s a breach of policy but there’s a human story here which provides extenuating circumstances. Elderly, vulnerable people were protected from stress and hunger by her actions at a time of national crisis that waged war unduly on that age group. She was doing a kindness but got it technically wrong. A warning for sure, and help setting up a new elderly-friendly system, but not a sacking. There are not many grey areas in employment law but I would question this would be ‘reasonable in all the circumstances’ as it’s required to be in law. And that’s aside from the moral and marketing issue.

@ittakes2

I am guessing you are associated with Birds? I am appalled she was sacked. After all those years of service so no doubt had built a personal relationship with her elderly customers and were helping them out to buy bread. She found a solution to a problem. I would be praising her for trying to help their customers but then explaining why it was wrong and not to do it again. Plus come up with another solution such as accepting cash if it’s exact and having the customer place it directing into something. They are buying food for goodness sake.

THIS ^

Imagine sacking someone with 25 years service for using common fucking sense

Cash wont kill you. Im sick of the whole over the top rules for covid. Birds bakery should be boycotted IMHO . They would have been better off putting a sign on the counter saying "card payment preffered" then those who use cash can do.