More people lack common sense...

LINK

Idaho cafeteria worker fired for giving hungry student a free lunch




Are the schools that hard up that they decide to fire someone for doing the right thing, so many kids only eat at school because their parents don't have money and barely eat at home. The school couldn't eat $1.70 for an 12 yr old to have a crappy school lunch...

I completely agree that the decision to fire her was not justified.


Having said that, I think the concern from the school district is that if an exception is made for one child then they will have to do the same for every other child that can't afford their lunch.

Wait, is there no more free/reduced lunch for poorer kids? My wife was one who never paid full price for lunch (which was $0.75, IIRC), does this program not still exist?

I don't have children. On the record I don't care much for kids or to be around them, but what we donate for children's charities (major and local) would say otherwise (maybe an atonement?). Like guns, I'm not comfortable talking about it (unlike sex, weird eh?).

But this firing seems ridiculous! I'm guessing this isn't a small town? Is there more to the story we don't know about?

Mark, I don't know about idaho, but I know NH had that back when my wife was going to school and I was the only one working. What's stupid is they wouldn't even let the lady pay for it with her own money. Do the RIGHT thing!

The parents at that school need to speak out. What if it was their hungry child?

And what's the cafe worker supposed to do- stare down a hungry kid and refuse the kid food? That's not just wrong, it's 'burn in hell' wrong.

Meh, they have reduced and free lunches for at risk kids. The school doesn't exist as a charity, as much as you may disagree with that.

Firing them over it was really overkill (I suspect other issues were at play here as is so often the case with these clickbaity news stories) but she shouldn't have done it. It sets a definite precedent, and considering taxes are paying for the supplies the school has there are alternatives for food aid to at risk households versus having fun with auditors if it gets out of hand.

It's Idaho...they should just give them a potato and send them on their way.

First of all, it's not the cafeteria workers decision to give away food. She should have taken the issue to her supervisor or whomever the school administrators are. Remember, if you give people an inch they will take a mile. Next thing you know everyone is asking for free handouts. Secondly, going hungry for one afternoon isn't going to hurt the kid at all. Perhaps it will teach her a lesson to remember to bring her money or food the next day. If her family is too poor to feed the kid then DHS needs to get involved.

lol brownba, nice to see some good Christian charity this Christmas. Give away a meal, and next you know, it's welfare armageddon!

There are plenty of reasons why a kid wouldn't have the lunch money even if his/her family isn't poor. Parents spending their money on alcohol or drugs (loads and loads of cases just don't come to the attention of relevant authorities unless we'd install CCTV in everyone's house), bullies stealing it, etc. Acting like this over less than twelve bucks is a #%&*$# thing to do, end of story.

Sad. Kid's Dad doesn't give a crap if his kid is hungry, but bet he has an X-box and hundred's of dollars worth of tattoos. Mom probably doesn't care much either, because the kid is just a paycheck to her. Bet she has lots of tattoos, jewelry, nice cloths, new I-phone, hair and nails are the latest so she can continue to 'date' as many guys as possible. Probably pays more attention to her social media life, then her own child. Some poor cafeteria worker who sees this crap everyday takes pity on a hungry kid (who already is supposed to be getting government assistance, but Mom spends on herself) and gives her some food. Now she loses her job. The school district will have to spend all kinds of money on this issue now. I am all in favor of "you breed them, you feed them', but too many 'parents' just don't care. Too many kids today don't have a chance in hell, because of their 'parents.

It's fascinating how much you can read from a single headline written in clickbait style.

I'm not saying that the scenario you described doesn't exist somewhere, but do you even have a single shred of evidence for anything that your wrote above, aside from:

1) A kid told a cafeteria worker that it was hungry and didn't have the money
2) The cafeteria worker gave the kid a free meal
3) The cafeteria worker was fired


Everything else seems to be wild speculation.

It's sad when employers don't value a person's job more than this. Firing a person is a very serious thing, but these days it happens all too easily. It's a person's LIVELIHOOD.
You don't fire a person over something like this. Even if a flood of kids wanting a free meal resulted, even if you claim "it's like stealing to give away a meal", you don't fire someone for something like this. It is NOT the same as skimming from the register, common sense tells you this. You reprimand, teach, learn and move on. Perhaps adjust policies or create programs to fill the gap that's been exposed. Firing should be taken much more seriously.

Fair enough. Speculation, maybe. I have several family members that are teachers, or work for schools in many different positions (including cafeteria workers). They see the scenario I described all the time. I guess a community forum can be a place for wild speculation.

Mind you, I'm absolutely with you (firing someone is a very serious thing that shouldn't be done lightheartedly). But how much do we actually know about the case?
How much information do we have about the worker's track record in the cafeteria? Maybe there are other incidents that aren't being made public.

I mean, maybe the employers are all inconsiderate sociopaths. But it's just as well possible that what's written in the article isn't the full story either. Our brains are wired to "fill in the blanks" of any message that we receive in the attempt to create a consistent story. But just because we can imagine a coherent story, even if it's a plausible one, that doesn't mean that it's true. All I'm saying is that there may be more to the story than what we are being told.

True enough, could have been just a kid who forgot their lunch money that day. I guess it's all the stories I hear about kids coming to school in the winter with ho boots, no gloves, no hats, etc.. The parents that just don't give a crap about their kids is staggering. The neglect that is so prevalent makes me think the worst.

Most likely there is more to the story than being reported. This is probably going to turn out like Ahmed the "clock" builder story.

The administration (whatever it is whether University, Government or Company) could either be a good friend or worst enemy. When it is your worst enemy don't discount the possibility that it is someone inside and not the system which is targeting you.

I really hated my study at a certain university. but for some reason, I couldn't chastise the system because as an entity, the University was very kind to me. There were many times the system could've screwed me over but for some reason, it bent over whenever it could. If someone inside that administration targeted me it would be very easy to really screw me up.

There are similar stories I've read and only one thing comes to mind. There is a lot going on behind the scenes.

p.s. I wish people would stop calling it "common" sense when it is really not that common.

Hmm...maybe I don't dislike children so much, it's their jerk-off parents I can't stand. Avoiding kids (whenever possible) allows me to avoid their parents.

While in high school, I worked as a cashier in a grocery store. Several kids would come through my line, each with a single piece of bubble gum and a $1.00 food stamp. Each kid would receive $0.97 in change with their purchase and leave the store. A few minutes later, here comes daddy to buy cheap wine and a pack of smokes with change. LOL! Over time you get to know the biggest abusers of the system but what can you do?

I don't believe paper welfare is used anymore, I think it's a card now, but I'm sure there's new ways of not providing for your family.

Great lessons to teach your kids, I wonder if that bubble gum counted for a meal?

Idea for a countryballs cartoon:


In Soviet Latvia, dream of bubblegum can substitute potato and turnip.

But of do not the mention!
Talk of bubblegum is of winnings extended stay at Siberian Holiday Inn.

She has been offered her job back, fear of lawsuits is my guess.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/24/ida...ml?intcmp=hpbt4

They get embroiled in a lawsuit and the thing can drag on forever... IMO that's a quick and wise move.

Not going to mention where but I got involved with an institution that faced something similar. Someone goes to the press, press writes an article and whole nation is pissed. This one in particular was a very nasty scandal. The institution decided to fight. Thing was going on for years and was still unsettled when I left. Names ruined, careers ruined. In the articles, everything seemed so simple but when you actually talk to the people it's not.

This lunch lady needs to be fired though.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/19/was...ml?intcmp=hpbt4

^ Story is even sadder than the first one!

++++++++++

We were talking about this last night...

Wife's father died of a heart attack with two young children (wife 2, brother 4), one just conceived (sister) that he never knew about. Kids were on free school lunch until mom went to work as a bank teller, then their lunch went to reduced (system based on parent's income).

They never needed food stamps or WICs, but I'm *still* working off all the government cheese I ate when I started hanging around (did some research, stuff is disgusting)!

As a result of hardships (I assume), kids were well motivated to succeed (today a lawyer, accountant and registered nurse). In this case the system worked, IMO.

I can't help but wonder if the supervisor could have just handled the whole thing a whole lot easier. I mean just reach into your front pocket and put the $1.70 in the register and say "this one's on me today, don't forget your stuff tomorrow". Nobody would have ever known.

LB4LB....exactly right

The supervisor reportedly told the lady she couldn't pay for it herself. My question is, what the hell made that supervisor think he had the power to tell her that?

In the old days you give your kids lunch money and they go to their school cafeteria and pick out what they want a la carte and pay accordingly to what they have on their tray.

Now most schools have turned to the prepaid program where the parents put money in an account online and their kid is given a pre-loaded card that they swipe at the cafeteria.

Sometimes the payment system screw up and it's showing there is no $ on the card or sometimes the parents get busy and they forget to reload the card with $.

There has been cases of kids' cards not working or showing no money once they get up to the cashier and their tray of food is taken away from them and the food on the tray is thrown into the trash and the kids are forced to go hungry without lunch.

Welcome to the new U.S. School system where there is no more common sense, where the school districts are only interested in the kids showing up as a warm (or dead body) because they get paid by the State for each student that is in school every day, where school districts have zero tolerance over everything.

Kids as young as 1st grade and as old as High School age have been detained and handcuffed by the school district police or security for things like bringing a gun holding plastic G.I. Joe figurine that is not bigger than your finger or for drawing a picture of a gun or for sneezing in class and disrupting the class or for bringing prescription drugs to school that they were prescribed for and the school nurse has been informed that child needs the medication.

It's no mystery to why so many families home school now.

This trend is with public school.

My kids go to a private Montessori school.

We pay one fee per child at the beginning of each one of the two semester.

The fee covers everything from classes to books to lunch - we provide pen, pencils, paper, spiral notebook, crayons, etc.

My kids still likes to take their own lunch to school sometimes but if they are in the cafeteria and they see something they like, they can help themselves to any of it.

No cash required. No pre-loaded card required.

Seeing as the vast majority of American families can't afford private school the only other alternative is home schooling.