Fired for Giving away a Horton's Timbit?

[SoCalcaniac]

This is when you know you just need to stop reading the papers or just throw your hands up in the air and call it a day; I mean she was "greeted by 3 managers" and fired:

Tim Hortons fires single mom over free Timbit
<!-- LANDSCAPE IMAGE FOR THE ARTICLE--><!-- SIDE BAR CONTAINER --><!-- PUBLISH DATE -->May 08, 2008
<!-- CREDIT 1-->The Canadian Press
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT-->

LONDON, Ont.–Giving a free Timbit to a baby has cost a single mother of four her job.
Nicole Lilliman, 27, was fired yesterday from her Tim Hortons job for giving one of the 16-cent blobs of fried dough to a tot.
"I have been fired for giving a baby a Timbit," Lilliman said yesterday.
"It was just out of my heart – she was pointing and going `ah, ah...' I should have gone to my purse and got the change, but it was busy."
Lilliman, who has worked at the store for three years, said she thought little of the incident since Timbits are often doled out to dogs and children.
She said the baby was about 11 months old, and she gave her the treat to quiet her, since her mom – a Tims' regular – had been ``having a bad day."
"I could see (the dismissal) if it was a sandwich or something," she said. "But it was a Timbit."

Three managers greeted her yesterday, saying she had been caught on video giving free food to a child.
"They said, `Remember, Monday you gave out a free Timbit,' " she said.
"I had to think, then I was like, `Oh yeah,' and I smiled because I thought I'd get a warning."
Instead, she was fired for theft.
Giving food away is against the rules, said Tim Hortons district manager Nicole Mitchell.

[StormShaman]

WTF?

Dude, srsly. I gave little five-cent pieces of candy to small children when I worked at the Stop-n-Rob all the time as a reward when they were polite and well-mannered--I've even done it in front of the VP of the freaking company--and NEVER got in trouble over it, ever.

Those managers deserve to be punched in the face. Repeatedly.

[StormChaserBH]

Chances are she wasn't workin' out at the donut shop anyway and they were just looking for a reason to fire her and just latched upon this "rule" so they could validate the firing..

I mean, if you were a manager, would you get rid of a really good employee over a "16-cent blob of fried dough"?

But yeah, pretty weak...

[nccanes]

I was thinking the same thing SCBH.

[Canesluver]

ditto

[Guyute]

Yeah but she had been there for 3 years. It's not like a new hire that you needed a good reason to fire. Chances are if she was a "bad employee" they wouldn't have needed 3 years to find a reason.

[nccanes]

I wondered about how long she was there as well, but at minimum there's another side of the story. A new manager? I recent spate of missing timbits? Who knows -- but I know I want the FULL story! :D

[Shell]

at least they were embarrassed into rehiring her!

Tim Hortons apologizes, rehires mom who gave away Timbit
Becky Rynor , Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008

A single mother of four has been rehired, a day after Tim Hortons fired her for giving a free Timbit to a fussy baby.

"Unfortunately the action of the manager of this location was not appropriate, nor grounds for dismissal," a statement from Tim Hortons said Thursday. "With an apology from management, Ms. Lilliman has been rehired by the franchisee."

Company spokeswoman Rachel Douglas said 27-year-old Nicole Lilliman will be back at work on Friday, although she said Lilliman has chosen to work at a Tim Hortons at another location in the southwestern Ontario city of London.

"She gave a Timbit to a child," she noted. "At other stores it's good customer service to give a kid a cookie or a piece of baloney. She didn't pass them a doughnut or anything, and it wasn't her friend. It was a regular customer."

Suzanne Lilliman, 44, said her niece had worked at the fast-food franchise for about three years.

"To be fired over a Timbit is just ridiculous. We're talking a minimum-wage-paying job at best. I know that she's a hard worker and she's got kids at home so she has to be out there working and literally singing for her dinner. She would have done anything she could to be nice to the customer," the aunt said, prior to the announcement of her niece's rehiring.

Nicole Lilliman was fired Wednesday after giving the free Timbit to the baby on Monday. A Timbit is Tim Hortons' signature bite-sized nugget of deep-fried dough, which sells for about 17 cents, or $1.70 for a package of 10.

Douglas said "it has yet to be determined" whether any action will be taken against the managers who fired her.

"We sincerely apologize to our customers for this unfortunate incident," the company's statement added.

[Guyute]

I'd take a job at a different one too. Smart move. Hopefully it's not out of her way or anything.

[StormChaserBH]

Yah, that was the other possibility, that some dork(s) let the word "manager" go to their heads... I'm sure nobody here has ever seen THAT happen to someone :lol:

Well, good for the woman...... tweaking my original comment to:

I mean, if you were a good manager, would you get rid of a good employee over a "16-cent blob of fried dough"?

Is there any competition up there for Horton's -- Dunkin or whatever? She probably could have gotten a nice raise getting hired by THEM for the publicity ;)

[AbNormal27]

The uproar over this up here has been ASTOUNDING. Everyone is now calling for the manager to be removed, not disciplined, REMOVED. Stay tuned.

Aaryn

[Caniac]

LOL

All this over 16 cents.

[SoCalcaniac]

I knew there'd be an uproar- and Tim Horton's doesn't want this kind of publicity. No company does. I'd ask to be located elsewhere too.

Aaryn keep us posted on the Manager- I'm dying to know what will happen there.

obviously he/she was a little power trippy or something - if you're managing, you should be the person using 'good judgement' if you're to be the one to lead a team. This person obviously doesn't have that.

[nccanes]

The employee CLEARLY won the PR battle. The store/company has their hands tied. They can't go public with any employee records issues (if there are any).

I'm in a snarky mood, so I'm still saying Ms employee's got something going on. Who alerted the media? :evil:

Fascinating little saga.

[AbNormal27]

Who alerted the media?

Another employee.

Aaryn

[nccanes]

Wow - I'd wanna fire that person if I were a mgr. :lol:

Is there any discussion of the fired employee or the whistle blower actually talking to TH's HR before the media?