Fired cause of coffee at the register!

[Ree]

This was at McDonald's? Is this a franchised McDonald's? I work at a corporate owned McDonald's and we are allowed to get a quick child's drink.

Just to clarify - he bought the coffee at McDonald's, and took it back to Wal-Mart, where he worked.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The rule at my job is no drinks at any workplace unless you bring in a doctor's order. This includes water.

That being said, when I was on third shift and my job for the night was setting ad, I'd buy a bottle or two of soda and take one with me in my cart to drink while working. There were no managers to tell me I couldn't.

One of the pricing people will also have her bottle of Diet Coke in her cart with her when she's working early in the mornings.

[Peppergirl]

I can understand not having soda or other stuff at the counter when you're in retail, but I really think the no-water rule is way harsh.

Just my .02 cents.

[daleduke17]

The rule at my job is no drinks at any workplace unless you bring in a doctor's order. This includes water.

That being said, when I was on third shift and my job for the night was setting ad, I'd buy a bottle or two of soda and take one with me in my cart to drink while working. There were no managers to tell me I couldn't.

One of the pricing people will also have her bottle of Diet Coke in her cart with her when she's working early in the mornings.

That's how I did it when I went in two hours before the store opened. 4a-6a I had my Pepsi out on a bread table next to me, 6a was break (along with store opening) the Pepsi disappeared to upstairs in the pricing office near the ordering computer.

The best part was when I was working pricing and the pricing clerk and I would buy breakfast, take it upstairs and use the store manager's microwave to cook it (for some reason every SM had a microwave and mini-fridge in their office). :-p

[Enigma]

Wow, so apparently I work at the best Wal-mart there is. That's unnerving, I've never heard that kind of policy, I have all sorts of drinks with me all the time, and I've never gotten in trouble.

[powerboy]

I like where I work now. We are able to have drinks next to the computer with us. We are also able to eat in the office/front when it is not busy. But if it is, then we have to eat in the lunch room.

[Kogarashi]

One store I worked at, the rule was it had to be an a capped container (like soda or water bottles), so that if it tipped, it wouldn't spill all over the till. Even when management spontaneously provided soda to all the employees on an especially hot day in the summer, it was in bottles instead of cans.

The other store, the rule was water-only, though some cashiers got away with clear sodas in water bottles and no one ratted them out. One cashier brought her coffee cup from Subway over, but would hide it under the counter whenever management or customers were around.

I agree that a lot of times, it's because water is for hydrating while other drinks not so much. I'm also in the camp that there was something else going on, and this was the straw on the camel's back, so to speak.

Of course, it could've also been one of those truly Sucky Wal-Marts with the crap management and everything.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

When I was a cashier at Wal-Mart the only way we were allowed to have water at the register was if you got a doctor's note saying it was for medical reasons. So if you ever been to Wal-Mart & stayed in there for any length of time then you know how dry the air can be. It doesn't take long for a cashier to get thirsty.
One of many stupid rules at Wally World.

??? my store has a cooler with cold water in it by the registers and one by the unloading dock during the summer, corporate policy states that the store will provide cold water or sports drinks(which means water, it's cheaper) during periods of extreme heat

but not during the winter

Wow, so apparently I work at the best Wal-mart there is. That's unnerving, I've never heard that kind of policy, I have all sorts of drinks with me all the time, and I've never gotten in trouble.

most wal mart managers are decent human beings, who will look past the petty policies until someone complains. notice how they have sooooo many things you CAN be fired for, if they enforced them all they wouldn't have anyone left

[Boochan]

The back of our store is our register/a couple of display cabinets/storage behind us/door to office so we have plenty of areas to keep our drinks away from the main counter. My manager doesn't care and generally has coffee nearby him wherever he is, but technically we are meant to keep our drinks sitting in the office (a few steps away), but most of the time we will have bottles on the floor and things like coffee on the shelf behind us.

When the Area Manager comes in, its just a matter of hiding them in the office temporarily, though its not an official OH&S policy to have them away, its still a nag that we like to avoid.

Firing for it, or only allowing water at the checkout? Madness.

[ShinyGreenApple]

The reason for the water-only rule is in case of a spill. Liquid spreads quickly when spilled, which would make for a really sticky mess that would probably never truly get cleaned up. I can understand the reasoning behind this rule.

At Winn-Dixie though, we weren't allowed to have any kind of drink at the register, and we only got one lunch break in an 8-hour shift. As a person used to consuming close to 64oz of water a day, this was rough on me and I often ended up semi-dehydrated because of it. Yes, we are being paid to work, but hydration is a basic human need. It's a shame that companies treat us like robots who only need oiled once a day.

Ok, I realize that last statement sounds wrong on several levels, but

[tropicsgoddess]

Fired over only having some coffee at the register? A bit harsh unless there was more to it, like multiple warnings for coming back late from lunches/breaks, or whatever.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's one of the benefits of working for a small, family-owned business. I sometimes get coffee brought to me at the register. Sometimes even without me asking - the boss goes "here Ed, I got myself a coffee so I thought I'd get you one too".

)

Man, I heard that. Back at the small lab I worked at, it was from ice cream sundays to beer, and everything in between, all brought in by the boss when we'd had a good week.

Probably more to the story than that. It's way too costly to replace employees for that sort of pickiness to be commonplace.

[bean]

My manager and I habitually order pizza and eat it behind the counter.

When I worked at Papa John's, we'd occasionally have trades.

Trades are pretty common in the restaurant industry, unless they're with your direct competitor.

Yes, I traded pizza/etc with Domino's! (along with plenty of chinese food places) After so many years of working at PJ's, I couldn't stand anything we made.

The DM was less than amused when he walked in and saw an empty Domino's box on the office desk, but just told us to hide it better if we did it again. He would actually flip out real bad if we had a radio in the office, but a competitor's product? Nah.

The look on the face of the Domino's driver when he walked in our door was always awesome. And that particular Domino's would occasionally order from us too.

Sadly, I did find out that someone at that Domino's got fired for trading, but only because.. they left a Papa John's box on their warming rack, in plain view of customers. At least I would transfer the contents to a PJ's box before leaving it on the rack.