Should they have been fired?

[Knifeman]

I recently saw an episode of "Ace of Cakes" Where the team was making a birthday cake for Roger Moore. Well, they were in a hotel in New York City and left their room for a few minutes, leaving the cakes in the room. They came back and discovered the cakes were gone.

They then discovered that the Hotel Staff went into their room, took the cakes, sliced them up and were eating them downstairs.

Should the hotel staff members responsible be fired?

[KMMCurly]

I don't know how those who actually work in Hotels would judge this but from my point of view, Hell yes!

[Becks]

Yes.

Unless there's more to the story that hasn't been told.

[flybye023]

I saw that episode too, and I must admit I was confused.

The housekeeping staff apparently thought the room was vacated and the cakes "abandoned". At least, that's their story and they're sticking to it.

It raised several questions for me though.

Supposedly, the Ace of Cakes crew just left for breakfast and they said on camera it was "early". I think they had to be at the event at like, 11:00 a.m. Don't most hotels have checkout at 10 or 11? If so, why would the staff think the room was abandoned that early in the day? Also, the guys hadn't even checked out yet. Does the housekeeping staff have no way of knowing whether the customer has left yet or not?

Besides, is it common for several professional sheet cakes to be left behind?

As to being fired, depends on what happened and how responsible the person/people involved normally were. The hotel paid for the loss, of course, but I would imagine a write up and re-education were in order.

By the way the episode was called "The Spy Who Caked Me" if anyone's interested.

[Evil Queen]

Well, that's one shotty story to use as an excuse! A lot of hotels' check out time is noon, but if they had left the cakes in the room, I (being a Hotel clerk) would assume that the room WAS NOT vacant when they seen the Suit Cases.

If I was the manager, I'd make the house keepers pay for the cakes and then fire their sorry arses.

[marasbaras]

I'd fire them if I were their manager. What else have they stolen over their term of employment? Customers in a hotel trust the staff with their items in the room. A hotel just can't have staff stealing. Period.

And the checkout story? Let's see ... haven't notified the front desk that they're checking out ... and, if they had checked out, NOBODY would leave cakes like that behind and not come back for them in a panic saying "OMG! I forgot my cakes!"

So, definitely fired. People like that give good employees a bad rep.

[tropicsgoddess]

If I was the manager of the hotel, I would've fired the housekeeping staff. Stealing is stealing, no matter if it was stealing a co-worker's lunch, stuff from a guest's room or money from the till.

[Stormraven]

Not just yes, but hell yes. Anyone who ate the cake, too. And then I'd report them, and all their information to the police. It's likely only a misdemeanor charge, but it's still theft.

[Reyneth]

Not just yes, but hell yes. Anyone who ate the cake, too. And then I'd report them, and all their information to the police. It's likely only a misdemeanor charge, but it's still theft.

Ditto, especially because IIRC Mary Alice had to *fight* with the hotel management to be reimbursed for the cakes!

[Listerfiend]

Ditto, especially because IIRC Mary Alice had to *fight* with the hotel management to be reimbursed for the cakes!

I also love that Mary Alice had to scare the hotel management into taking action by telling them there wasn't a guarantee that the hotel wouldn't be bashed on TV.

[smileyeagle1021]

Not just yes, but hell yes. Anyone who ate the cake, too. And then I'd report them, and all their information to the police. It's likely only a misdemeanor charge, but it's still theft.

definitely the housekeepers who stole the cake, but I don't think that there is enough information to say about the rest of the employees. Now if they admitted that they new it was stolen then yes, but there are plenty of plausible reasons as to why the housekeepers have cake that most people wouldn't question (when I worked at national car rental people would bring stuff in just because they felt like it... granted I may be suspicious as to how a coworker could afford a designer cake... but hey they can spend their money as they see fit and if they saw fit to buy their coworkers a designer cake that's their choice).

[powerboy]

I would have them pay back every last cent and then fire them. I would also report them to the police about theft.

[marasbaras]

I would have them pay back every last cent and then fire them. I would also report them to the police about theft.

Most definitely all of the above.

[Ree]

You're sure this was a legitimate occurrence and not "added" to the show to create some drama?

I only ask, because a friend had a family member go on one of those 'reality' shows where they do a room makeover, and, after I watched the show, I was told all kinds of juicy tidbits. There were things that supposedly went wrong, or other dramatic events, and it was all staged.

There was a chair that they wanted to upholster, and the company supposedly 'lost' the material only hours before the big reveal, so they fired the company and had to find another at a moment's notice, and the chair was finished in record time by this new guy.
What really happened was that the arrangements for the chair to be covered had been made in advance with this second guy.

They sent the woman away for a weekend to do the makeover, and it showed her being pampered and going on three dates with these 'eligible' bachelors.
They were all actors hired to do a performance, and one was already married.

If this cake show was a real incident, though, the staff should have been fired.
I don't believe that excuse at all.

[Stormraven]

Agreed - if it was staged, obviously it's not an issue.

As for my 'anyone who ate the cake' comment. True, they can spend their money how they like, but if (as it seems to me) you're on work schedule, and come back from doing your rounds with a fancy cake, there's got to be a lot more than suspicion there.

Still, after I typed that I moderated my position a little. Find out if they had any idea. If they did, then fire them.