A New Hampshire lunchroom employee (at Mascoma Valley Regional High School) thought she was doing the right thing when she let a student take food even though he didn’t have money to pay. Her employer, Cafe Services, disagreed and fired her, accusing her of stealing the $8 lunch tab. Bonnie Kimball said the staff at the small high school where she worked for 4½ years knows the students and their circumstances when they come through the lunch line.
… On March 28 the kid had several a la carte items on his tray, and Kimball quietly told him to have his mother put some money on his account. That same day a manager for Cafe Services was at the high school observing operations. On March 29, the student came in and paid his lunch bill. Kimball was called in by two managers later that day and fired over the tab.
… Kimball said her direct manager instructed her in February to let students take food and discreetly tell them they need to add money to their account.
UPDATE!
School officials and the food service company have offered to rehire the employee, but Kimball said she won't take their offer, saying "they're not doing it for me, they are doing it to save face."
However, Chef José Andrés, who has helped provide millions of free meals to furloughed federal workers and natural disaster survivors, wants to hire Bonnie Kimball.
His nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, has provided millions of hot meals to people impacted byu disasters worldwide including Hurricane Florence, first responders in the California wildfires, volcano victims in Guatemala, migrants in Tijuana and millions of Puerto Ricans who were left with nothing after Hurricane Maria.And when we had the government shutdown he and his volunteers offered free sandwiches at any of his restaurants for all federal government employees.