We pause this blog to bring you a message from Canada: A single mother has been fired by the iconic Canadian donut chain Tim Horton’s for giving a free donut hole to a fussy baby. The chain said the worker was caught on video “stealing” the donut hole, which, in the mysterious Canadian language, is apparently called a “Timbit” and looks freaking delicious. Reader Chris, who alerted us to this story, explains: “It’s important to understand that Tim Horton’s is a Canadian national icon. That makes this story so much sadder.”
From the Toronto Star:
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.
That’s harsh, Tim Horton’s. Very harsh.
Tim Hortons fires single mom over free Timbit [Toronto Star]
(Photo: FlyGuy92586 )
UPDATE: Hey, she’s been rehired!“We’re working with the store owner on this policy,” said a Tim Horton’s spokesperson, calling Lilliman’s firing “an overreaction and not appropriate.”
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@VnlaThndr775
It’s great she got her job back, plus at a different location,no less.
Those Timbits must be pretty good if you can get fired for giving a baby one.
And I thought people getting worked about Krispy Kreme was bad…
Too bad. Does she think this is the only store that has strict policies? I know people who work at other types of stores with very similar policies. It’s a rule that is easy to follow. Don’t give out anything free.
Firing her was probably an overreaction. However, where do you draw the line?
If someone’s a really good employee and really needs the money, and they steal a CD from Best Buy where they work, should they be fired? Yeah. So where’s the line?
why didn’t they just ask her for the 16 cents?
@laserjobs: Wait, what the hell? You’re saying you think of all single moms as strippers? What the fuck is wrong with you?
@Bladefist:
Claim unemployment? I don’t know how they run things in Canada but in the US if you are fired for stealing from a company then you don’t get unemployment, period.
She’s been rehired, the next day – by the same franchise owner. Owner called it an over-reaction by a manager. She’s been paid any missing wages.
[www.thestar.com]
@nikkomorocco: I’m not your guy friend!
@buzzybee: Ya that goes over well with consumers. She was just doing good customer service, too bad you and the idiot boss didn’t see that.
@ Hi
I’m not your friend buddy!
I’m sorry, Canada has national icons other than the maple leaf and Wayne Gretzky?
Zero tolerance!
She’s been REHIRED?? Why on Earth would she want to work there again?
1. Don’t stuff a donut hole in a kid’s mouth to keep him/her quiet, what a bad example that is.
2. There’s obviously more to this story than one person giving a donut hole away. I feel bad for Horton’s though, as this is a real black eye for their PR.
I would say FUCCCKK you, not take the job back. That’s pathetic. Fuck them.
The manager should have had a police officer there when he fired here. So when she showed signs of being upset the cop would have justifiable cause to use his Taser on her “to control the situation” and protect himself from possible harm from an accused criminal “acting aggressively.” If the Taser and the usual multiple further shocks given because they either move, or don’t/can’t move from the effects ( officer’s discretion ) didn’t kill her, then a good beat-down with his nightstick would be in order. Obviously Canadians aren’t as serious about crime as us Americans.
I blame Wendy’s. Tim Hortons would never have been like this before the take-over and subsequent ipo.
@InfiniTrent: She didn’t steal, it’s called customer service. She didn’t take anything for herself. Good Customer Service in this situation means that mom says hey I got great CS from this store, it helped quit my kid down, reducing my stress, now I’m going to talk to all my friends about my experience. = More money. Not a hard concept to follow. Well maybe for some people.
Comment on Tim Horton’s Fires Single Mom For Giving A Free Donut Hole To A Baby You should know that this woman has since been rehired.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/422936
Guys, we’re losing sight of the scope of the crime, here. Remember, to you and me, it’s only 16 cents, but don’t forget that these are Canadian cents; the extent of this crime is much worse. We’re talking the equivilent of US$0.20 here!
Those donut holes add up! If they start giving out free donut holes to every whiny baby that comes strolling in, they’ll go out of business in a week!
Oh, right, I forgot, no sarcasm. Yeah, this is pretty dumb.
@buzzybee: you are a sad example of a human being. Tim Horton’s has made a sad example of how to treat its customers and has since changed its stance on the corporate level.
Hopefully the manager that pulled the trigger on her will be disciplined for jumping to such a harsh punishment.
Would you recommend firing an employee for dropping a ‘timbit’ on the floor, thus rendering it unsafe to consume? it’s not theft, but it costs the company the sale of a ‘timbit’.
@buzzybee: Read the re-hire article on the star that people have linked. It says right on there that have no policy against this.
@queenlizzie: They called her within hours and hired her back at a different location the very next day and are paying her the lost wages for the time off. I’d say that’s pretty awesome management.
@laserjobs: 27-year-old single mom makes me think lapdance, too.
“27yr-old single mom OF FOUR” makes me think… you can keep that lapdance
@buzzybee: Or they could have just docked the 16¢ from her paycheck….or someone’s couch cushion.
I wonder if it’s coincidence that “Canadian Idiot” started playing while typing this.
@buzzybee:
You don’t have a company. If you did, you would run it into the ground.
Probably her manager hates her, and jumped to the first occasion to fire her on any pretext.
Corporate, then kicked his ass, and said that he had to re-hire her(or lose HIS/HER job).
Thankfully, Tim Hortons corporate seems knows a lot about good PR. Most of Tim Horton’s profits are based on the affection Canadians have to this chain, and bad PR would be disastrous.
There was definitely something more going on. Tim Hortons is desperate to attract and retain employees, and even gives iPods to new hires. There is no way with the tight labor market in Canada that a company would fire someone over this, particularly when there is the potential for bad publicity.
@buzzybee: over a donut hole? so how about firing everyone who surfs the net during company time, or construction workers who take a 5 minute water break while still on the clock? it’s nickels and dimes. sure they add up, but it’s still a fraction of profits these companies are making. especially food chains, who have a 2-3x mark up on everything.
Let’s talk about bad managers!
When I worked at wal-mart we had a new assistant manager transfer into our store. He decided we didn’t work hard enough, so come the end of our shift he told us to clock out, then come back, because we were gonig to clean the store off the clock until it was spotless to teach us to work harder during our actual shifts.
Since I was a college student who didn’t actually need the money I told him to go stuff himself and went home. The next day the actual store manager called me and apologized and let me know the new assistant had been severly reprimanded (I thought he should have been fired, but hey, who was I?).
I was kind of worried about working under him again, but he seemed more scared of me than I was of him (not used to being stood up to I guess?) so it all worked out okay.
@RookOmega: I’m not your buddy guy!
These timbits sound good, it makes me want to hop on a plane bound for somewhere in Canada.
Well this is not Tim Hortons’ fault — it’s the fault of asshole managers. I would still eat at other Tim Hortons stores unless the corporate culture is so oppressive that it causes the managers to act like this.
@InfiniTrent: Lord, a slippery slope argument.
In addition to the fact that it wasn’t her chowing down on Timbits, but her engaging in customer service, most people have an instinct as to where to draw the line. I’m pretty sure that line is somewhere above $.16.
@balthisar: As of today, CA$0.16 = US$0.157889, according to XE.
this is funny, i was just talking to my grandpa last week about this – it was always store policy to hand out free plain timbits to dogs, up until very recently. he always went to timmy’s with his dog and friends from the dog park and they would get one with their coffees for the dogs… but in the past few weeks it seems like there has been an edict from On High over at timmy’s HQ, and this is no longer acceptable practice. i can’t imagine it had been costing them so much as all that… funny that it would lead to a PR disaster so quickly!
@bbagdan: Well, that seems to be the problem – “a company” didn’t fire her; the company doesn’t even have a universal free-food policy. A short-sighted manager who quite possibly had it in for her for some reason fired her.
@RookOmega:
I’m not your Buddy, Guy!
Oh wait, I am.
And for the record, my screen name here was devised before the South Park gag. It’s using the deadspin “First Name/Last Name” wheel of fortune nomenclenture.
@madrigal: At Kroger, cashiers will typically scan an unregistered card for me and just put it back. I won’t get a card because I don’t want to be placed on a marketing list, and since every cashier with whom I’ve dealt has done this without asking, I assume that it’s unofficial policy.
OK, everyone, calm down… this woman has been rehired, by another TH outlet.
Let’s go get our free Timbits there! I’ll cry until she does!
[www.thestar.com]
@busybee “Just as I would fire any of my employees caught stealing from my company.”
So out of curiosity, are you at work now, while you use the web to surf?
What makes it really bizarre is my dog gets a free Timbit whenever we go through the drive-thru. She got fired for a normal every day practice. She got fired for something she was probably more than willing to rectify by paying the 16 cents. You don’t suddenly fire people for a minor rule that everybody breaks.
Well, I’ll remember that the next time I walk past a Tim Horton’s.
@shaken_bake: You don’t need free Timbits. They’re a $2 for twenty.
@iliveinyoureyelid: And don’t forget, 16¢ is like, $250 U.S. now, with the exchange rate, so a considerable sum of money was involved. Poutine jokes are the best!
@t325: You don’t even have to go to Canada. Some Tim Hortonses have slipped south into places like Maine, NH, WA, maybe even North Dakota.
I used to work at the Gap/Banana Republic and I know how they dealt with managers who did bonehead moves like this…a slow and long career death until they take the hint and work at Wal Mart…or worse yet, Levi’s.
Where’s Kyle’s mom to sing “Blame Canada” when you need her?
The article title and body is misleading, the product is NOT free, they do cost money.
@itmustbeken: “…or worse yet, Levi’s.”
Or Chess King.
Well, that should teach her not to be be so free with giving away Tim’s bits…
WTF is a donut hole? Hey yanks, they’re called Timbits! And no, they’re not free. they do cost money. Likely this wasnt the first time she’s been caught giving food away and this was just the final nail in the coffin. What, baby’s can’t afford their own timbits now? I’m pretty sure theres more to the story. Would a manager really want to go through the trouble of fidning, hiring, and training a new employee just for a Timbit? Thats a lot of work for a missing twenty cent item. If a consumer was shortchanged by a timbit I’m sure you’d all be up in arms (especially if it were a baby/kitten!)…but when the shop is shortchanged by a timbit, who cares, right? Fairness works both ways.