Woman Fired From Stealing From Her Job

Now why in the world would this type of story catch my attention? Isn’t all stealing bad? Is there ever a case where stealing is okay? Well, let me briefly tell you the story of Nicole Lilliman, a 27 year-old single mother, from London, Ontario, who was caught “stealing” from her employer, an outlet of the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut chain.

While working one busy day, Lilliman saw a toddler that was pointing to a Timbit and going “ah” at it. A Timbit is a small donut hole, that is sold for 16 Canadian cents. Well as a mother, Lilliman gave the toddler a Timbit, but failed to immediately go to her purse and pay for it, because of how busy the store was. By the end of the day, Lilliman had completely forgotten about the Timbit, so she failed to pay the 16 cents. So her manager, after reviewing the store’s video security tape, fired her for theft. After numerous complaints regarding Lilliman’s firing by customers, her employer agreed to rehire her and claim that the firing was a “mistake.”

While I agree that is not okay to steal, this story raises so many questions. For example, why didn’t the manager just ask Lilliman for the 16 cents? It was not like she wouldn’t have paid for it. Did the manager even consider that she gave the Timbit to a customer’s child instead of eating for herself, so what gain did she really get form her theft? Also, how many times have people put something in a cart and have not rung it up? For example, you put something on the bottom of the shopping cart and the cash register attendant fails to scan it. It has happened to me numerous times and upon discovering it, I go back to have them ring it up. Should I be charged for theft then? While this seems farfetched, there have been numerous stories that this has occurred. While I agree theft is bad, I think the bigger picture needs to be examined in determining the cause and the reason of such “theft,” in order to determine an appropriate consequence. Here, being fired for a 16 cent Timbit sounds outrageous.