Current Events > Cafeteria threw student's food away because she was 15¢ short

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A Florida student was told she was 15-cents short while attempting to pay for her lunch in the school cafeteria. When she didn't have the rest of her money, her mom says that the cashier threw the food away. Kimberly Aiken's daughter is a sophomore at University High School in Orange City, Florida, and Tuesday was her first day back at school, CBS affiliate WKMG-TV reports. Her mother says it was not exactly a warm welcome. "She puts her food on the tray, gets to the front, gives her number to the cashier took her food." Aiken said that the worker allegedly threw away the food and her daughter -- who was not named -- spent her entire first day at school without a meal.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kimberly-aiken-daughter-claims-denied-school-lunch-university-high-school-orange-city-florida/

Better to let the meal go to waste than let someone eat it who couldn't afford it I guess
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I would understand if this was a restaurant, but how does this make sense for a school cafeteria? Can't they just ask the girl for her student ID and then charge the parents?

I mean, it's a school... they know who the girl is and they know for sure she's coming back. Not like a restaurant in the street where someone could just skip and never come back.
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how do things like this even happen

so many stupid controverseys at schools
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frozenshock posted...

I would understand if this was a restaurant, but how does this make sense for a school cafeteria? Can't they just ask the girl for her student ID and then charge the parents?

Pretty sure my school did something like that whenever a student would come up short.
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She needed to learn the hard way that all that matters in this world is cold, hard cash. J/K, thats pretty crappy to waste food like that and leave her hungry.
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Trump's america
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Trump's America
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Hopefully whoever threw the food away gets fired, because that is fucked
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Trump's america

They should have just made her wash a dish for that 15 cents. The student get to eat and the cafeteria worker gets to go have a smoke. Everyone wins.
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the store in town will just cover me if im a quarter short out of their own pocket
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ThunderMuffin posted...

how do things like this even happen

so many stupid controverseys at schools

- No tab system
- Employees afraid of getting fired
- Cafeteria thinking that if they let one student get away with it everyone will do it

Idk.
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Maybe schools should do like prisons... have each student have a commission account that the parents can put money into, and they use the money from that to buy lunches and stuff.
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Food probably wasn't worth the 15 cents anyways. School cafeteria food is crap.
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frozenshock posted...

Maybe schools should do like prisons... have each student have a commission account that the parents can put money into, and they use the money from that to buy lunches and stuff.

Every school I went to did this when it came to school lunch, I thought this was common

Bat178 posted...

Food probably wasn't worth the 15 cents anyways. School cafeteria food is crap.

Mine was not bad. GFS. I loved the pizza dippers.
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Not sure the rules in her state but where I come from you can sue the school for that. They state that they are not supposed to deny anyone lunch.
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alimajor posted...

frozenshock posted...

Maybe schools should do like prisons... have each student have a commission account that the parents can put money into, and they use the money from that to buy lunches and stuff.

Every school I went to did this when it came to school lunch, I thought this was common

Really? It's just an idea I had like that. I think it's a good thing, and it would potentially prevent awkward situations like the one in the OP.
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Superlinkbro posted...

Not sure the rules in her state but where I come from you can sue the school for that. They state that they are not supposed to deny anyone lunch.

Depends on if the lunch service is a 3rd party or state funded.
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Fair, next. The food costs what it costs.
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spent her entire first day at school without a meal.

pffft, that's how i got through every school day
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Capitalism at its finest.
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MarqueeSeries posted...

Hopefully whoever threw the food away gets fired, because that is fucked

It seems petty to turn her away over $0.15, but beyond that, its not like they can just put it back in the warming unit.
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Manocheese posted...

Fair, next. The food costs what it costs.

Could have put it on loan or for next years payments. Don't throw good food away.
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SuperMedz3 posted...

Manocheese posted...

Fair, next. The food costs what it costs.

Could have put it on loan or for next years payments. Don't throw good food away.

Maybe they didn't have a system in place to track that sort of thing.
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HylianFox posted...

spent her entire first day at school without a meal.

pffft, that's how i got through every school day

I mean, being honest, she's a sophomore, she'll live. The bigger issue here is them throwing the food away out of spite, because you know it's not cheaper to dump the food than it is to just let her eat it since she had her tray already.
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frozenshock posted...

alimajor posted...

frozenshock posted...

Maybe schools should do like prisons... have each student have a commission account that the parents can put money into, and they use the money from that to buy lunches and stuff.

Every school I went to did this when it came to school lunch, I thought this was common

Really? It's just an idea I had like that. I think it's a good thing, and it would potentially prevent awkward situations like the one in the OP.

Yeap, we had this system for elementary and middle school.

Manocheese posted...

Fair, next. The food costs what it costs.

So throwing product away is less wasteful than coming up 15 cents short

got it
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HylianFox posted...

Manocheese posted...

Fair, next. The food costs what it costs.

So throwing product away is less wasteful than coming up 15 cents short

got it

It's not really the cashier's fault though.

I mean, imagine you're the cashier. A girl comes in and she's 15 cents short. There's a lot of people waiting. Your job performance depends on you acting quickly. You got to be fast. At the end of the day they count the money in your register and if it's short you're in shit.

I mean, what do you do? You want to protect your job. You don't have the permission from the administration to give meals for less or to take tabs or something.

I suppose the cashier could've put the tray aside or something, but it's not that simple.

I blame an inadequate system that doesn't have any measures to foresee situations like this.
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frozenshock posted...

I suppose the cashier could've put the tray aside or something, but it's not that simple.

Uh yes, it is
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frozenshock posted...

alimajor posted...

frozenshock posted...

Maybe schools should do like prisons... have each student have a commission account that the parents can put money into, and they use the money from that to buy lunches and stuff.

Every school I went to did this when it came to school lunch, I thought this was common

Really? It's just an idea I had like that. I think it's a good thing, and it would potentially prevent awkward situations like the one in the OP.

School district I went to never did that. I like that way. It is more like college food card with different amounts.
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and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>
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Donchu know that other kids are starving in Japan?

15 cents is nothing.

Fair, next.
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HylianFox posted...

and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>

To you, me and other people it's just 15 cents.

To many others it isnt just 15 cents.

For all you know the cashier was told no IOU's or whatever. And like another poster said, when her register is short, shes the one that has to explain why. Maybe her job is very important to her as well, enough where she cant possibly afford to lose it.

Also, the food was already served they cant put it back, hence why it went into the trash.

So, no, it's not that easy to just say "why not just give her the food".
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Just put it on a tab. You know who she is and you know shes coming back.
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yusiko posted...

the store in town will just cover me if im a quarter short out of their own pocket

I only get this from the liquor store nearby run by an Indian dude. Everywhere else is literally penny pinching (although usually if it's just literally one or two pennies cashier covers me) and I'll have to walk out empty handed or put something away.
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Glad to always hear when our property tax dollars are getting dumped in the trash.
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chrono625 posted...

HylianFox posted...

and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>

To you, me and other people it's just 15 cents.

To many others it isnt just 15 cents.

For all you know the cashier was told no IOU's or whatever. And like another poster said, when her register is short, shes the one that has to explain why. Maybe her job is very important to her as well, enough where she cant possibly afford to lose it.

Also, the food was already served they cant put it back, hence why it went into the trash.

So, no, it's not that easy to just say "why not just give her the food".

Imagine believing this.

Holy fuck.
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HylianFox posted...

and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>

But imagine this now, you do this and now 100 kids are short 15 cents.

Now the register comes up short.
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chrono625 posted...

HylianFox posted...

and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>

To you, me and other people it's just 15 cents.

To many others it isnt just 15 cents.

For all you know the cashier was told no IOU's or whatever. And like another poster said, when her register is short, shes the one that has to explain why. Maybe her job is very important to her as well, enough where she cant possibly afford to lose it.

Also, the food was already served they cant put it back, hence why it went into the trash.

So, no, it's not that easy to just say "why not just give her the food".

You won't get fired or even get in trouble for your drawer being 15 cents short.
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1NfamousACE_2 posted...

HylianFox posted...

and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>

But imagine this now, you do this and now 100 kids are short 15 cents.

Now the register comes up short.

15 whole dollars.

If having kids go hungry and wasting food seems like a better alternative or even a valid consideration to you I dunno what to say man.
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CanuckCowboy posted...

1NfamousACE_2 posted...

HylianFox posted...

and for crying out loud it's FIFTEEN CENTS

we live in a world where the penny is worth less than the metal it's printed on >_>

But imagine this now, you do this and now 100 kids are short 15 cents.

Now the register comes up short.

15 whole dollars.

If having kids go hungry and wasting food seems like a better alternative or even a valid consideration to you I dunno what to say man.

lol....you've never worked in the fast food industry.

You're getting fired if your register comes up short 15 dollars because they think you're stealing.
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I think that cafeteria worker hates their job
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12amMadman posted...

I think that cafeteria worker hates children

fixed
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I can understand not giving her the food, but did they really have to throw it in the trash lol. Fucked up to waste food like that. And if you're just gonna trash it instead of giving it to the next kid or something, might as well have given it to the girl anyway.

Couldn't they have thrown 15 cents worth in the trash?
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