An employer has asked for advice after firing a struggling single mother from his restaurant after she refused to throw leftover food in the bin.
The woman had been given the job at the request of the owner's wife after she met her through volunteering.
However, after working at the restaurant for some time, the employer noticed that something seemed a little off.
Taking to Reddit, the man asked if he did the right thing.
He said: "I own a restaurant that specializes in pizza. There are a few other things on the menu, like sandwiches, pastas, salads, but the bulk of what I do is pizza and sides.
"We use higher quality ingredients so we are priced a little higher than the average pizza place in our area ($4/slice, $20/specialty pizza, etc.)
"We are right down the street from a college, so most of my employees are college students.
"My wife is a doctor and volunteers at a free clinic often, which is where she met Linda. Linda is a single mom with four kids all under the age of 10 and has fallen on hard times recently.
"My wife asked her if I could give her a job and of course I said yes, I was happy to help. So Linda came to work nights at the restaurant."
The owner explained that he has always allowed his employees to take home any food leftover at the end of the night.
He said: "Usually by closing there's a few slices and some breadsticks left over, and often the employees will sit together and share everything before heading out for the night, or take a slice to go on their way out.
"They are usually all broke college kids and I would be throwing the food out anyway.
"Shortly after Linda started, however, I noticed that there was more and more food left over at the end of the night, and it would be items that we don't usually have left over at all, like pasta or entire pizzas."
After mentioning the food waste problem to his employees, the man said there was no change.
He said: "I found out that Linda was making extra so she could take the food home to her kids - which I wish I could afford to help her out in this way, but our ingredients are all sourced organic and it was adding up very quickly.
"I brought it up to her specifically and told her I don't mind if she takes home an extra slice or two when they're available, but we can't afford to be spending all this extra money on food that wasn't being sold.
"She apologized and seemed to understand, but she didn't stop. I had one last team talk, trying not to single her out again, and it still continued."
The man then consulted his wife about the possibility of letting Linda go, but his wife convinced him not to.
He said: "Instead I told all my employees that the leftover policy was changing and that I would be discarding all the extra food at the end of the night because I wasn't sure what else to do in the situation.
"However, a few days later I realized there was still something off and an employee told me that Linda was putting food in her bag toward the end of her shift.
"I asked Linda if it was true on her way out that night and she denied it, but when I asked her to show me her purse she broke down crying and apologizing.
"I told her I was sorry but that I was going to have to let her go because of the consistent problem this had been. She was very upset when she left, as was my wife when I told her."
People came to the man's defence, saying that he had already given Linda a chance by giving her the job in the first place.
They said: "As much as I'm with you, it would be great to help Linda out, she is stealing from you. You've been awesome so far, letting your employees eat what was left at the end of the night. Linda is taking advantage of your kindness. You tried warning her. I don't see how you have another choice."
While a second said: "Instead of being happy to have a job and get a few slices of pizza for free, she was greedy. She ruined it for everyone and even stole. OP doesn't need to let her ruin his business just because she is a friend of his wife. And so many single mothers have it hard (even harder) and still doesn't steal!"
