Okay -- here's this guy -- working for a company in Indiana. The company hosted a Fourth of July cookout for their employees. The company paid for the hamburgers and hot dogs -- and there were some leftovers. The supervisor intended them to be saved for Labor Day and told the employees to take the food up to the break room and put the leftovers in the freezer.
The next day, one of the employees went to the break room, took two of the hot dogs out of the refrigerator and ate them. The supervisor reviewed a surveillance video and reported to the store manager that the employee was a suspected hot dog thief. At a meeting with the store manager, the employee admitted he ate the hot dogs. The police were called. The manager gave the employee two choices: sign a statement that he stole the hot dogs or spend the night in jail. The employee signed the statement admitting theft. He was fired.
The ex-employee filed for unemployment. The claims deputy at the unemployment office determined he wasn't fired for just cause and approved his claim for benefits. The company appealed. At that appeal hearing, the Administrative Law Judge sided with the ex-employee. The company appealed to the Board. The Board reversed the Judge's decision. The ex-employee went to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The guy who ate the frankfurters claimed he didn't hear the supervisor's instructions about saving the leftovers -- and the hot dogs he ate -- were not in the freezer -- they were in the refrigerator.
In a unanimous decision, one year after the event, the Indiana Court of Appeals sided with the ex-employee and now he's eligible to draw his unemployment benefits. Hot Dog!
So, what does a hot dog thief story have to do with toilet paper, you ask? Read on...
First, I need to tell you the people I work with wouldn't take anyone else's food out of the break room freezer or refrigerator and certainly wouldn't eat any leftovers from a company-sponsored event on site, or take any leftover food home to eat without permission. We know the rules. We don't have any hot dog thieves.
We do, however, have a situation that's pretty serious. I think we might have a toilet paper thief. This thief is tricky. It doesn't happen all the time -- just once in a while. We have three other bathrooms in the building, but it seems to be happening in just one location -- the main floor ladies' bathroom. It doesn't happen to just one employee. Others have had the same experience -- hit or miss. They'll go into the bathroom and discover an empty roll -- or just one or two squares left on the roll.
I'm pretty sure the ladies I work with on the main floor wouldn't do this. They're all moms. Moms teach their children the rules: Don't touch a hot stove. Look both ways before you cross the street. No running with scissors. And...if you use the last bit of toilet paper, get a new role and replace it so the next person who uses the bathroom has toilet paper.
It's a mystery. We've got to get to the bottom of this. There's no other explanation. We must have a toilet paper thief.
Perhaps we could have a surveillance system installed. Good idea! That's how the company caught the hot dog thief.
