The present rules and regulations in today’s society can even punish those who do the “right thing.” That at least appears to be the case for one New Hampshire school cafeteria employee who was fired after she gave a student food even though he did not have the money to pay for it. The New Hampshire Union Leader claims that Bonnie Kimball, who was employed in the Mascoma Valley Regional High School lunchroom, allowed the boy to take $8 worth of food on March 28, telling him to inform his mother that he needed money to pay it back. The child agreed.
Kimball told the Valley News: “I quietly said, ‘Tell (your) mom you need money.’” Despite the boy paying back the tab the next day (March 29), Kimball was still fired. The food vendor explained in a letter that the district manager had witnessed Kimball violating their company’s strict “cash handling procedures, the school’s charge policy and federal regulation governing free meals.” Kimball had been employed with the company for five years and told Valley News that she’d been following her direct supervisor’s orders to avoid causing an embarrassing scene, as the company, name Cafe Services, was trying to get its contract with the school district renewed.
Students and staff are rallying behind a Mascoma Valley Regional High School lunch lady fired for allowing a boy to run up an $8 lunch debt rather than go hungy. Bonnie Kimball thought she was doing the right thing and the parent did eventually pay. https://t.co/y65rc8oGjX pic.twitter.com/eds9teHG2m
— UnionLeader.com (@UnionLeader) May 15, 2019
Kimball claims that she had been told by her boss to go ahead and give food to students who could not afford to pay, and then tell them that they needed to bring in money to fund their accounts.
She told the Union Leader: “We weren’t supposed to pull trays.”
Two of Kimball’s former coworkers resigned from the company in protest, and students, as well as staff at the school, rallied around her in support.
According to PennLive, the president of Cafe Services later claimed that the company would make an offer to rehire her. However, according to reports, Kimball declined their offer.
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