I was briefly watching a Q&A between Charlie Kirk and a young woman who says she is a Democrat and a Christian. She quoted the Bible about Jesus feeding the needy in the Book of Matthew.
Of course, Kirk had a way to spin it to make it sound like starving children and lower-income people was the right thing to do. And, the commenters said there is nothing wrong with helping the needy, just not the lazy people. Ah, yes, “lazy people.” Ask yourself a question – who works harder at a supermarket – the grocery stocker or the manager?
I remember one time I went when I worked at K-Mart in my hometown when I was 16, I had done all the duties I had been assigned as a stocker and gofer. So I tracked down the manager on duty, who just happened to be sitting in the break room eating snack cakes. I had about an hour left on my shift and I copped a squat briefly on one of the chairs and asked her what to do next. Licking the creme filing off her fingers as she sat on the couch, she said, “I don’t want you in here, doing nothing.”
I don’t know what I did next. But it always stuck with me over 30 years later. She would often spend her time when she was the night manager on duty sitting in the break room with her boyfriend who became her fiance and they would watch TV. Days after Nykia Hamilton, of Columbia, S.C., reported she was fired for being tardy even though she went viral for being the only staff member on duty at a Burger King.
The coup de grace on the ugliness of capitalism came after body cam footage went viral of a March 2024 incident in which a 19-year-old man James Denison, who reportedly has autism but it’s not been verified, is arrested by the local police. What is known is that Denison was arrested on a complaint of taking exactly $110.88 worth of food (fruit cups and chicken) from the deli at the Meijer where he worked. The food was supposed to be discarded in the trash reportedly.
He didn’t do it all at one, the store management reported, but over many weeks. This happened at the Meijer location in Seven Hills, Ohio. Meijer is a major supermarket chain on the Midwest. It is considered to have a net worth of $15.9 billion. The manager in the video who told authorities this was happening and it’s against company policy even to consume discarded foods. Some reports indicate the manager is identified as Joseph Kolacsky, but that has been disputed by other online commenters.
But, as many people including myself have pondered, why didn’t they tell him the first time they observed it? If I’m a manager and I see someone “grazing,” I’d say, “We can’t do that. The company won’t allow it.” Denison could’ve just received a warning and I’m sure Denison might have stopped. (“Grazing” is a term about people eating the food before paying for it, like eating a few grapes.) Yet, it makes you wonder if Denison was unable to afford groceries himself.
Minimum wage in Ohio as of Jan. 1, 2024 was $10.45 per hour for non-tipped employees. It’s not reported if Denison lived alone or with his parents or family. Also unknown is the amount of hours that Denison worked. But a lot of retail stores and supermarket chains schedule their employees at the minimum number of hours so they don’t have to provide insurance.
Hell, we have people working at luxury hotels who know there’s no way they will ever be able to afford to spend one night there even in the off-season. So, it’s just goes to show we have people working at fast-food restaurants and grocery stores who can’t ever eat the food the handle unless it’s a special occasion. Someone who works in the meat department can’t even eat a nice porterhouse steak unless it’s a birthday or anniversary.
I mean, I don’t think people should be stealing, But it could be that Denison thought it was okay to eat discarded food. I’ve never worked in food services, but I’ve heard food that goes back to the kitchen can be eaten by the staff. I hate to say it but eating $110 worth of food that is very perishable isn’t that much of food in today’s dollar. And I’m sure the department manager has already recorded what has been discarded so they can write it off.
Watching the video, the manager, who may or may not be Kolacsky, definitely looks like he caught the person who stole the Mona Lisa painting. I feel bad for the police that actually had to respond to this case thinking it was going to be a big heist. They’re even shown being polite and informing Denison not to incriminate himself by speaking.
Now, loss prevention is a necessity in any business. Yet, I’ve worked with companies/businesses where employees stole more and they just got terminated. And I don’t know the laws of Ohio, but this is was going to be a small misdemeanor case handed by the district court or maybe even municipal court. Need I remind you that Denison didn’t take any equipment from the deli. He just took food that was already set to be thrown away. I’m almost certain given the time, this case has probably already been adjudicated. Even if Denison got probation or a deferred sentence, it’s probably already passed and possibly been expunged.
People have started a trend of #BoycottMeijer and #JusticeforJames but so far the reviews have been mostly positive online for Meijer as they’ve not been review-bombed as of this posting. However, some GoFundMe campaigns have raised questions to their legitimacy, so if you feel like helping, do it with caution.
There are ways to handle things and I understand people in authority have their own ways of handling things. But being a bootlicker to a corporation just shows you they don’t care about you. All they really care about is the money they can make of you.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 