** This article is a work of nonfiction based on actual events as told to me by my husband, who experienced them firsthand; used with permission.
Hospital employees have many rules to follow to ensure their health and safety. One particular woman often ignored the rules, including the rule that hospital employees never eat anything while in a patient's room or off of the patient's plates.
The rules were in place to avoid cross-contamination and employees becoming sick due to the various germs that were around them in the hospital. This woman, however, didn’t care. She often snuck into patients' rooms to clear their dining trays and would sneak off to a closet where she would pick the still-edible leftovers off of the plates and eat them.
One afternoon, one of the hospital administrators had been tipped off to what was happening, so he followed her. After she had been in the closet for a few minutes, he opened the closet door and caught her dining on several patient trays.
Since she had been warned several times not to do this, she was fired on the spot. The administrator explained to her that she was risking her own health by doing this frequently. The woman countered with the fact that the food was being wasted if she didn’t eat it or take it home.
The woman still didn’t care and simply left the facility. A few days later, she reported back to her normal shift even though she’d been fired. Hospital administrators had to have her escorted off the premises and tell her that unless she was in for lab work, X-rays, or as a patient, she wasn’t allowed on the premises.
A few days later, she started working at a local grocery store. She’s managed to continue at the grocery store for a few years, but she has been closely monitored thanks to her reputation. What do you think? Should she have been fired for eating food that would’ve otherwise been thrown out?
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