Subway sacks woman with Aspergers for sharing her free soda!

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A Subway restaurant in New Zealand sacked worker Jackie Lang, who has Asperger's, for sharing her free soda with a friend who was upset. A few weeks later Jakie was arrested for stealing the $4 soda and she spent 2 hours in jail. 50 students from a nearby university protested outside the Subway restaurant today and a New Zealand wide boycott of Subway is planned.

http://www.tv3.co.nz/TheSubwaysackingde ... fault.aspx - Includes a video of Jakie on TV News.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21 ... 01,00.html

Here is Subways feed-back form where you can send your complaint (only your email and the SUBWAY Location in Dunedin, New Zealand needs to be filled in).

http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/Applic ... rvice.aspx

Unbelievable.... when I worked in a grocery store, the rule was you could not drink or eat anything you purchased as an employee until you actually got rung up with receipt in hand. One day, a jr manager was in line with a soda. She opened it up while waiting in line, and took a sip. The district manager was there, saw this, and fired her on the spot. For taking a sip of soda, one of our best employees got canned.

Here is link with more information (link)

This seems most illogical.

How can you steal a free soda? Are you not allowed to share it with someone?

There is a thread in the General Autism section on this.

Morons, they should be shot.

It proves Aspies have the biggest hearts of gold and more compassion then any MT, but if we trying to express it we get attacked, what a world.

I don't see why it even matters that she has AS.

Because it suggest another reason she may have been fired since most people know being fired over sharing a Coke is likely not the whole story.

It makes it more of a politically charged news story.

For those not following the thread in General Autism forum the police dropped the charges on the girl on their own.

yeah she was a thief whats the big deal.
u gonna arrest some1 for $4
idiots

I agree with headphase that it doesn't matter that she has AS (but it'd be great to have her on WP, wouldn't it?), as it could've happened to anybody. But I think her AS would have made it a bit harder to deal with.

I hate it how a company/person will say one thing or make a rule--- and then change it or bend it on a whim. Even change it after the supposed act was committed so they can retro-actively fire someone. This type of action is, in my mind, wrong. But it seems perfectly acceptable in the business world. I guess i would make a terrible businesswoman.

The attack on the dignity of someone with AS to this degree will probably have life-long tramatic results (Post Tramatic Syndrome). People with AS can get really worried and feel very violated by even small experiences of being accused of a crime. She should have been warned that sharing a partial pop was considered as giving away a full pop under her contract and would therefore be considered as theft. But these punishing tactics were obviously intended more to destroy the specific person from functioning later as a useful working person. Could it be because there was just "something" about her that made them feel hostile and uncomfortable towards her? Like her having the characteristics of AS? Do they have any idea what they have done to this person? Well I know what they just did with the person writing this post. They just lost my business for life!