The Cookie Story Was Just the Beginning
Earlier this month, we reported about a Ford employee allegedly losing his job over a $1.95 chocolate chip cookie. According to the exposé by Shifting Gears, the worker insisted he had paid for the snack, later producing a bank statement showing the payment had indeed gone through. Ford eventually offered him his job back after confirming the transaction with Aramark, although he had already moved on to another employer.
But that cookie fiasco was just the tip of the iceberg. A new report says more Ford employees are stepping forward with their own tales of snack kiosk chaos inside the company’s US factories. Some say they got slapped with theft accusations even though they swear they paid, which is making it look like the real culprit might be the kiosks themselves.
Ford (edited)
Workers Say the Kiosks Keep Glitching Out
Union members told the Detroit Free Press they think the payment system’s bugs are getting people in trouble for no good reason. At least three workers who got fired for supposed theft have already been brought back after investigators realized they hadn’t done anything wrong.
One of the employees interviewed by the publication was Nick Nabozny, a Michigan Assembly Plant worker with nearly nine years at Ford.
Nabozny says he scanned a bag of Doritos and some Ritz crackers, tapped his debit card, and heard the usual beep that means you’re good to go. He walked off with less than $8 in snacks. But a few days later, he got called in and accused of stealing, all because the system apparently timed out before finishing the payment.
Other workers told the paper they’ve run into the same headaches for years: transactions freezing halfway, payments failing out of nowhere, receipts refusing to print, or even getting charged twice. Now, some employees are steering clear of the kiosks altogether, worried that another glitch could land them in hot water.
In Nabozny’s case, union reps pointed out that the payment machines have a track record of acting up, and said there’s zero proof he did anything on purpose. They’re pushing for him to get his job back, plus back pay and a clean record.
Ford Says It’s Investigating the Snack Snafu
Ford admits people have raised concerns about the kiosks. Spokesperson Dave Tovar says Ford and Aramark set up these self-serve markets so workers could grab snacks any time, but now both companies are digging into reports about the payment terminals. Aramark says it’s also looking into the mess and wants to keep things above board.
So far, Ford hasn’t said if the review has found any actual technical problems, but the fact that some workers are getting their jobs back hints that these investigations are already making a difference.
As the review drags on, employees are hoping Ford and Aramark can figure out if it’s a software defect or a hardware hiccup before anyone else gets punished for what possibly just be a snack machine fail – not a crime.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
