While still anxious to work in a customer
service job, the 27-year-old mother of four
young children said she fears her career
with the iconic Canadian purveyor of coffee
and doughnuts has been irreparably harmed -
despite a chance to work at a new outlet.
"I will have to leave, I will look for
another job," Lilliman said. "I will leave
just because nobody's going to like me. It's
going to be awkward (going back to work),
but I need a cheque in two weeks. I need it,
I have to have it."
Lilliman, who said she had aspired to become
a supervisor, was fired by what Tim Hortons
head office called an overzealous manager
after giving away the deep-fried confection
- retail value 16 cents - to the infant on
Tuesday.
The three-year employee, who makes $9.05 an
hour and pays $750 a month in rent, was
called into a backroom the next day and made
to sign termination papers that read
"terminated for giving baby product without
paying," she said.
"So I signed it because it's true - I did
it."
As she left the store in tears, a stranger
handed her $40, saying someone had once done
him the same favour when he was fired from a
job, Lilliman said.
"I left crying, everybody's staring at me. I
was so embarrassed," she said. "Then I went
home and called the newspaper."
Tim Hortons spokeswoman Rachel Douglas said
Thursday the store apparently had a policy
against giving away food, but added it
wasn't a ground for dismissal and that
Lilliman is receiving an apology from head
office.
For now, Lilliman will return to work at
another Tim Hortons store close to where she
was previously employed.
"She has chosen to go to a different
location, just down the street, which is
owned by the same franchisee in case she was
uncomfortable returning to her current
store," Douglas said.
No decision has been made regarding taking
action against the manger who fired Lilliman,
Douglas added.
"It was an unfortunate incident where a
manager acted a bit overzealously. The
actions of that manager were not
appropriate, nor were they grounds for
dismissal."
Lilliman, who said she had a strained
relationship with her manager before the
incident, said she doesn't want to see her
former boss fired but is glad to see Tim
Hortons making apologies.
"I want them to feel like that. I'm sorry,
you just fired a mother of four over a
Timbit," she said.
"Everything would have been fine and dandy.
I wouldn't have called anyone. Nothing would
have happened if they had just been like,
'Nicole, you gave out a Timbit. It's not
allowed. Please don't do it again."'
Despite government subsidies, including
daycare, Lilliman pays $120 a month in
transportation costs to get her children -
aged three, five, six and 10 - to their care
providers.
The $750 a month she pays in rent doesn't
cover utilities.
"I pay to flush my toilet," she said. "I
need this job."
Lilliman said if she ever has the urge to
give away a Timbit again, she'll pay the 16
cents out of her own purse.
As for the need for a nationwide policy on
Timbit freebies, Douglas said that has yet
to be determined, noting that store owners
currently set their own policies and run
"their businesses as they choose."
-By Gregory Bonnell in Toronto.
. Have a Great Euphoria Day!
