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The W - Current Events & Politics - Corporate Coke pigs sticking it to the lil' guy
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Gavintzu
Summer sausage








Since: 2.1.02
From: Calgary ... Alberta Canada

Since last post: 6310 days
Last activity: 6310 days
#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 0.00
This story is so funny and surreal and I really don't know whether to laugh or get angry ... wasn't there a Coke or Pepsi commercial which featured a treasonous driver a year or so ago?

Click Here (story.news.yahoo.com)

A US truck driver who worked for the Coca-Cola Bottling Company has been sacked after being spotted glugging down a soft drink made by the rival Pepsi company, union officials said ...

The Teamsters claim that Coke really sacked the worker because of his work three months ago in organizing Coke merchandising workers under the powerful union's aegis.

The dismissal came after he was allegedly spotted in the back room of a store where he was making a delivery swigging on a Pepsi ...

A spokesman for the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Southern California, Bob Phillips, declined to comment on the allegations and on the case citing California's privacy laws, but said the company would not resort to a pretext to fire an employee active in a union.

"I can tell you that we have at this company a strict policy against retaliation and the company does not retaliate, nor do we tolerate any retaliation against employees," he said.


And for shits and giggles -- from the "Coke workplace mission statement:"

Our workplace must be a place where everyone's ideas and contributions are valued ... we understand that fairness in the workplace, coupled with the opportunity to develop individual capabilities, fosters our collective success.

Have I mentioned before how much I hate the MBA-awarded, corporate-teat-sucking, grab-the-money-and-run grabbing managerial class that is destroying our society? Ah, I thought so.






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Since: 4.9.02
From: California

Since last post: 5456 days
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#2 Posted on
Vote with your wallet Gavintzu, drink RC Cola...or H20. Hopefully not Evian. Ozarka's pretty good.




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-Spike Spiegel
Pool-Boy
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Since: 1.8.02
From: Huntington Beach, CA

Since last post: 206 days
Last activity: 163 days
#3 Posted on
My Mom used to work for Coke in Human resources, and her beverage of choice was Diet Pepsi. She was under no circumstances allowed to drink Pepsi at the office! I guess maybe, for image sake, I can understand forbidding the delivery drivers from drinking Pepsi while on duty, but workers in the office?

She ended up just keeping an empty coke bottle and pouring Diet Pepsi in it everyday.





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rockdotcom_2.0
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Since: 9.1.02
From: Virginia Beach Va

Since last post: 4025 days
Last activity: 10 days
#4 Posted on
I have a friend that worked at Coke HQ in Atlanta. She said that even SAYING the word Pepsi could get you in hot water. You have to refer to Pepsi as the "Blue people." And yes she says that when you are hired you are told that drinking Pepsi or eating a competitors snacks (they own one of the chip companys too) on the compound is grounds for dismissal.
RYDER FAKIN
Six Degrees of Me








Since: 21.2.02
From: ORLANDO

Since last post: 1440 days
Last activity: 1223 days
#5 Posted on
Gavintzu:
Have I mentioned before how much I hate the MBA-awarded, corporate-teat-sucking, grab-the-money-and-run grabbing managerial class that is destroying our society? Ah, I thought so.

I've been saying the same thing about unions for almost 20 years.

FLEA



Demonstrations are a drag. Besides, we're much too high...

FLEA - Man, EVERYONE has a website!-RYDERFAKIN.COM
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Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Hawthorne, CA

Since last post: 137 days
Last activity: 137 days
#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.95
It was bound to happen sooner or later


    Originally posted by rockdotcom_2.0
    I have a friend that worked at Coke HQ in Atlanta. She said that even SAYING the word Pepsi could get you in hot water. You have to refer to Pepsi as the "Blue people." And yes she says that when you are hired you are told that drinking Pepsi or eating a competitors snacks (they own one of the chip companys too) on the compound is grounds for dismissal.


That is INSANE. And kinda petty and childish if you ask me.

Oh, and why the "Blue People"? I keep thinking Smurfs, but I dont see any connection.



We're all alright
ges7184
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Since: 7.1.02
From: Birmingham, AL

Since last post: 2178 days
Last activity: 2166 days
#7 Posted on
Hey, you work for a company that is paying you, and thus paying for your home, your bills, your food, etc., the least you can do is have enough loyality to only use their product when you are ON the company premises. Now, getting worked up by just saying the name of the competitor, that may be getting a little obsessive.

I worked for a office furniture company a while back, do you think I would be allowed to buy furniture from another company for my little office space? Not a chance. It doesn't speak well of a company if an employee is not even willing to use/consume the product at the very place that it is produced. I'm pretty sure rules like that are par for the course, you couldn't order Domino's if you worked at Pizza Hut, you couldn't use Bic pens if you worked at Sanford (Sharpie), etc.

(BTW, blue people makes sense to me, consider Pepsi cans and bottles are blue)

(edited by ges7184 on 17.6.03 1856)

(edited by ges7184 on 17.6.03 1857)

Everything that is wrong in this world can be blamed on Freddie Prinze Jr.
Nate The Snake
Liverwurst








Since: 9.1.02
From: Wichita, Ks

Since last post: 7192 days
Last activity: 6662 days
#8 Posted on

    Originally posted by ges7184
    Hey, you work for a company that is paying you, and thus paying for your home, your bills, your food, etc., the least you can do is have enough loyality to only use their product when you are ON the company premises. Now, getting worked up by just saying the name of the competitor, that may be getting a little obsessive.


You're already giving them forty hours a week of your life making the company money, so why should you be forced to give them MORE money? We're not quite at the level yet where workers are the property of their jobs, and unless someone can prove that Joe Delivery Guy's can o' Pepsi or whatever is costing his company more money than he makes for them, it's ridiculous to fire someone over exercising a choice. They don't sign a contract stating that they'll only use Coke products, he didn't trade vital company secrets for his drink... it's not justified.

I work at Blockbuster Video, but I'll go right out and rent from Hollywood, or anyone else. Our franchise owner owns all the Taco Bells and Pizza Huts in the area, too. But the last pizza party I remember having? Domino's. Why? That's what we wanted.

Plus, there's this to consider, since this is a consumable product: Eventually, you get sick of what you work around. I couldn't even look at a piece of sourdough bread for a long time after quitting Schlotzky's. Maybe this guy just got tired of Coke.



Kansas-born and deeply ashamed
The last living La Parka Marka

"They that can give up essential liberty to gain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
cokeman
Chorizo








Since: 12.4.03
From: nj (back from iraq)

Since last post: 6730 days
Last activity: 6520 days
#9 Posted on
I’m sorry but I’m going to have to take the Coca Cola Company’s side on this one. For obvious reasons, I have not drank a no coke product for at least 12 years I actually lost count. That sounds like the perfect working environment for me. But I’m going away to active army on august 27 (my birthday). So I will probably not work for Coke maybe one day. I would love to work there that is all I have to say you guys can call me crazy all you want. But you have to be a little crazy to do some of the things I used to do when it came to Coke and pepsi. (Notice that I did not capitalize…the blue ppl. LOL)




83 days and counting till i leave for active army!
ges7184
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Since: 7.1.02
From: Birmingham, AL

Since last post: 2178 days
Last activity: 2166 days
#10 Posted on

    Originally posted by Nate The Snake

      Originally posted by ges7184
      Hey, you work for a company that is paying you, and thus paying for your home, your bills, your food, etc., the least you can do is have enough loyality to only use their product when you are ON the company premises. Now, getting worked up by just saying the name of the competitor, that may be getting a little obsessive.


    You're already giving them forty hours a week of your life making the company money, so why should you be forced to give them MORE money? We're not quite at the level yet where workers are the property of their jobs, and unless someone can prove that Joe Delivery Guy's can o' Pepsi or whatever is costing his company more money than he makes for them, it's ridiculous to fire someone over exercising a choice. They don't sign a contract stating that they'll only use Coke products, he didn't trade vital company secrets for his drink... it's not justified.

    I work at Blockbuster Video, but I'll go right out and rent from Hollywood, or anyone else. Our franchise owner owns all the Taco Bells and Pizza Huts in the area, too. But the last pizza party I remember having? Domino's. Why? That's what we wanted.

    Plus, there's this to consider, since this is a consumable product: Eventually, you get sick of what you work around. I couldn't even look at a piece of sourdough bread for a long time after quitting Schlotzky's. Maybe this guy just got tired of Coke.



But there's a big difference between what you are talking about and what the company policy is. All the things you are talking about is what you do on your own time. You're right, it's nobody's business but your own what you do on your time. The policy is that you can't drink Pepsi's at the Coke plant. That's company property, company time, and they have every right to control that. My examples were meant to refer to people at work. If a person worked at Pizza Hut, he couldn't order Domino's and have the pizza it delivered to the freakin' Pizza Hut and eat it right there in front of everyone. He could eat Domino's later at home. I bet somebody inside the Hollywood Video corporation would care if you went and got Blockbuster videos during the lunch break, and for whatever reason brought them inside and left the boxes out for all to see. However, they probably don't give a rat's ass what you do once you leave for the night. (there was a reason why I wrote "ON company premises" with the "ON" in big letters, so nobody would mistake this for personal time)

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the delivery guy DID sign a contract stating that he couldn't drink Pepsi's while on the job. It certainly is company policy, and you know that going in, if you can't handle it, don't take the job (once again, if this was outside company time, then he would have a beef. Also, it would be very creepy if the company knew what he drank at home. But anyway).

I think the dispute here is that the union thinks that the company just made something up to fire him (I mean, how would you prove that you didn't drink a Pepsi?) And it may be a type thing that wouldn't get you fired on the first offense normally.

(Just out of curiousity, you say that you would get videos from Blockbuster, etc. while you worked at Hollywood. Did Hollywood not give you a discount while you worked there? That would be kind of shitty if they didn't.)





Everything that is wrong in this world can be blamed on Freddie Prinze Jr.
Gavintzu
Summer sausage








Since: 2.1.02
From: Calgary ... Alberta Canada

Since last post: 6310 days
Last activity: 6310 days
#11 Posted on | Instant Rating: 0.00
ges7184 sez:

    The policy is that you can't drink Pepsi's at the Coke plant. That's company property, company time, and they have every right to control that.

Yeah, I do agree with you. Company policies like that are useful for maintaining morale.

But let's keep this in perspective -- they fired a 12-year employee for drinking the wrong type of soft drink at work. That is the most fucked up corporate weaselism imaginable. I wonder what this has done for the morale of the guy's friends and coworkers? I wonder how many crates of Coke were "damaged" and how many delivery trucks "broke down" when word of this firing spread?

Oh, and Flea -- unions do suck long and hard much of the time. But we don't live in a perfect world, and I think overall unions do more good than harm ... maybe just ask some poor sucker working 60 hour weeks with little or no holidays a year and nothing to prevent his job from getting outsourced when a little shite in accounting figures that will save the company $4 a day. There are lots of people like that around nowadays who could use a union.




(edited by Gavintzu on 17.6.03 2203)


Any man who hates small dogs and children can't be all bad.
Nate The Snake
Liverwurst








Since: 9.1.02
From: Wichita, Ks

Since last post: 7192 days
Last activity: 6662 days
#12 Posted on

    Originally posted by ges7184
    But there's a big difference between what you are talking about and what the company policy is. All the things you are talking about is what you do on your own time. You're right, it's nobody's business but your own what you do on your time. The policy is that you can't drink Pepsi's at the Coke plant. That's company property, company time, and they have every right to control that.


No, actually, they don't. They can make rules stating that you can't, say, drink pop at your desk while you're working (don't want to spill anything on anything important) but they have no right to force you to drink (or not to drink) anything specific. If Coke had a contract with this guy stating that he can't drink anything but Coke products while he's on the clock, no matter where he is, then there wouldn't be any issue with the union. Contract broken = termination, no argument necessary. The fact that the union brought it up at all indicates that there's probably nothing binding beyond "we'd prefer if you didn't do that".


    Originally posted by ges7184
    My examples were meant to refer to people at work. If a person worked at Pizza Hut, he couldn't order Domino's and have the pizza it delivered to the freakin' Pizza Hut and eat it right there in front of everyone. He could eat Domino's later at home. I bet somebody inside the Hollywood Video corporation would care if you went and got Blockbuster videos during the lunch break, and for whatever reason brought them inside and left the boxes out for all to see. However, they probably don't give a rat's ass what you do once you leave for the night. (there was a reason why I wrote "ON company premises" with the "ON" in big letters, so nobody would mistake this for personal time)


See, here's the thing. He wasn't "on company premises". He was in the back room of a store, making a delivery. He wasn't standing around in front of his truck emblazoned with the Coca-Cola logo, guzzling Pepsi and singing jingles. He was in the back room of some company which is probably pretty confused because their Coke guy got fired over something so trivial.


    Originally posted by ges7184
    Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the delivery guy DID sign a contract stating that he couldn't drink Pepsi's while on the job.


Then he needs a better union, because that kind of contract is totally frivolous. The closest thing they likely made him sign was an agreement of non-disclosure, which is a totally different animal.


    Originally posted by ges7184
    (Just out of curiousity, you say that you would get videos from Blockbuster, etc. while you worked at Hollywood. Did Hollywood not give you a discount while you worked there? That would be kind of shitty if they didn't.)


I rent from Hollywood and I work at Blockbuster, not the other way around. Yeah, I get a discount, and free movie rentals and whatnot. But Blockbuster doesn't have everything, and for a few weeks after the tapes come out we can't get 'em free. So, if I absolutely HAVE to see a new film I go to Hollywood 'cause there happens to be one close by, and they buy stupidly heavily on new stuff so they're guaranteed to be in. (:



Kansas-born and deeply ashamed
The last living La Parka Marka

"They that can give up essential liberty to gain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
cokeman
Chorizo








Since: 12.4.03
From: nj (back from iraq)

Since last post: 6730 days
Last activity: 6520 days
#13 Posted on
I will say that everyone here does have a great point. but for the 12 year employee. He did know the policy for 12 years, did he not??? But i do see both sides of it.




83 days and counting till i leave for active army!
ges7184
Lap cheong








Since: 7.1.02
From: Birmingham, AL

Since last post: 2178 days
Last activity: 2166 days
#14 Posted on
While you're right, he wasn't on the company premises (but there are two different things in this thread, the delivery guy and the post by rockdotcom_2.0, which was referring to office rules), he WAS on company time and on the company's dime (where he was at the time doesn't change this fact, he was on the job. And somebody must have saw him, otherwise he wouldn't have been caught, unless Coke is just making it up). I still think that the Coca-Cola company has every right to have a rule that one who is wearing the uniform and/or working at the plant/office may not consume items from the competition while on duty. I don't see this as being a whole lot different than a dress code, where they tell you what you may and may not wear. It's a condition of employment, something you agreed to when you accepted the job. You can always choose to work somewhere else. It may be a stupid rule, but I think private companies do have the legal right to have stupid rules.

You are probably right about any contract, but I figured any company that is so fanatical that they won't let you say the name of the competition may be fanatical enough to force you to sign some sort of agreement against drinking the competition's product on company time.

I will say I find it hard to believe that Coca-Cola would just make up a previously non-existent policy to fire the guy, and expect it to stand under union scrutiny. You have to believe that Coca-Cola at least has a written policy on this matter. If not, they were really being dumb here.

Edit: OK, I'll take back that last part. I have forgotten how Coca-Cola seems to get on the wrong side of ethics from time to time. The latest is that Coca-Cola rigged Burger King marketing tests to create the perception that there was great demand for frozen Coca-Cola.

Also, reading more on this, it looks like Coca-Cola has a vague "slander" policy, and that's the grounds that they fired the truck driver. I would agree that it's probably a stretch to say that drinking in a back room in a store would be slander. As far as who turned in him, the union believes that Coca-Cola actually had an employee secretly trial the guy to try to produce something to fire him. Of course, if that is true, that would be extremely unethical on the company's part. But then again, so would rigging a marketing test.

(edited by ges7184 on 18.6.03 1533)

(edited by ges7184 on 18.6.03 1534)

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Zeruel
Thirty Millionth Hit
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Since: 2.1.02
From: The Silver Spring in the Land of Mary.

Since last post: 1675 days
Last activity: 1675 days
#15 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.05
My post was going to be about how the company wants to keep a good image.
Like, does Coke want people to gossip: "Hey, I saw that delivery dude drinking PEPSI. He thinks Coke SUCKS!"

Or imangine a Blockbuster employee, in uniform, shopping at a Hollywood video.


But then I just remembered, I saw a Widescreen Sony TV on a MSNBC show.

GE using a Sony TV?

That blew my point, sadly.



"Grabbin your butt? That's not very lady-like."
"I'm not a lady."
"Oh. Whatever."
力堵山
Battlezone
Potato korv








Since: 27.2.03
From: Seattle, Washington

Since last post: 5588 days
Last activity: 321 days
#16 Posted on
    Originally posted by Nate The Snake

    No, actually, they don't. They can make rules stating that you can't, say, drink pop at your desk while you're working (don't want to spill anything on anything important) but they have no right to force you to drink (or not to drink) anything specific. If Coke had a contract with this guy stating that he can't drink anything but Coke products while he's on the clock, no matter where he is, then there wouldn't be any issue with the union. Contract broken = termination, no argument necessary. The fact that the union brought it up at all indicates that there's probably nothing binding beyond "we'd prefer if you didn't do that".



Actually, they can make rules like this. There's proabably a rule in Coke's employee handbook prohibiting their drivers from doing anything that doesn't present the company in a favorable light. For example, wearing your Coke delivery uniform in a bar, getting hammered. Or smoking a joint while leaning up against your truck. Or driving like an ass in traffic (wait, they already do that).

Extreme examples yes, but the point is, while you are on company time, and wearing the company uniform, you represent the company. And drinking the competition's drink, while silly to us, can reflect negatively on the company.

And if he was making a delivery, that's even worse. That's not too different from walking into Hollywood Video wearing your Blockbuster uniform and commenting to customers how much better HV's movie selection is to Blockbuster.



(edited by Battlezone on 18.6.03 1549)


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