David Graham had been "frustrated" with seeing food wasted.
A man, who worked at UK-based supermarket Waitrose, was fired after he was found eating a doughnut which was meant to be thrown in a dustbin, as per a report in UK's Metro. David Graham claimed that during his shift, he needed a "sugar hit" and he reasoned that since it was being thrown out, there was no harm in eating it.
He claimed he had been "frustrated" with seeing food wasted and decided to do something about the same when he was working night shifts. Mr Graham, who started working at the company in 2017, claimed that food waste would either be donated to a charity or given to the staff. However, he alleged that the policy was altered in December last year when a new UK national regulation was enacted which required the disposal of any waste left on the shelves at 9 pm.
"Throughout my time at the store, I have been disheartened by the level of food waste that was generated that wasn't offered to charity or the employees," Mr Graham told the outlet.
"My first memory of working at the store was seeing four large chickens on a Saturday night going down to the bins. A simpler perk prior to the policy change was the option to consume any food waste found in the bakery self-service areas such as croissants and jam doughnuts. Seeing the bakery employee putting them in the bin at 2am in the morning when a sugar hit would be helpful was very frustrating to see," he continued.
The former staffer said that he "decided the only way to begin a conversation was to protest". He did so by continuing to eat the waste doughnuts. "'I expected to be caught, I expected a conversation to start on how to reinstate the perk and reduce the other food waste, and I even considered they may take it to a final warning, but I never expected what followed by an employee-owned company," he remarked.
Mr Graham claimed that despite his attempts to negotiate with the store manager, a "militant tone" was set in which "allowed no conversation or compromise." He decided to defy store policy and keep eating the leftover doughnuts as a form of protest. After Waitrose initiated an investigation and the employee spent several "very stressful" weeks attempting to explain himself, he was fired for stealing.
"Ultimately they have sacked a long-serving employee over a doughnut," he told the outlet.
The company stated that it has clear and defined policies about employees consuming stock and that it distributes as much food as it can to charities.