Ford Fired an Employee for Stealing a $1.95 Cookie. There Was Just One Problem.

It was 3:38 a.m. Kurt Kromm’s blood sugar had dropped to 60 during his overnight shift at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, so he walked to the break room and swiped his card for a $1.95 pack of Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. The screen flashed red. He swiped again. No green checkmark, but no rejection either. He figured it went through and went back to work, according to the New York Post.

A week later, Ford fired him. He was told surveillance footage from an Aramark self-checkout caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. After 11 years of repairing robots and automated equipment, he was escorted from the building.

Kromm checked his bank records and found the $1.95 charge was there, timestamped and all. He emailed screenshots to Ford’s labor executives. The company demanded a notarized bank statement. He supplied it. Weeks later, Ford reinstated him with $33,000 in back pay and invited him to return.

But Kromm said no. “I emotionally couldn’t go back,” he said. “Most companies would just ask you to pay for the cookie.”

Ford declined to discuss Kromm’s case individually but told the Post that “there are times when we look into things and realize it could have been handled differently. When that happens, we try to rectify it.”

It was 3:38 a.m. Kurt Kromm’s blood sugar had dropped to 60 during his overnight shift at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, so he walked to the break room and swiped his card for a $1.95 pack of Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. The screen flashed red. He swiped again. No green checkmark, but no rejection either. He figured it went through and went back to work, according to the New York Post.

A week later, Ford fired him. He was told surveillance footage from an Aramark self-checkout caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. After 11 years of repairing robots and automated equipment, he was escorted from the building.

Kromm checked his bank records and found the $1.95 charge was there, timestamped and all. He emailed screenshots to Ford’s labor executives. The company demanded a notarized bank statement. He supplied it. Weeks later, Ford reinstated him with $33,000 in back pay and invited him to return.

But Kromm said no. “I emotionally couldn’t go back,” he said. “Most companies would just ask you to pay for the cookie.”

Ford declined to discuss Kromm’s case individually but told the Post that “there are times when we look into things and realize it could have been handled differently. When that happens, we try to rectify it.”