OK, I have zero tolerance for zero tolerance policies. 

If you think that this is a contradiction or something, re-read the sentence it is not.  I do not have a zero tolerance policy for zero tolerance polices.  That explanation of the obvious almost explains why I have zero tolerance for zero tolerance policies.

Zero Tolerance policies are only good for organizations that have no courage and are unable to exact a just decision or action on a regular basis when confronted with somewhat similar situations and facts.

I refer as example to a 10 year old girl that was recently arrested and cuffed and taken into custody for cutting her sack lunch steak with a steak knife.  Sure it was stupid and dangerous for the 10 year old girl to take a knife to school.  Yes, she should be punished, but cuffing her and taking her to jail is a bit extreme.

Not to mention there's something wrong about a grade schooler bagging a steak for lunch.  Why can't she eat cake for lunch anyway?

Tonight, I read about Food Lion.  They had a 74 year old man arrested here in North Carolina for stealing a steak. 

People must have steak crimes on the brain.

The man had shoplifted a single steak worth just under $4.  He then came back into the store some days later with the steak tag and offered to pay for the steak he had previously stolen.

The store had him arrested as they have . . .  a zero tolerance policy against shop lifting.

Well fortunately, they also had a few leaders that had some common sense.  The company had the charges dropped eventually.  The man had stolen the steak to make a steak dinner for his son. 

The man's home had burned down a few weeks earlier and he lost everything he owned at the age of 74.  He was staying with his son and wanted to do something nice for his son.

Yes, stealing was wrong and even a misdemeanor.  I'm not advocating shop lifting by any means.  However, by having a zero tolerance policy, food lion ended up wasting a lot of corporate money and tax payer dollars forcing the arrest of this elderly man in a bad situation.

If Food Lion had a more human policy, they could have empowered their store managers to consider an alternative in the situation.  Accepting payment from the man, possibly banning him from the store, might have been more human and saved the store and tax payers a lot of money.

I wonder how much tax payer money was wasted by the school with the zero tolerance policy for steak knives.

Let them buy books instead of paying lawyers next time.

The Hypocrite revealed

OK, so I am a hypocrite.  I have a zero tolerance policy for racists and resleeper beds.  The first is obvious, the second has to do with mattresses that are so uncomfortable that you have to sleep during the day to make up for the sleep you did not get the night before while laying in them.  I currently have a resleeper, but received a new foam mattress pad that seems to make it work.