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Well it would depend on the situation. I've been a manager in the service industry my entire career and I empower my service employees to resolve customer satisfaction issues on the spot - so that they don't escalate. Therefore they have the power to credit payments, offer a free or discounted service for a later time, etc. Nothing is more aggravating from a customer service standpoint than to lodge a complaint only to have some robotic employee shrug his shoulders and say "you need to speak to a manager."

I mention that only to establish the fact that service employees can and should be empowered to make decisions that might involve giving away something for free from time to time. If you don't give your employees the power to think for themselves and resolve customer-facing situations and force them to work in an environment where they might be fired for handing out a complimentary cup of coffee or slipping a couple extra ketchup packets into an order, you end up with a robotic, uninspired workforce who come across as indifferent and uncaring for the needs of the customers coming through the door.

The phrase pennywise and pound foolish comes to mind here. So they canned this 73-year-old man for occasionally handing out a free corn muffin or a cup of coffee. They are well within their rights to do so as the man obviously was breaking their rules. But at what cost? Right or wrong, there are probably thousands of people who will never darken the door of Cracker Barrel again because of this story that is now going viral across the country.

As a manager for many years, I have had to "bend the rules" here and there to accommodate some rather unique situations. I've had a few employees over the years who were a bit on the odd side. For example, I had a male employee who insisted on wearing earrings to work despite company policy stating that it was not appropriate for men to wear jewelry other than a wedding band and watch. But I relaxed the dress code for this employee because he showed up every day with a smile and provided an excellent experience for our customer base - in fact, many customers requested him only. I decided that this employee was a net asset to our operation and that I could therefore overlook the relatively minor dress code violation. That's the difference between a true manager and a "hallway monitor". Managers weigh pros and cons and adapt the rules to the situation as necessary that will benefit their business.

The more I think about this, the more I think Cracker Barrel management blundered on this one.