In 2022, a TikToker posted a video calling for someone to rescue the large bag of perfectly good food he was being forced to throw away.
Food waste is an ongoing issue for stores and restaurants across the globe. Many throw away food that is getting older or has passed its arbitrary sell-by date, even if the food is still perfectly safe to eat. Employees are often helpless to fight wasteful policies and risk losing their jobs if they salvage the food to keep or donate.
@xoxo_airez Not the type to waste 💯#7eleven #foodwaste #stop #forthoseinneed ♬ original sound - •Mason•
But sometimes, a worker's conscience wins over their concern for their job.
Oklahoma City TikToker Mason (@xoxo_airez) found himself in that position last April when his employer at 7-Eleven allegedly ordered him to throw away a bag of unexpired, individually packaged sandwiches and wraps.
"Listen, I don't agree with this s*** at all," he says in the video, showing the large black trash bag full of food. "My manager wants me to throw all this good food away, bro. It's just not even expired or nothing."
According to Mason, the store mistakenly ordered too much food.
"We just … got too much in the inventory, pretty much. We got an extra shipment. So we have to write this all off as scrap, bro, but ain't nothing wrong with it, it's fine. They want to throw all of it away."
Thankfully, Mason took action, putting the bag in an accessible place near the dumpster instead of inside. He then posted his video to TikTok.
"If you're homeless," he says, "need food in general — I'm not going to ask your situation — and you are close to the Oklahoma City area, come to the 7-Eleven off … Reno and Midwest Boulevard. It's going to be right here on the side of the trash can. … I'm not throwing that s*** away. I ain't going to be the one. So it's right here for you if you need it."
The comments were full of praise for Mason's attempt to give food to those who needed it.
"Me and my family had to live off generous people pretending to throw away good food for months!" said one user. "Thank you!"
Other users worried that Mason was likely to get in trouble for the gesture.
"Dude, disguise your voice and cover your name just in case your company comes across this video!" one commenter wrote.
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