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A beloved Florida tollbooth worker was suddenly fired for paying someone’s $5 toll.
Vladislav “Sam” Samsonov said he did not charge enough toll money for a trailer driver last week, so he paid the extra five dollars himself.
“In my eyes there was no crime committed, I just helped somebody out,” Samsonov told WPTV.
Samsonov, 77, worked for almost 30 years as a toll collector at the Boca Grande Causeway, WBBH reports. Samsonov told WPTV he has sometimes paid drivers’ tolls if they didn’t have enough money.
“I’d put six dollars in, I got the six dollars back the next day,” he said to WPTV .
He also said he was told by his employer to cease paying for drivers in the past, but he says he “was never formally written up,” WPTV reports. Samsonov said the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority gave him shifts for two days a week instead of five days a week as punishment, but he said no thanks.
“If I can’t be trusted for five days, how can I be trusted for two days?” he said to WPTV.
“Sam would always give (my son) lollipops and give the dogs bones and stuff like that. This doesn’t sit will with me, what happened,” driver Jason Rice said.
Agencies/Canadajournal
At first, I was outraged that this man was fired for helping out someone who apparently didn’t have the exorbitant toll in full. Upon further examination, he admits that his employer directly told him not to pay tolls for people. It seems that this man, who is obviously old enough to know better, doesn’t understand that when you work and your supervisor tells you that you’re breaking the rules and to not do it again, then if you ignore this instruction, you deserve whatever punishment that your supervisor decides is appropriate. He’s lucky he wasn’t fired outright. His refusal to work reduced hours for his breaking of the workplace rules shows that he must feel that he doesn’t really need a job.