Free gravy packet costs him month’s pay

This story about a driver who had been subjected to a major punishment for a minor offence comes from a hospital located in an area close to Colombo. 

The driver in question is an employee of this hospital. Recently he had obtained a packet of gravy from the hospital’s welfare canteen to eat a loaf of bread he brought with him. 

A certain administrative authority who had learnt that this driver had got the gravy packet for free had ordered the cut of his entire pay for the ensuing month as punishment. 

Employees who criticize in whispers the major penalty imposed for a minor wrong allege that the authority concerned cannot claim to have clean hands either for he is involved in embezzling an allocation of Rs.900, 000 made to the welfare society running the hospital canteen.