Fired & Being Investigated For Theft For Handing Out "free Small Drink" Cards With Permission.

Location: Colorado

Yesterday (01/30) I walked up to my District Manager with a stack of 'Free Small Drink' cards that were going to expire today (01/31) and asked, "Should we pass these out today and then throw the rest away at the end of the day? Because we obviously can't pass them out tomorrow since they expire." She said, "Yeah, please do that. We've been getting a lot of them in today since they expire tomorrow. Just make sure to tell the closers to throw the rest out before they leave."

The cameras do not have audio so there is no proof I was given permission.

What they do have is camera footage of me passing out the cards to customers sitting inside the store and taking a small stack out of the building to give to the teachers at the school across the street.

This is not usual business practice for us at all. All employees are told to give customers the free drink cards ESPECIALLY if they are upset or service is slow. We have a very close and strong working relationship with the school teachers and regularly give them free drinks and special days or events for free.

These cards were not kept in the safe, as they are corporate promotion and not individual franchise promotion. Previously when we had franchise promotion cards they kept them in the safe and took out some in batches so we could pass them out quarterly.

They called me this morning and said I was fired effectively immediately per the franchise owners instructions. They said the District Manager has no recollection of our conversation and that they are investigating me and gathering evidence to persue criminal charges since they are losing "hundreds of dollars".

What should I do? I definitely do not want my job back. I am just worried about criminal charges they may try to pursue against me.