Employer slammed after giving 'insulting' gift to employee for working there for 40 years

A man's reward for 40 years of service has raised some eyebrows.

Last year, Kevin Parsons celebrated four decades of working at Guernsey's Alliance supermarket. Kevin started working at the business in 1984 and last year he celebrated 40 years of service.

To mark the affair, Kevin, who wasn't retiring despite reaching the impressive milestone, was gifted with 40 sausage rolls - one for each year working at Alliance. He wasn't given them all at once though but was allowed to have one free sausage roll over his next 40 shifts, BBC News reported.

Alongside his beloved sausage rolls, Kevin received certificate and a tropical-themed mural for his home, as well as an in-store ceremony with his peers.

Kevin said he was made to feel like an 'Alliance celebrity' and said that 'words can't express my appreciation' for his gifts.

The man was awarded 40 sausage rolls for 40 years service (Getty Stock Image)

Also speaking at the time, Chris Fish, the chairman of Alliance, hailed Kevin as being 'exemplary all the time'.

He continued to gush about his longstanding employee: "He will always turn his hand and help you out. He does a lot for the community and raises a lot of money for charity, which is very valuable."

While Kevin was pretty pleased with the gifts he received, it seems people online were less impressed. Taking to Reddit, one person sarcastically said: "Companies these days really know how to say thank you."

In a similar tone, a second wrote: "Thanks for giving up 85,000 hours of your life, (8 hour shift, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, 40 years) here is £25 worth of products we had you prepare earlier."

"What an insult. Loyalty certainly does not pay," fumed somebody else, as others branded it as 'tragic', 'embarrassing' and 'sad'.

Others were less critical though. One Reddit user wrote: "40 sausage rolls? I’d be rich!"

A different person added: "One would hope and expect that if you read the article the tropical mural at home is a gift he requested and the sausage rolls are just a 'funny' side gift."

A third suggested that since Alliance isn't a huge supermarket like Tesco or Walmart that maybe the company couldn't afford to give Kevin a series of lavish gifts like when Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan retired last year.

He was reportedly gifted with a PlayStation 5 that looked like a classic PlayStation 1, leaving gaming fanatics green with envy.

UNILAD has approached Alliance Guernsey for comment.