No Soup For You!

Move over, Al Yeganeh. New York’s newest soup nazi is none other than Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis.

In this CNBC video, Charlie Gasparino tells of a memo forwarded to him from a BofA employee informing the common folk there that recent cost cutting measures would mean that free soup and crackers would no longer be offered in the cafeteria. Hand soap was also deemed an unnecessary employee perk.

The New York Post covered the story as well:

Bank of America chief Ken Lewis may have taken home $28 million, but he’s still slashing wasteful perks such as free soup and crackers for employees.

The nation’s second-largest bank posted grim notices yesterday around its offices here and elsewhere that it no longer can afford giving employees any freebies.

The notice listed goodies it will eliminate at its employee kitchenettes: soup, crackers, flavored teas, sugar-free hot chocolate and hand soap. The bank presumably will keep hand soap in bathrooms. City laws require it, but not necessarily at snack counter sinks.

“We’ll continue to have plenty of soap in ‘08,” a bank spokesman said dryly.