My friend Kevin, until this morning, worked as a Pharmacy Tech at Safeway. They suspended him last night and fired him this morning. Why? Because he saved a life and stopped the store from being robbed.
The robber said he had a gun and demanded the head Pharmacist give him drugs. When the Pharmacist didn't respond quickly enough, the robber jumped the counter, knocked him down, and started beating him. There was blood all over the place.
Not wanting his coworker to die, Kevin grabbed the robber, pulled him off the pharmacist, and pinned him down. Eventually, two firefighters who were in the store helped secure the robber until police came.
Kevin went home with blood on his shirt, not the robbers blood - it was blood from the Pharmacist that the robber was beating to death. Safeway suspended him last night and fired him this morning, because company policy says you're not allowed to resist (or touch anyone) when your store is being robbed. So, if he'd sat on his ass and let this drugged up robber murder his coworker, he'd still have his job. But because he chose to save a life and stop both a murder and a robbery, Kevin has been fired by Safeway.
There's a Safeway two blocks from my house - I've been shopping there several times a week since we moved in. I'm never shopping there again. I won't give my business to a company that thinks the best thing to do is stand idle while your friends are murdered before your eyes.
5 comments:
He did the right thing. Kudos to him and his sacrifice.
Unfortunately, it's all a matter of insurance. By ordering their employees not to resist robbers, it makes for lower insurance. The bottom line is all that matters.
When I managed the pizza chain in New Orleans, they had a story about an oof-duty cop who worked for extra cash as a driver. He was robbed, gave the guy his pizza, and the robber started to walk away. The cop went to his car, got his gun and badge, and arrested the robber. Of course, he was fired.
If you're going to boycott Safeway, I think you should write them a letter saying why. Not just to the manager, but to the district manager if possible. Otherwise, one customer stopping is never even going to be noticed by corporate at all.
It probably won't get K his job back. Again, the bottom line of insurance costs are all that matters to the corporation, but it might at least make them think about the policy in this particular case.
If you REALLY want to do something for K, get a reporter involved. Have them do a story about this nice young HERO who lost his job for protecting his friend. Get the store's name splashed across the paper or the news. That might really make them think twice.
I've already written a letter to safeway. Obviously, I've also blogged and plurked about it to spread the word.
I'm considering putting flyers about it on the windshields of cars in the Safeway parking lot, but I'm worried I might be breaking lible and trespassing laws in the process.
The pharmacist who was nearly beaten to death told the district manager that he'll quit if they fire the man who saved his life. They fired him anyway.
Kevin's immediate response to the district manager was "I'll be contacting my lawyer and the media as soon as I'm off the phone with you. I'm hereby informing you of my intent to subpoena your security camera tapes as evidence in my wrongful termination suit, so don't delete them."
Unfortunately, it's all a matter of insurance. By ordering their employees not to resist robbers, it makes for lower insurance. The bottom line is all that matters.
I wonder how much their insurance would have gone up if a man had been beaten to death on the job, his life taken because company policy required his coworkers to stay out of it.
Wrongful death is more costly then resiting robbery. Safeway should post a sign stating that "Our Emloyees Are Armed." This would prevent most robberies and really lower insurance costs over time as robberies went down.
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