An act of bravery to defend a co-worker has cost a Minnesota gas-station attendant his job.Hey, the company handbook is clear: "cooperate: don't argue, resist or attack the robber."
Mark Beverly, an overnight shift supervisor at a SuperAmerica in Roseville, Minn., was fired in March after he jumped on a masked robber who he believed was attacking a fellow employee.
SuperAmerica said he violated company policy when he came to his colleague's aid in the early morning of March 26. So instead of accolades, Beverly got the boot.
I mean, the guy even took "a computer-based training program." How much more does a company need to do?
I'm sure "Marathon spokeswoman" Linda Casey and her bosses have all kinds of formal expert training on safe practices to employ during violent physical attacks--from the time honored "cower and cringe" method to the more interactive "pleading, blubbering and howling" technique. Besides, we've seen time and again if gas station attendants just give attackers what they want, all will usually end well. Right?
If you'd like to tell the ironically named "SuperAmerica" (also branded under "Speedway") or its Marathon parent anything about your future gas purchases, here's a link.
Capt. Rick Mathwig of the Roseville Police Department said authorities advise people not to take action when faced with a robbery.
ReplyDelete"When you start resisting at some way shape or form, the suspect who may not have intended on using the weapon that he or she came with may use it intentionally or unintentionally when faced with a conflict," he said.
How can you tell if it is only going to be a robbery? When someone confronts the "Only Ones" do they simply comply?
Marathon should hang signs that say, "Come in and rob us, we're trained to let you do it."
There's video online of a T-shirt shop owner being shot dead after quickly handing over all the money. Maybe her death was an accident and the guy in the touring cap and bandanna with only his eyes showing just forgot to observe the other safety rules as he pointed his gun at her CHEST from two feet away.
ReplyDeleteNow, this was a shop SHE owned, so she could have been armed, but maybe she thought only not-nice people own guns. There's a lot of that around. You never her about these senseless deaths from the Brady Corp.
Hear, not her, sorry.
ReplyDeleteMarathon stations around here seem to always be in the very worst parts of the city. I guess only the truly desperate work for them.
If I owned a business I would make it a point to hire people like Mr. Beverly.
Email sent:
ReplyDeleteTo Whom It May Concern:
You just lost a customer forever. Your decision to fire an employee for DARING to defend his coworker's life (God forbid!) is one of the most evil, underhanded, pathetic, un-American things you could do. "Un-American?" you ask. I know that term gets thrown around a lot, but nothing could be less compatible with the ideals upon which this nation was founded than to refuse the most basic of human rights - the right to self defense. You have miserably failed as a corporate citizen.
Your policy under which this man lost his job is purely evil, and your defense of the decision is dispicable. I scorn your cowardly existence as an entity. All that I can do (other than to voice my utter disgust) is to never patronize a Marathon owned gas station again. I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything labeled SuperAmerica (what a sickeningly ironic name) or Speedway and I will steer clear. And I will encourage everyone I know to do the same.
I hope you go bankrupt. Your freedom-subverting policies help enable everything that is making this once-great nation a mere shadow of what it used to be.
You can win me back by apologizing to Mark Beverly and recanting your policy.
Email sent.
ReplyDelete