I don’t think the problem is simply somebody saying “no soup for you.”
I think the problem is this is just one more indicator of the current “war on law enforcement” combined with a vicious racial bias. Used to be shitbags called cops “pigs” and would victimize them if given the opportunity. But it would be unheard of for a cop to be told to F-O at McDonalds if they tried to order food.
This is the new “normal” and drive through flunkies feel emboldened to tell LEOs they won’t serve them. The fact that the manager supported the employee and thought it was funny makes the entire situation worse.
If somebody at Arby’s decided they wouldn’t serve black people it would be a shit storm. If somebody at Arby’s decided they wouldn’t serve somebody with a pride flag on their car it would be a shit storm.
The officer requested contact information because she was making an incident report and you don’t submit something like that with information like “the guy at the counter.” You get names and complete information.
In the city I use to work for, several uniformed Officers were denied service by a waitress at an IHOP last month. They informed our FOP, the lodge president got on the horn with IHOP’s regional manager. Said waitress is no longer an employee of IHOP, Inc.
(I was going to snip the bold to save space but I didn’t want anything taken out of context)
I respect both of yall’s comments on this forum. I can see the rationale regarding this subject but I’m still not biting.
What if the LEO had been berating the employee for how long the food was taking?
What if the employee has a thug co-worker that has been spouting off about wanting to kill a cop. What if this was the employees attempt to keep the LEO away in the future.
What if, what if…
I will agree that on the surface this situation looks like “That’ll be $15.72” (this is Arby’s after all). “Ah hellz nah, I ain’t servin no polease”
Maybe this is exactly the situation. But so what? You can’t force respect out of someone. Take it like a champ and move on.
We know how this will play out. Arby’s will release a statement about how much they respect law enforcement and how they are ashamed of the employees actions and blah, blah, blah.
Employee will be fired, LEO with “little man” or “I don’t need a man” syndrome (I haven’t decided which yet) will have some smug picture in the paper. We will move on and not care by next week.
I may sound anti-LEO on this subject but I assure all that I’m not. I just see this situation as stooping to the level of the thugs and using the thugs tactics. We’re better than that.
Well we don’t have to play “what if” because the manager stated the situation.
The officer was not refused service because she was berating an employee, that certainly would have been reported. The officer was not refused service because a gallant Davenport was protecting her from a “thug” co worker. Davenport denied her service because he felt entitled to deny her service and he doesn’t like cops. Doesn’t sound like the manager likes cops either because she thought it was funny.
What if a couple cop hating racists simply saw a “white female cop” and felt emboldened enough to pull some shit. It isn’t exactly a Rosa Parks moment, but remember when blacks were refused service at lunch counters several decades ago?
Well seems we have that good old fashioned racism, combined with LEO hatred back again.
And no you can’t force respect from somebody. But why on Earth would I, or the officer in question, take it like a champ and move on? We aren’t at Davenports Burgers, we are talking about Arby’s. If it was Davenports Burgers THEN you would have a point. I’d tell them to FO and take my cash elsewhere.
But Davenport and the manager were not representing Arby’s policies, they were representing their own personal views at the expense of Arby’s and their customers. And that’s no more acceptable than A McDonalds worker telling black customers he can only serve them chicken because that is all they eat. Why should anyone take shit like that off of a fast food flunkie?
And there is no guarantee these two will be fired. The manager will likely play the race card and attempt to get sympathy from the BLM crowd regarding the cop who is trying to get her fired. But the bottom line is, if they didn’t pull the “We ain’t serving cops” crap, it wouldn’t be an issue.
I personally appreciate the heads up this story brings, I don’t want to spend my money anyplace like that.
Nor do their managers unless that’s corporate policy and the manager following it. Obviously, Arby’s corp policy is to serve LE. The manager should have told dumb kid to serve the LEO or they were fired. It’s that simple. The kid and manager should be booted, unless Arby’s wants announce that’s corp policy, and we know that’s not the case.
To their credit at least, Arby’s was clear on the matter:
"Conwell said Giustino called the restaurant’s corporate office and spoke to Arby’s executives, who apologized on behalf of their organization. She said Arby’s CEO Paul Brown and senior vice president of operations Scott Boatwright assured Giustino that the employee’s behavior was “unacceptable and not representative of the company’s values.”
“Chief Giustino was appreciative and accepted their apology and now considers this matter closed,” Conwell said.
The employee should be let go and the manager reprimanded at the very least. I’d buy that LEO lunch any time.
If a private restaurant wants to deny service to LEO, they have that right. If Arby’s corporate headquarters feels the same way, they also have the right. Any group that is denied service based solely on being a member of that group has a right to publicly protest their treatment.
If Arby’s disagrees with the way their employees treated the officer, then let them handle deal with their employees and move on. Regardless of how this is handled at a higher level, a uniform LEO should avoid this particular Arby’s and any other restaurant that exhibits the same feelings.
If you are wearing clothing supporting the NRA or any other organization that is heavily populated by hard working tax payers, you may want to avoid the same restaurants.
In the big picture they both have the “natural right” to refuse, but I’m sure the company’s employee policies cover insubordination… refusing to perform duties normally expected by your job description.
I’ve been on both sides of the management/labor table. From the information available, the manager probably handled it best he could without making a ridiculous scene by serving the officer himself. The employee should have been suspended pending termination for insubordination immediately after the incident was over. If the manager failed to suspend the employee due to ignorance of policy, he would receive a documented verbal counseling on company policy. If the manager failed to suspend the employee for other reasons, start at written counseling and progress from there. Vicarious liability can be a bitch, even for fast food employees.
That is not going to be very hard for me, I’ve eaten there once in my life and that was once too many. That sh** is just nasty. Fast-food in general is, but Arby’s is downright gross.
When I was in high school in the 80s, we’d give free food and coffee to the cops that came in. Late at night…we WANTED cops in our place and encouraged it. Our manager was also on board with us doing so.
Many times, the cop would insist on paying but we always offered it to them free.
