An Arby’s assistant manager in Dayton, Ohio was fired after escaping a robber in the middle of the night. Arby’s gave a very corporate response to the incident. Hoo-ray.
Mary Archer was finishing up her shift as assistant manager at the aforementioned Arby’s. Her co-worker had just left, and she hears the doorbell. Who could it be? Naturally, she assumed it was her co-worker who must’ve just forgotten something.
She unlocked the door, and finds a man with a knife wanting all the cash Arby’s had. “Give me the money,” the robber said repeatedly.
Mary was able to evade the attacker and pulled out some of her latent parkour skills to jump out a drive-through window, her screams getting the attention of police. The robber took off — unknown if he got any of the aforementioned money, probably not — and is still at large.
Now Archer, who worked at this Arby’s for over 23 years, returned the next day — which, already, she’s better than I, I’d have called in if someone tried to rob and murder me at a damn Arby’s — only to find herself fired. The reason? It’s company policy to have two employees minimum at the fast food restaurant at all times, and she already had one violation of that rule on her record.
A couple of things.
First of all – you don’t have to fire her the next damn day. Let’s say, yes, she was told time and time again. Give her a day. Let her know “we’ll deal with this later.” Or, y’know, reprimand her. “You’ve got one violation on this already; now do you understand why?” Still kind of a dick move, but at least you can couch it in the idea that you care.
Secondly — you’ve had two robbery attempts at this Arby’s before this one. Did you add cameras? Did you add alarms? Nope!
Mary, for her part, doesn’t really want her job back. “I just want everybody to know what kind of company this is.”
I think we can guess.
Arby’s says:
We consider the safety and security of our guests and employees to be of utmost importance. We’re extremely thankful that no one was injured during this incident. While this did not occur in a company-owned restaurant, we understand from our franchisee that the employee was terminated for her second violation of an important safety and security policy; namely, being alone in a restaurant afterhours.
Now, before we completely lose our shit on the big, unfeeling company — keep in mind the above “this did not occur in a company-owned restaurant.” It’s a franchise chain. So there’s some guy who started up an Arby’s that decided to fire her. Arby’s corporate did not.
That said, Arby’s still could do some things. Say, tell the franchisee to knock it off or lose the franchise.
So, we’ll find out. Or we won’t! I don’t know. I’m hungry. I’m getting some Corner Bakery.
Question: Does Arby’s corporate have a responsibility for its franchises’ terminations?