This sounds like something the Lannisters would do to the peasantry in Game of Thrones:
A fast food restaurant is robbed and the shift manager says she got fired for refusing to pay the money back.
“I told them I’m not paying nothing,” said Marissa Holcomb. “I just had a gun to me. I’m not paying the money.”
The heist happened on March 31st at the Popeyes restaurant in the 500 block of Sheldon Road in Channelview. It was captured on surveillance video.
In the video, you see a man with a beanie over his face run in waving a gun. He forced all the employees to the floor.
Then, he turned his attention to Marissa.
“By the back of my shirt, he pulled me up and he pushed me to the front,” she recalled. “He told me to give him everything out of my safe.”
But the only thing Marissa could open were the registers. The gunman got away with nearly $400.
Marissa claimed that after the robbery, one of her managers gave her a choice to either pay the money back or get fired.
“I don’t think it’s right because now I’m struggling for my family because what I had to do to keep my life,” she said.
Less than 36 hours after the robbery, Marissa was fired.
The Popeyes franchise owner, Z&H Foods Inc., wouldn’t talk to us on camera. However, a spokesperson in their human resources department explained that Marissa was fired because she broke policy by leaving too much money in the register and this wasn’t her first offense.
The only thing that trickled down in our free market society is pain, bullshit, and abuse.
Elizabelle
That restaurant is going to wish it could pay $200 to make the outrage go away.
By their standards, she’s responsible for the gunman getting an extra $200. In between everything else, she had to monitor the amount of cash in the register.
Would her employers be crying crocodile tears if someone found dead employees in the walk in fridge? That has happened a lot.
Baud
Welcome to at will employment. They didn’t need to give a reason for firing her. Their mistake was demanding that she pay the money back.
Lordwhorfin
I’m generally a peaceful chap, other ‘lectroids and the Hong Kong Cavaliers aside, but under these circumstances, I’d very much like to teach this particular franchise owner the Rains of Castamere.
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
No, they’d be crying real tears. Do you know what the cleanup expense for that is?
Elizabelle
Of course this happened in Tex Ass.
The corporate office sees the problem. From John’s link:
Which reminds me: did we ever hear if Shana of Days Inn (?) got her job back or another job after her manager served her up for an interview about minimum wage, and then fired her?
max
The only thing that trickled down in our free market society is pain, bullshit, and abuse.
Why do you think Fifty Shades of Gray is so popular? I mean, if you’re going to get it, you might as well get laid for it.
max
[‘The guy in the book is a billionaire, of course.’]
dmsilev
Putting morality aside, I’m willing to bet that the bad publicity from that decision will cost the restaurant more than $400.
WereBear
It’s just flat stupid. Once again, they have no conception of their employees being actual people.
shell
One good thing about the interwebs, is that shit like this gets broadcast far and wide immediately.
fuckwit
Add Popeye’s to my list of places never to go.
gogol's wife
@fuckwit:
It’s been on my list for a long time.
hamletta
@fuckwit: I really hope this gets fixed, because we can’t live without Popeye’s in my house. It’s our one indulgence.
Walker
@fuckwit:
Their chicken is too good to give up (though Church’s is better).
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Elizabelle:
They would probably be demanding that her family pay for the clean-up if she had died in the robbery.
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle:
The corporate office isn’t going to do shit about anything. That’s mealy mouthed non-speak to pacify simple minds while they do absolutely nothing about anything.
They don’t give a shit about her. Just like McD’s min wage raise was just a PR stunt for the 10% corporate owned spots.
Corner Stone
@Walker:
That’s just fucking crazy talk. Popeye’s is the far superior chicken.
jibeaux
I’m sure they’re insured, too, although that’s probably under their deductible.
I’ve been reading some about Jon Ronson’s book about shaming. Some great points, but circumstances like this really call for shaming.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev:
You betting on Popeye’s as an entity, or that restaurant?
Because I’m quite familiar with Channelview, and this won’t matter a damn to anyone within driving distance of Sheldon. The old school Gerland’s grocery store at Sheldon and I-10 was robbed about twice a week on avg for as long as it was in existence.
jibeaux
Also too, she should file a workers comp claim and see a psychologist. She had a gun pointed at her.
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: Popeye’s in general, but possibly also the local franchise.
WereBear
Well, the person now has a good reason to sue. And she should. That’s not a good reason to terminate employment.
I hope. It is the South… where a lot of employers are still whiny about not having slaves any more.
Corner Stone
@WereBear:
What else could one call her? As she says, “who is going to call her?”. The owners knew that leverage was there, and they tried to use it. They just didn’t get that she flat fucking doesn’t have $400 to give them.
And the crab bucket mofo’s in the comments are astounding. Saying she was fired for multiple drop box offenses and it’s her fault. Or maybe she was in on the grab.
Bunch of assholes.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Baud: Yup.
These big corporate chains have lots and lots of rules that the franchises have to follow. One of my first jobs, in the late ’80s, was working for a company that owned a lot of Domino’s outlets. They got a letter one day from corporate that they had to have safes and cash-handling policies in place within xx hours or their franchises would be yanked.
So, it’s quite possible that she broke some rule about having too much money in the registers.
However, and this is the biggest issue, firing her under these circumstances after demanding that she, personally, make up the loss, is beyond the pale. Being robbed is traumatic. People usually don’t want to work where that is a risk. Being forced to make up a loss in an armed robbery is not the way to encourage people to want to work there.
If the franchise was forced by Popeye’s Corporate to have this “make it up or be fired” policy, then there should be a federal investigation of policies like this. Employees don’t exist to make Corporate whole no matter the circumstances. We shouldn’t permit indentured servitude by another name.
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
@WereBear: The mistake was identifying a reason for dismissal. You can terminate at will in a right to work state. There is no recourse.
Violet
In case anyone wants to do any further investigation, Z&H Foods corporate wiki.
Corner Stone
Chris Hayes is doing the Senate cafeteria story now.
Keith G
@Elizabelle:
“Of course this happened in Tex Ass”
Only slight offense to you personally, but fuck that shit. Generalize much? Every zip code has it’s losers, as I sure does your ‘lil slice of heaven.
DC? Right?
Shana
@Roger Moore: Not to mention the hassle of hiring and training new employees.
Mike in NC
A recent episode of Larry Wilmore’s show on Comedy Central compared the Bush family to the Lannisters. Dubya, of course, was Joffrey: a cruel, capricious sociopath with a huge sense of entitlement.
Howard Beale IV
@Elizabelle: Note the weasel wording from Popeyes CHQ.
In the end, odds are she won’t get he job back and it will be business as usual. Now the question becomes-do we make an example of this franchisee and Popeyes, or not?
srv
I’ll predict that Popeye’s gets hit again within a week. $400 is a good haul from registers.
David Koch
Chris Rock hilarious and cutting explanation of Two Americas (White and Black) via baseball
Corner Stone
@dmsilev:
Pretty doubtful, IMO.
She’s a dirty wage slave who cain’t speak the proper English and made the mistake of procreating whereas she’uns cain’t afford such.
Momentary blip.
Ryan
Boy, whatever I make up can’t beat real life.
Violet
@Elizabelle: This is the last I’ve seen:
jibeaux
@efgoldman: threat of gun violence and being in Texas, a double psych whammy.
Gvg
actually that rule was around when I worked fast food 30 years ago but they gave us the reason…if too much money was in the cash register it would attract armed robbers. for every bodies safety she should have dropped the cash often. They used to try to make it easy to do and managers were supposed to check and do pickups often. if there weren’t enough cashiers of managers or they didn’t have a drop safe under the register then it’s actually their fault. Most quick marts have drop safes in arms reach but restraints didn’t used to.
she might have some fault but the managements reactions make me doubt it.
drop safes are their friends. also insurance might have been nasty to management if they weren’t doing what they promised then caused them to fire her. bad move though.
telling her to pay it back kind of proves they are idiots. I’ll bet they were lying to insurance about what safes they had or something.
by the way all grocery stores get robbed frequently even in good areas though more in bad ones. You would really be shocked. My uncle managed store for 30 years multiple companies and locations. he spent a fair amount of time testifying in court because shop lifting was a daily occurrence.
scav
“Reach Out” “While Facts Are Gathered” As noted, pure PR weasel-speak.
Could work on corporate mottos for them instead.
“You’ll be Pop-Eyed at our Employment Policies”
“Had a gun pointed at you at work? Wait until We come at your later and really Pop your Eyes out!”
JPL
Sometimes there just aren’t enough boot straps to pull up.
Patricia Kayden
@fuckwit: Their chicken is too dang greasy. Haven’t eaten at Popeyes since the ’90s. I couldn’t afford to come up with $400 just like that so I don’t understand how this poor woman could have been expected to do so.
WaterGirl
@Baud: It may be legal, but it’s certainly not right!
Violet
@Gvg: From the article:
Sounds like they were taking in a lot of money quickly and didn’t have the proper policies or people or drop safes or whatever in place to handle it.
Patricia Kayden
@Mike in NC: Joffrey never struck me as dumb though. Bush certainly did.
Elizabelle
@Keith G: FWIW, I have really liked what I’ve seen of Texas. Microclimates, and very beautiful, even where austere.
That said, West is in Texas and blew up, killing 14 responders. Nothing has been improved, to my knowledge.
Texas does more than its share of stupid; hate to say it. Virginia sometimes does not cover itself in glory, either.
In this blogpost, we are discussing a (pregnant) woman who had a gun aimed in her direction, and got fired by her employers.
FWIW: does anyone remember if any Luby’s employees were killed in that shootout, years ago? That was a terrifying story.
Mike E
Tonight’s Nature is exploring communal living among various species…looks like this same sex marriage biz wasn’t our idea after all.
WereBear
Exactly what I was thinking.
Elizabelle
@Violet: But no word of a job, hmm?
That’s enough to make a point of not staying at Wyndham Resorts affiliated properties.
Not the Wyndham experience you want to market.
Gin & Tonic
Fast-food franchisees are by and large scumbags, so I don’t expect much from Z&H. However, I’m willing to bet that some people from corporate who wear nice clothes are spending all evening on the phone saying, basically, “we need to make this go the fuck away.”
scav
@WereBear: I’m also wondering about the tendency towards chronic under-staffing recently.
Davis X. Machina
You don’t need any reason.
No suit, because no tort.
Three little words: “Employment at will.”
hellslittlestangel
I used to love going to SXSW, but no more. Fuck Texas.
Patricia Kayden
@David Koch: My parents still watch baseball but I gave it up after leaving Canada. Kind of shocking to hear Rock talk about how few Blacks play baseball now. When I was growing up there were loads of African American and Dominican Republic Blue Jays. Wonder why so few Blacks play now.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Patricia Kayden: I’ve never eaten at Popeyes.
@Patricia Kayden: I’ve never thought Shrub was dumb, just incurious. It probably doesn’t make any difference in the end result.
David Koch
@Patricia Kayden: I think he gives a good explanation.
Johnny Coelacanth
@scav: Wages are rising; people are leaving for good jobs, or at least jobs that will pay them more.
Howard Beale IV
@Violet: And their directors: Shoukat Dhanani and Amin Dhanani.
Keith G
@Gvg: When I was in my 20s I was closing manager of a neighborhood eatery/bar and we had that rule. Drop the excess every hour (7-10) or sooner if you know there was an excess.
When I did get robbed (a little blonde punk put a big gun in my face), I was so unnerved that I popped the drawer and handed him the whole cash tray ($25 bucks, I had just dropped). The little punk yelled, “In a bag!”
Not a fun night.
I guess if she was at fault for repeated procedure violations, the smart thing would have been to just fire her w/o demanding payment. A buddy of mine from about that same had to pay back money in a deposit bag he lost. He got distracted, put the bag down on a counter, turned his back…it was gone. He was at fault, but is was a small deposit so he played up and kept the job rather than telling them to stick it.
Chris
@Corner Stone:
This is what makes me skeptical of the “they’re going to pay for this in bad publicity” thing.
Violet
@Elizabelle:
Texas is the second largest state by area and population. Texas has more than four times the population of Virginia. Multiply Virginia’s dumbshit stuff by four and then compare that result to the amount of dumbshit stuff in Texas. There may still be more dumbshit stuff happening in Texas, but that’s a better comparison.
Corner Stone
People talking about how much was in the various registers. How much money do you think should be in there? I mean, $400 between two or three stations?
If their policy has them dropping anything above $100 per register then that’s a full time position between 4 and 10 pm.
scav
@Johnny Coelacanth: That doesn’t mean JIT / leanscaping understaffing isn’t taking place.
Mike J
@Violet: Virginia may have more dumbshit per capita though. Once you get past Dulles airport, you might as well be in Texas. Remember that Virginia was the capital of the rebellion.
Violet
@hellslittlestangel: Oh good. One less person. SXSW is too crowded anyway.
Gvg
A lot of places are understaffing. Makes for bad service. some places will be wiser and people will take their money where they don’t have to wait as long. Walmart is one I expect to tank in my lifetime. I can recall at least 3 other big discounters that seemed dominate and everywhere then they got dirty, slow and bankrupt.
I think just in time schedule bullying by chains has gone way to far. managers get fired for building a little slack into their shifts so they can handle a surge. They don’t get any reward for not having lines or complaints. sure they can make an employee come in but that isn’t as fast as them already being there and by the time they get in, the surge is gone so managers don’t even call. we just get used to slow lines.
when I think about it, having too much cash not dropped reflects on the whole store particularly the management. my good ones came around frequently and said give me all the extra money. If they didn’t come, there was nothing I could have done unless it was slow enough to lock my register and walk away. Didn’t happen.
Corner Stone
@Chris: Firstly, that area is a dirt poor, no doubt about it, white trash area. That’s just that.
And they’ve been voting Republican for more than four decades.
There isn’t a white person alive in that zip code that’s going to give a shit about this.
Anyone outside this area that actually eats at Popeye’s where they live aren’t going to give a damn either.
Keith G
@hellslittlestangel:
Not much in the way of coherence to unpack there.
@Elizabelle: Yeah there are problems. We are too big (area and population) and too diverse to be governed with a government powered by a Constitution that almost made sense in 1876, but not quite. Unfortunately, just as is the case with the US Constitution, its may be near impossible to create the changes in that document to modernize it.
As far as our population, we have 27 million recorded folks living here. That’s three times more than Virginia. So yeah, we have more assholes, but more really wonderful folks as well.
Gvg
And people don’t use cash as much anymore. I use debit almost always. always hated cash anyway …since I delivered pizza and worried about robberies. also tips meant I had to shed cash at the bank often which I used to worry about drop deposits…bank parking lot robberies. Only held up once but always a concern. anyway opening register was usually $40…till you got more change. Nowadays they have debit and credit and even set up phones with apps that will charge. store clerks wander around department stores and ring you up on their store phones with little charge card readers attached….even restraints wouldn’t have lots of cash unless nobody was picking up the excess for way too long.
Corner Stone
@efgoldman:
You’re out of your mind. If anything, TX is moving toward purple at a more rapid rate than VA is going blue south of NOVA.
Keith G
@efgoldman:
“If anything, Texas is moving in the other direction.
I mean, can you see a Tailgunner Ted Cruz getting elected statewide in Virginia?”
Like McDonald or Cuchinelli? Those two gems? Really not sure which one of them wins the “I am the lesser cow patty” sweepstakes?
Cruz was aided by the reality that the Texas Democratic Party can not organize a one car funeral.
Corner Stone
@Gvg:
“Some people” don’t use cash that much anymore. These people do. They don’t have credit cards or debit cards with much on them.
NotMax
A beanie over his face?
Where does one even get a beanie these days?
And over the face is a terrific way to block vision, not mention occupying at least one hand.
Shana
@efgoldman: As I recall from recent elections, Loudon County is trending more blue. The DC metro suburban area has been moving westward into Loudon since Fairfax is pretty much built out. A growing Latino population too although I’m not sure how many are citizens.
NotMax
@Gvg
Call me an old fogey (“You’re an old fogey!”) but I use cash nearly exclusively at brick-and-mortar stores, use a check when paying bills in person or by mail (and also at Costco).
Cash makes for a much faster checkout time at the regular supermarket, and Costco is smart enough to have registers that print the check for you, so all one need do is sign it.
Occasionally use a gas station card; haven’t used a credit card for anything other than online purchases since, oh, last century.
Johnny Coelacanth
@scav: Of course not. I didn’t realize you were making that argument.
Keith G
@Corner Stone: Strangely enough, the last time that I stopped into a Popeye’s, it was some where on I-10 East several years ago. I did not stay long. As I entered the door, the counter person was listing to the woman in front of me the stuff they were out of but would be ready after a wait. As that was sinking in, I looked around and wondered just how they would pass their next inspection and I split.
NotMax
@Keith G
Probably during the short-lived “Popeye after Bluto beat the snot out him” decoration phase.
:)
(Never been to a Popeye’s. Do they have spinach on the menu?)
Keith G
@efgoldman: On-going cause of many unfortunate things. It in turn is partially caused by leadership issues – the main one being we ain’t got any.
Correcting the spelling….Cuccinelli was the attorney general so was elected to a state-wide office.
Keith G
@NotMax:
No, but all their cooks have anchor tatts and have been known to spark a pipe behind the dumpster.
NotMax
@NotMax
Speaking of gas station cards, never have understood the station I now favor (since the one only blocks from house closed) of the brand for which I have a card.
The pumps there accept pretty much any card one can think of, except their own branded card. Have to take that card to the cashier, go use the pump, then return to cashier to sign the receipt.
delk
The Popeye’s owner should talk to the Brown’s Chicken people.
Over 100 restaurants had to close because of that one incident.
john fremont
@Baud: This!
opiejeanne
@NotMax: Beanies these days are what we olds call balaclavas and ski masks. I showed my youngest kid (age 32) what a beanie really looks like, complete with propeller. She didn’t believe that anyone really wore those.
joel hanes
@Elizabelle:
That said, West is in Texas and blew up
West is where neither the city nor the county nor the state saw anything wrong with siting tens of thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate AND some huge-ass anhydrous ammonia tanks A FEW HUNDRED YARDS FROM THE LOCAL SCHOOL, which was demolished in the explosion.
If school had been in session, they’d have lost all the kids in that community.
If the anyhydrous tank had ruptured, they might have lost everyone on that side of town.
And yet the state, and the people of the town, still see no reason for closer regulation of such bidnesses.
opiejeanne
@joel hanes: There was also no proper training for the fire department to deal with a chemical fire. I don’t know or care if the FD is volunteer, they should be properly trained.
zzyzx
I remember delivering pizzas in college in Baltimore in the early 90s. We went to some bad parts of town and the owner said that they wouldn’t pay us back if we got robbed but they wouldn’t let us do drops unless it was dead. That summer wasn’t too terrifying. I quit after a network aired Do the Right Thing. I figured it was a sign.
Corner Stone
@zzyzx:
There’s a couple parts there. I’m not sure about the “pay us back” part as 8 or 10 people getting “jacked” a week could break a small business. But that’s a big difference than saying pay back the $400 or get fired.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: Whine, you vile sack of shit. Whine.
seaboogie
Also, a gofundme page that was started for Marissa Holcomb was taken down – I’d like to hear the story behind that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: Not everyone lives in a progressive paradise. Perhaps you should step the fuck back about abuse of particular states. Mine sucks right now, but things like unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation originated here.
celticdragonchick
@joel hanes:
I read an in depth after-the-fact story somewhere…possibly The Atlantic…where survivers and neighbors were interviewed in West.
Not one single local resident who had property destroyed filed a lawsuit. “We just don’t do that kind of thing around here”
The only people who did were out of town types who had a second home or some such. (of course, the homeowners insurance companies likely had no such reticence…)
Unfuckingreal how the peons know their place attitude had been so thoroughly indoctrinated into the locals.
celticdragonchick
@Omnes Omnibus:
NC is having some real problems too, but we don’t all deserve what the wingnuts in Virginia Foxx’s district are shoveling on the rest of us.
Cmm
@Mike in NC: Hey he even almost choked to death that one time, too!
Freemark
@efgoldman: It is Texas. She had a responsibility to pull her gun and shoot him to protect the money Since she didn’t she is lucky to have just been fired. In Texas not having and using a gun against a perpetrator is the same as being an accomplice.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Back in 2000 I was working at a Starbucks between jobs.
They had the same cash drop policy; you could be fired if you had over a certain amount in the drawer, and they checked. Often.
It’s not out of fear about losing $400 if you get robbed – that’s literally nothing to them – it’s to keep you from being a target in the first place.
So the good criminals of Southern California would steal from our tip jars. Sometimes the entire jar. That happened only at Christmas.
People are fuckers.
ETA: Apparently this happened in the shithole known as Texas. I have no idea what the laws are there, but here in Commiefornia you are absolutely not allowed to demand that an employee pay back money for anything lost or stolen, unless it’s been stolen BY THE EMPLOYEE (in which case you file a criminal charge) or maliciously destroyed BY THE EMPLOYEE (same remedy). Asking for “money or be fired” and then firing that person here would get them some nice big settlement dollars.