Gas station employee fired for resisting robber

[Wildscar]

I thinks its safe to say that I will never buy from this company. That is just stupid.

[seamusTX]

I'm going to play the devil's advocate for the purpose of discussion.

A retail business has three alternatives:

• Hire armed guards.
• Arm their employees and train them appropriately.
• Tell the employees to give robbers whatever they want.

The first two routes are expensive. If they arm regular employees, they need to pay them more than the minimum wage that they probably get now, because those employees will be better qualified. The company also runs a risk of an employee being killed or injuring an innocent party, who could then sue the company.

If they give the robber the contents of the cash register and a couple of cartons of cigarettes, the company is out a few hundred dollars at most. It's just the cost of doing business for them.

I'm 100% for armed and properly trained resistance by anyone, but for a woman to fight a male robber with her bare hands (which it sounds like happened here) is poor tactics.

I should add that I think firing the guy was an overreaction and created bad publicity for the company. I think he should have been "counseled," as they call it these days.

BTW, I have never heard of this Linda Casey.

- Jim

[seamusTX]

I agree on that. The guy who was fired did not start the incident. We don't whether the woman clerk resisted the robbery initially or whether the robber attacked her directly. That's why I said the company should have figured out what happened and reinforced the employees' training.

- Jim

[flintknapper]

Keep in mind the guy thought she was being attacked, not that she was struggling with the cash register.

It's absolutely pathetic to expect a REAL man, not just a male that's no longer a teenager, to sit back and think "oh well, I need to follow my employee training" when he sees a female under duress from a masked robber.

BINGO!

[KD5NRH]

A retail business has three alternatives:

• Hire armed guards.
• Arm their employees and train them appropriately.
• Tell the employees to give robbers whatever they want.

Or they can do what several of my former employers did; just tell everybody not to endanger themselves to protect the company's property or money. That's all the policy said, and anything more was left to employee discretion.

[The Annoyed Man]

All I know is that the guy who got fired can sleep at night and look himself in the face the next morning and know that he did the right thing - regardless of what company policy says. I'll bet that, had the struggle between the robber and the female employee actually been a rape attempt, and the guy had stood by and watched it happen instead of jumping on the guy, he'd have been fired for that too.

I would rather be unemployed and be able to face the women in my life with a clear conscience than to be employed by a gas station. If I have to pick one or the other, there's not even a choice there.

[WarHawk-AVG]

I hope that guy walks away with a large chunk of that businesses assets!

Uggh...I would salute that guy..not fire him!

[Mr.Scott]

A retail business has three alternatives:

• Hire armed guards.
• Arm their employees and train them appropriately.
• Tell the employees to give robbers whatever they want.

Or they can do what several of my former employers did; just tell everybody not to endanger themselves to protect the company's property or money. That's all the policy said, and anything more was left to employee discretion.

If I worked a gas station and someone wanted the cash, I'd give it to him. If he attacks someone someone is going to die, and I'll do my darnedest to make sure it's not me.

[Sarah81]

Sooo...the moral of the story is: Don't stand up for the littler person? Don't try to stop the bad guys from doing whatever they want in this crazy world?

Sigh. I really hope that everybody within reasonable commuting distance of this gentleman offers him a better job than the one he lost. I know that, if I were in a position to employ him, I'd do everything I could to get him on board.

[Glock 23]

on a plus note, since he's unemployed with no unemployment benefits....he knows a great place to rob where no one will resist you and you're practically guaranteed a quick few bucks. Im sure he knows where anything of value is kept in the store, he worked there a year.

[thankGod]

A retail business has three alternatives:
Hire armed guards.
Arm their employees and train them appropriately.
Tell the employees to give robbers whatever they want.

I think seamus is right. The company only has a few options. However, firing this man, their employee, for coming to the aid of a person in need, another employee, is apprehensible. This is the kind of man I would want to work for my company. Someone who can do the right thing. I hope the publicity brings him better employment, and a pat on the back.

[KD5NRH]

I think seamus is right. The company only has a few options. However, firing this man, their employee, for coming to the aid of a person in need, another employee, is apprehensible. This is the kind of man I would want to work for my company. Someone who can do the right thing. I hope the publicity brings him better employment, and a pat on the back.

Doubtful; I checked with a CCW instructor in that area, and while he'd heard about it, it wasn't getting much local press.

[DParker]

I'm going to play the devil's advocate for the purpose of discussion.

A retail business has three alternatives:

• Hire armed guards.
• Arm their employees and train them appropriately.
• Tell the employees to give robbers whatever they want.

The first two routes are expensive. If they arm regular employees, they need to pay them more than the minimum wage that they probably get now, because those employees will be better qualified. The company also runs a risk of an employee being killed or injuring an innocent party, who could then sue the company.

If they give the robber the contents of the cash register and a couple of cartons of cigarettes, the company is out a few hundred dollars at most. It's just the cost of doing business for them.

I'm 100% for armed and properly trained resistance by anyone, but for a woman to fight a male robber with her bare hands (which it sounds like happened here) is poor tactics.

All quite correct. However, the employee who lost his job did not escalate the situation by attempting to resist the robbery. He walked into a situation that was already escalated and that appeared to him to be an assault on a co-worker. He wasn't resisting a robbery. He was (in his belief) attempting to prevent an assault. I wonder what the company manual says about standing by while a female co-worker is assaulted.