#BlackLivesMatter is in the news a lot lately, but I’m certain Arby’s restaurant chain wasn’t expecting to be dragged into the fight.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement is ramping up their hostile rhetoric. Recently, Minnesota protesters called for police officers to be fried like bacon, and an online personality known as King Noble declared it “open season” on white cops. And this is barely scratching the surface.
Naturally, police officers are preparing themselves for possible antagonism. What happened at an Arby’s in Florida, however, is probably not what Sgt. Jennifer Martin was anticipating.
As Sgt. Martin went through the drive-thru, she handed her credit card to a black clerk, but she received her food from the manager, Angel Mirabal.
When Mirabal came to the window, he explained, “He doesn’t want to serve you because you are a police officer,” and, laughing, added that the clerk had the right to deny her service.
Sgt. Martin was rightly shocked, as were her coworkers on the police force when she told them what had happened. But that wasn’t the end of the story. After Arby’s investigated the situation, new details came to light.
As it turns out, the clerk didn’t have a problem with the police officer at all—he was just busy. When he asked Mirabal to take over Sgt. Martin’s order so he could attend to another customer, Mirabal decided to whip out his stand-up comic routine.
With such a foul sense of humor as that, I would tell Mirabal to keep his day job. Unfortunately, he just lost it. Arby’s promptly fired Mirabal, and the clerk received a brief suspension.
To make up for the manager’s gaffe, Arby’s is offering all police officers in the Miami-Dade and Broward areas free combo meals all day long.
