It’s not exactly a fun time to be a police officer in the United States right now.
Do you remember what happened at a Florida Arby’s earlier this month? Police Officer Jennifer Martin was told by an Arby’s manager that an employee wouldn’t serve her because she was a police officer.
Thankfully, Arby’s quickly apologized and jettisoned the manager (who allegedly made the whole thing up as a joke that no one thought was funny) and showed love to local police by offering free food.
Well, history has quickly repeated itself, but this time, no one is joking around. When you hear how another restaurant chain disrespected local police, you will seethe.
Two hungry police officers in Lewisville, Texas made a stop at a local Whataburger yesterday. However, before they could even approach the counter to order, the employee’s words stopped them in their tracks: “We don’t serve police officers.”
At first the officers thought he was kidding, but his straight face told otherwise. No details have been released about the employee who turned the officers away, but Whataburger quickly announced an investigation.
“This is 100% not what we stand for at Whataburger and it would never be acceptable to refuse service to a police officer,” said a company spokesman. “We want to address this as soon as possible with any parties involved so we can reach out and make this right.” In fact, Whataburger corporate executives are meeting with the officers today.
While I’m glad to know this is problem is tied to a single employee and not the restaurant chain itself, it’s still disgruntling to know that there are people who think this type of behavior is in any way acceptable.
Perhaps the police could offer a reciprocal opt-out for pathetic people like this. It would go something like this: If you believe it’s okay to refuse service to police, you may likewise exclude yourself from receiving services and aid from police officers in emergencies. How does that sound?
UPDATE: Whataburger has fired the employee who turned away two police officers and has issued a sincere apology.
We’re appalled by this incident & the employee is no longer working for us. We’re apologizing to the officers in person to make this right.
— Whataburger® (@Whataburger) September 16, 2015
