Fired for self defense Posted: 5 months ago by Jerry520
A Pizza Hut delivery driver, James Spiers was fired (not suspended, as everyone thinks) from his job when he defended himself with his legally owned gun that he had a permit for, because of Pizza Hut's no weapon policy.
By the way, I work at the customer service line for Pizza Hut, and I think that this is the dumbest policy ever.
Comments: 12 Score: [-] 373 [+].
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Posted: 5 months ago by DoggySpew:
No, he was not fired for defending himself.He was fired for having a gun at his workplace which he was not allowed to have.
And so the old "Gun ownership" debacle begins again...
Score: [-] 104 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by doggylives:
Agreed. If you're in a job where you aren't allowed to carry a weapon then you don't carry a weapon. he had no more need to carry a gun than any other person in any other walk of life.
The asshat who tried robbing him got what he deserved as far as I'm concerned but it could have easily gone horribly wrong for the pizza guy.
In the u.k gun carrying isn't as commonplace because hand-guns are illegal to own full-stop but knife carrying and knife crime is rife but that doesn't make it a good idea for me to carry a knife everywhere, especially not to work if it's against company rules/policy.
Hardly a dumb policy really, I don't fancy going into my local Pizza Hut and getting served by a dude packing heat.
I may be wrong but I thing the majority of companies have a no weapons policy for their employees.
Score: [-] 108 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by dOntEAtpOOp:
I love beer. I even own some beer (currently have 10 different kinds of beers available in six-packs). I can't bring beer to work, regardless of whether I drink it or not. I know that if I bring beer to work, I will no longer have a job. I wouldn't argue that I never opened the beer and therefor it couldn't do any harm; because when I was hired I agreed that they could fire me if I brought a beer to work.
I agree with Pizza Hut on this. You break the rules, you lose your job. Glad the guy survived, by the way; but he was diserving of his employment termination.
On a side note; Pizza Hut better not ever hire Chuck Norris or Mr. T, because just showing up for work for those two is a direct violation of Pizza Hut's no weapons policy.
Score: [-] 144 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by Jerry520:
« DoggySpew : No, he was not fired for defending himself.He was fired for having a gun at his workplace which he was not allowed to have.
And so the old "Gun ownership" debacle begins again... Technically, he wasn't at his workplace, he was out delivering pizzas in his car, not a company car. Defending himself saved his life, that's not how he should be rewarded.
Score: [-] 0 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by partymonk:
« doggylives : Agreed. He had no more need to carry a gun than any other person in any other walk of life. I don't disagree that if he broke company policy then the company has the right to terminate employment.
But to say a pizza delivery driver has no more need to carry a gun than any other person is ignorant. I delivered pizzas for several years and I often went into neighborhoods that made me fear for my safety and I'm the kind of person who rarely worries about what may be. It doesnt take a very smart criminal to realize that a victim guaranteed to have cash and that can be summoned to the criminals place of choosing, equals a very juicy target. The guy in this story had a gun pointed at him. I know 4 people who have been mugged with the use of a gun or knife while trying to deliver a pizza. I even know somebody who lost a toe because he was shot delivering a pizza. One of the guys that got mugged was on a college campus, one of them was even in an upscale neighborhood. I'm not saying carrying a gun is or isn't the answer but I would say that I understand how the job could make somebody else feel the need to carry one.
Score: [-] 70 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by coldbladed:
« Jerry520 : Technically, he wasn't at his workplace, he was out delivering pizzas in his car, not a company car. Defending himself saved his life, that's not how he should be rewarded. He was still acting in his general capacity of a Pizza Hut employee. With that sign on his car and that badge on his shirt everything he does he does as a pizza hut employee.
What if he got busted doing cocaine after work at his home but happened to be wearing his Pizza Hut uniform. You know those mug shots would be all over the internet. I bet Pizza Hut wouldn't hesitate to fire him for that either.
Score: [-] 98 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by dOntEAtpOOp:
« partymonk:Dangerous places to deliver pizza If the company policy is to not have a weapon while you are on the clock, you cannot have a weapon while on the clock (and keep your job if they find out about it). Simple as that. It's really very black and white.
I understand why he was carrying the gun; and like I said before I'm glad he was able to protect himself, but if he didn't like the 'no weapons policy' at Pizza Hut, he should have applied at Domnioes instead (unless they have the same policy, of course).
Personally, if I was delivering pizza and a gun was pointed at me asking for the money and the pie, I'd hand that s**t right over and wish the robber a nice evening. It's not my money, anyway. And the company is responsible for the money in the event of this sort of scenario.
Score: [-] 91 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by dOntEAtpOOp:
« partymonk : Dangerous places to deliver pizza A fried of mine used to deliver pizza to some very dangerous places around Youngstown. He never got f**ked with, and he swears that it is all due to how he delivered the pie.
He was a big pothead, and if he was going to one of the seedier places, he would be smoking a joint as he delivered.
I'm surprised he never got busted.
Score: [-] 35 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by doggylives:
« partymonk : I don't disagree that if he broke company policy then the company has the right to terminate employment.
But to say a pizza delivery driver has no more need to carry a gun than any other person is ignorant. I delivered pizzas for several years and I often went into neighborhoods that made me fear for my safety and I'm the kind of person who rarely worries about what may be. It doesnt take a very smart criminal to realize that a victim guaranteed to have cash and that can be summoned to the criminals place of choosing, equals a very juicy target. The guy in this story had a gun pointed at him. I know 4 people who have been mugged with the use of a gun or knife while trying to deliver a pizza. I even know somebody who lost a toe because he was shot delivering a pizza. One of the guys that got mugged was on a college campus, one of them was even in an upscale neighborhood. I'm not saying carrying a gun is or isn't the answer but I would say that I understand how the job could make somebody else feel the need to carry one. I'd say that I'm not an ignorant person and what I said was a considered comment, so ignorant? No
I'm not sure if it's the same in America but our paramedics don't carry guns or weapons and their job brings them into contact with drunks, junkies and variety of violent people in whatever dangerous situations they get sent to. I'd say potentially more dangerous than taking a pizza to someones house.
Also, I don't know about America but taxi drivers don't carry guns as standard that I know of and they go to dangerous neighborhoods and carry relatively large amounts of money.
There's a whole list of people that carry out jobs involving money that are no more or less dangerous than pizza delivery and they don't carry weapons as standard so to try and say that pizza delivery do need to carry guns more than people in other jobs is kind of ignorant of the facts.
If pizza delivery was so dangerous why do the job for what I presume can't be a great wage and why don't they send the delivery guys out in pairs if it's such a hazardous, dangerous job?
I think the main point here is not how dangerous pizza delivery it's the fact that when he took the job he knew the rules. Like DEP says if you get scared doing a job or want to carry your gun then find a company that lets you carry your weapon legitimately or find another less dangerous job.
Score: [-] 73 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by ImNotBlue:
« Jerry520 : Fired for self defense By the way, I work at the customer service line for Pizza Hut, and I think that this is the dumbest policy ever. Wait wait wait... forget the gun stuff for a minute.
Pizza Hut has a "customer service line"?!
Score: [-] 73 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by Jerry520:
« ImNotBlue : Wait wait wait... forget the gun stuff for a minute.
Pizza Hut has a "customer service line"?! 1(800) 948-8488
It closes at midnight, I think, open 7 days a week. I'm doing e-mails, so if you call you won't get me. :D
Score: [-] 35 [+].
Posted: 5 months ago by 1thirteen3:
Considering this was a blog, I'll ignore the fact that it could very well be biased and not have given us all the facts.
That being said, I agree with the notion that if a company has a no guns policy they have a right to terminate an employee for breaking the rules, no matter what the reason. Do I think it's ridiculous that he was fired? Yeah. But I side with Pizza Hut on this one.
The guy knew the policy for the company and he knowingly broke the rules.
Score: [-] 87 [+].
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