Gas Station Employee Fired For Fighting Off Robber

[kujo]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1535119' date='May 20 2008, 07:17 PM']Exactly, the man had mere moments to decide. "Do I attempt to save the lady, or watch her die before me?" By the time he thought every thing out it would have been too late.[/quote]

Exactly.

As I'm going through this thread, I keep thinking that some women on here don't seem to understand the instincts that men have to leap into action. It's a basic difference between men and women--women are more safe and cautious while men take more chances and are looking to "slay the dragon," so to speak. I look at this guy's actions and think "Wow, he must've read [u]Wild At Heart[/u] before he came into work, or something."

Anyway...not trying to be sexist or anything. Just pointing out something I was thinking.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1535097' date='May 20 2008, 04:59 PM']That is completely different. You had absolute surity that a life was in danger. That guy at the gas station had only a bad visual angle. And someone could have gotten killed.[/quote]
Well if you were paying attention you would realize that I was responding to general claims of absolutism with regard to "company policy" and not the particular case of the fired gas station guy. I do think they are related though. Companies have policies such as this to protect themselves from liability. People are so sick today that they might try to sue the company if they had been hurt by a violent criminal in an altercation with an employee; companies want to protect their money from this and thus people who respond to such situations as good human beings are smeared and suffer because of it. The moment that robber walked into the store everyone's life was in danger. You can't assume that a robber is just going to take the money and run. Sometimes these people take some money and then have a killing spree just for kicks. If anything, this man put his own life in extraordinary danger to save other people; what he did was a heroic act. The question of him thinking that the robber was attacking the woman is not something that I can judge, but either way he was perfectly justified in taking down the robber and the company ought to give him a medal. I can’t believe how dastardly pussyfooted our society is these days.

[kujo]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' post='1535173' date='May 20 2008, 08:06 PM']Well if you were paying attention you would realize that I was responding to general claims of absolutism with regard to "company policy" and not the particular case of the fired gas station guy. I do think they are related though. Companies have policies such as this to protect themselves from liability. People are so sick today that they might try to sue the company if they had been hurt by a violent criminal in an altercation with an employee; companies want to protect their money from this and thus people who respond to such situations as good human beings are smeared and suffer because of it. The moment that robber walked into the store everyone's life was in danger. You can't assume that a robber is just going to take the money and run. Sometimes these people take some money and then have a killing spree just for kicks. If anything, this man put his own life in extraordinary danger to save other people; what he did was a heroic act. The question of him thinking that the robber was attacking the woman is not something that I can judge, but either way he was perfectly justified in taking down the robber and the company ought to give him a medal. I can’t believe how dastardly pussyfooted our society is these days.[/quote]

Dastardly pussyfooted?

Wow...not how I would put it (though one of those words would certainly be used)...

[kujo]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' post='1535004' date='May 20 2008, 05:50 PM']These are not dumb or arbitray rules, which you're acting like they are. We know putting a 1960's hair drier into a tub will likely get someone electrocuted. Not always but sometimes.

This guy may of acted heroically but he did so against the rules. I have no problem with him being fired. He dosn't make a good convience store worker.[/quote]


[quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1535093' date='May 20 2008, 06:57 PM']Again, the woman was not being attacked. Period. Unless this guy was a specialist in martial arts he had no business bum-rushing a guy who may have had a weapon and who, to that point, was not acting out violently. If the woman had TRULY been being attacked I would absolutely agree with the man's actions. As it happened he didn't bother to get a good visual ("I thought she was being attacked" but the woman's testimony and the film footage proves otherwise) before he rushed in all Rambo-like.[/quote]

While I certainly respect the views that you both have, I sincerely hope that, if you are ever in that situation, that the Good Lord places someone in the store who disagrees with you.

[Deb]

[quote name='kujo' post='1534966' date='May 20 2008, 04:25 PM']

You is awesome![/quote]

Thank you but, what I really am is ticked off. I can't even imagine standing by and witnessing what I thought was someone being physically harmed. I just could never do it. It isn't just a thing that men instinctivly do (some don't even move) but, it is a human trait.

How hard does your heart have to be to stand by and do nothing? They have a name for that in the military. If inaction comes from fear, I could understand. Some people just freeze.If you are just indifferennt or are standing back because you are worried about violating company policy then, you just smell of elderberries.
[u]Violating company policy! [/u] I can't even believe that is an argument. It makes my hair hurt.

If I am working and I start screaming, you know I am not just practicing my new Tarzan/Jane holler. If you come out and from YOUR vantage point, it looks like I am being attacked. Please, feel free to step in. If you get fired, I will support you.

Then again, I will have probably taken care of it before you even get there.

[Deb]

[quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1535097' date='May 20 2008, 05:59 PM']That is completely different. You had absolute surity that a life was in danger. That guy at the gas station had only a bad visual angle. And someone could have gotten killed.[/quote]


I have seen instant replay after I have seen the real play. I just don't trust it.

I don't think I will even be shopping in a SuperAmerica again. Unless I am with my brothers. They all carry.

[Deb]

If you would like to let SuperAmerica know what you think of their firing this guy, here is the place to go. [url="http://www.speedway.com/ContactUs/EmailUs.aspx"]http://www.speedway.com/ContactUs/EmailUs.aspx[/url]

I just let them know I will never buy gas from SA or Marathon.

(no big problem)

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' post='1534988' date='May 20 2008, 04:41 PM']To me he knew the rules and he broke them. Its as simple as that.[/quote]

And I remember a certain Somebody who broke the rules by curing on a Sabbath. Certain laws are unjust.

If you ask me, the whole erosion of our right to self-defense is a life issue that ranks right up there with abortion. Unfortunately, we live in a society where criminals have more rights than innocent people - and combine that with our lawsuit-crazy culture, which is probbaly why the company felt cowered into adopting such a policy and being inflexible about it.

I just wish I heard about this story before filling up at Marathon this evening.

[Madame Vengier]

[quote name='Norseman82' post='1535745' date='May 20 2008, 11:52 PM']And I remember a certain Somebody who broke the rules by curing on a Sabbath. Certain laws are unjust.

If you ask me, the whole erosion of our right to self-defense is a life issue that ranks right up there with abortion. Unfortunately, we live in a society where criminals have more rights than innocent people - and combine that with our lawsuit-crazy culture, which is probbaly why the company felt cowered into adopting such a policy and being inflexible about it.

I just wish I heard about this story before filling up at Marathon this evening.[/quote]

The woman was not being attacked. Her testimony and video evidence have already proven this.

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='StColette' post='1534716' date='May 20 2008, 12:00 PM']An act of bravery to defend a co-worker has cost a Minnesota gas-station attendant his job.

Mark Beverly, an overnight shift supervisor at a SuperAmerica in Roseville, Minn., was fired in March after he jumped on a masked robber who he believed was attacking a fellow employee.

SuperAmerica said he violated company policy when he came to his colleague's aid in the early morning of March 26. So instead of accolades, Beverly got the boot.

Adding insult to injury, Beverly — who is still looking for another job — has been denied unemployment benefits. He will appeal that decision on June 5.

The trouble began around 3 a.m. when Beverly was cleaning the bathroom and his female co-worker was behind the cash register. Beverly said he heard her scream, so he ran out and saw a robber wearing a blue-stocking cap jostling with her.

"It looked like he was hurting her, so I jumped on him," Beverly said. "I just tried to bang him on the counter a couple of times."

After a tussle, he said, the robber regained his footing and looked as if he was going to pull out a weapon. Beverly said the man told him, "Don't be a hero," before fleeing the store with about $15.

Beverly called police and reviewed security tapes with his managers before completing his shift. "Everything was fine," he said.

The next day, however, he was fired for violating company policy.

Marathon Petroleum Company, the owner of the SuperAmerica chain, said Beverly was told what to do in the company handbook — which advises employees to "cooperate: don't argue, resist or attack the robber" — and through a computer-based training program Beverly was required to complete when he was hired.

"He endangered himself and her, and that’s why we have the policy," said Linda Casey, a Marathon spokeswoman. "And we have enforced it with other employees, not just with him."

"I just thought it was wrong, that's all," said Beverly, who had worked at SuperAmerica for just over a year. "You're not really trained for a robbery, and that was the first robbery I have ever been in in my life."

Capt. Rick Mathwig of the Roseville Police Department said authorities advise people not to take action when faced with a robbery.

"When you start resisting at some way shape or form, the suspect who may not have intended on using the weapon that he or she came with may use it intentionally or unintentionally when faced with a conflict," he said.

Roseville police have listed the case as inactive as they have not been able to identify the robber. The only image of him is partial profile and his face is obscured by the stocking cap, Mathwig said.

The security tape did not show the female co-worker struggling with the robber over the cash-register drawer, Casey said. The robber reached in and grabbed cash out of the drawer.

"We have a statement from both [Beverly] and the female employee," Casey said. "Neither one of them say anything about her being attacked, hurt or anything, and the video we have substantiates it."

Beverly said that from his vantage point, he thought she was being attacked.

"With both of them so close it looked — from the angle that I was at — it looked like she was being attacked," he said.[/quote]

ridiculous.

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='StColette' post='1534739' date='May 20 2008, 12:32 PM']I agree that he did break policy, but I think it is also in the nature of a man to protect someone, especially if it is a woman. I worked in retail and I've had many customers get really aggrivated for things that I could not help them with. I had one gentleman grab me by my arm, I was standing behind the counter. I worked with 6 men at this store, I was the only girl. Needless to say the man let go very quickly when one of my fellow co-workers step up beside me. This coworker was a national guardsman so I believe it is in his nature to protect because of his background as well as being a man. There have been other occasions when it looked like a male customer was going to take a swing at me but luckily the men I worked with always kept their eye on me.[/quote]

dang, where do you work?

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='Deb' post='1534895' date='May 20 2008, 02:34 PM']Most people would just forget everything they ever knew and wee in their pants if they came upon this situation. This employee did what I would hope anyone would do if it looked like I was being attacked. Stick the policy. How sad of a society are we?
I suppose if the employee had hid himself and then watched as the clerk was beaten, raped and killed, he would get a raise? They would be hanging him high.

It is one thing if the robber asks you for money and you can just hand him the money and he flees. I think that is probably what their policy is about.[/quote]

definitely agree. I think there should be two ways of handling the situation. If all employees/customers are in a safe position and are not being attacked, then comply with what the criminal wants. If the criminal is in the act of (or clearly is about to) attack someone then by all means react yourself and try to physically prevent him, by whatever means necessary. Maybe the woman in this case wasn't being physically attacked, but the man said from his view it looked like she was, and that is reason enough I think to take action.

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='Alycin' post='1534977' date='May 20 2008, 03:33 PM']Sooo... better to not take a chance of having your own ass in trouble?

Sorry, but I'll take a man that will break policy in order to try to save me over a stickler for rules anyday.[/quote]

word

[Excelsior1027]

[quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1535809' date='May 21 2008, 01:59 AM']The woman was not being attacked. Her testimony and video evidence have already proven this.[/quote]
Yes, the woman was not being attacked. However, the man thought she was; that is what we are talking about. If the man had known she wasn't being attacked, he wouldn't have acted as he did.

If I were in that position, and I even knew I would get fired, I could care less about my job. Better to lose a job than to stand by and run the risk of someone getting severely injured or even killed.

Geez, where has good ol'-fashioned chivalry gone?

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='kujo' post='1535099' date='May 20 2008, 05:01 PM']Say this guy was about to stab the woman. Had this worker taken the time to "get a good visual" on her, he could've been discovered, not to mention the woman could've been attacked in the mean time. Thankfully, she was not attacked (yet) just being threatened.[/quote]

maybe he could've gotten one of the disposable cameras from the shelves and developed a couple of pictures first? . Yes if he knew the woman was safe then he should probably stay back. If someone has even a slight feeling someone is being attacked, then the right thing to do is help, not analyze the situation until its too late.