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Fired

Pizza Hut waited for the controversy to die down then fired A pizza delivery driver, who police said defended himself by shooting a robber who attacked him

No more Pizza Hut for me.

Update: Tom says don’t eat their pizza because it’s crappy pizza.

49 Responses to “Fired”

  1. ParatrooperJJ Says:

    I don’t know of any pizza chain that allows their drivers to carry.

  2. Justin Buist Says:

    They did the same thing with a guy in Ohio back in 2004, so this is no surprise at all.

  3. larry weeks Says:

    Uncle, discussed this last night in an adult ed college class, in Des Moines. The mostly female, liberal group thought Pizza Hut was right, for all the stupid reasons unarmed people usually do. Too dangerous, why did he have to shoot multiple times, etc, etc. But here’s the strange part. They all agreed that if the crook has shot and killed an unarmed Pizza Hut delivery driver, the driver’s family should sue Pizza Hut because the driver was not protected. I think those folks could actually convince themselves that 2 + 2 really does equal Blue, to paraphrase Net Flics.

  4. Weer'd Beard Says:

    No change for me, Their Pizza Sucks anyway.

    I’m not a huge fan of Taco Bell or KFC either….

  5. tgirsch Says:

    This puts you one step closer to the compound, I guess…

  6. tgirsch Says:

    By the way, I stopped eating Pizza Hut about 15 years ago, largely because they started sucking. Nothing to do with corporate politics. There are frozen pizzas better than Pizza Hut pizza…

  7. Robert Says:

    Pizza delivery guys are doing God’s Work. They ought to be immune from traffic laws AND be able to carry ANY arm, NFA or otherwise. A pox on the houses of those who assail them.

  8. chris Says:

    i carried the entire time i worked for them… my logic was that i would rather be alive and unemployed than dead and still have a job…

    i knew that if i ever had to defend myself, i would be fired… but i did it anyways

  9. Nylarthotep Says:

    This puts you one step closer to the compound, I guess…

    Heh, boy that hits close to home.

  10. Nylarthotep Says:

    Just to be clear I was referring to myself.

    My landlord won’t even come into the apartment if I’m home unless I answer the door. He’s seen the gun chests and isn’t really worried, but isn’t taking any chances.

  11. Regolith Says:

    My landlord won’t even come into the apartment if I’m home unless I answer the door.

    Uh, isn’t that how it should be? Landlord or no, walking into someone’s place of residence without knocking first is generally considered a big faux pas.

  12. UNHchabo Says:

    As far as delivered pizza goes, I like Pizza Hut more than any other chain I’ve tried, and most local shops.

    I haven’t tried that many brands of frozen pizza, cause most of the time when I want pizza, I don’t feel like going to the store to get something. 😉

    So… show me a pizza place that lets their drivers carry, and I’ll send some of my business their way. I don’t know of any shops with such a policy, so I guess the main factor is going to have to be taste.

  13. JMH Says:

    I carried the entire time i worked for them… my logic was that i would rather be alive and unemployed than dead and still have a job…

    They’d have fired you anyway for being late.

    So to speak.

  14. Ellen Says:

    If (God forbid) I were to deliver pizza for a living, I’d carry. As others have said – I’d rather be alive and unemployed.

  15. jvon Says:

    I was informed upon moving into my new apartment that while they could not prevent people from owning guns (she gave me a lingering look that said she thought I might have one — I maintained my poker face), that they would absolutely not tolerate firearms being displayed or used on the premises.

    I thought, and did not say, that if I had to use a firearm in my apartment, the last thing I’d be worried about was what my freaking landlord thought about it.

    Good for the pizza guy, defending himself. He should sue Pizza Hut for placing him in a situation where his life was in danger.

  16. Labamigo Says:

    A lot of convenience stores will fire an employee who pursues a robber outside the store.

  17. Ed Says:

    I’ve been getting my Pizza at Costco lately. Pizza the Hut won’t get me back.

    I’ll bet there’s some lawyers just dancing on their toes looking for a report of a Pizza Hut driver being injured or killed during a robbery. This incident hangs a big “Sue Me” sign on Pizza Hut corporate. Their pizza will have to get very expensive to pay the settlement.

    Perhaps if it was so expensive they were forced to drop delivery entirely, the other players in the field (Domino’s et al) would just go along with the local CCW laws.

  18. Andrew Garland Says:

    The pizza companies are merely doing what the society wants, as expressed by the liability law. If they allow drivers to carry guns, then that is a corporate policy of allowance. They would be supporting the practice. Then, if a driver caused an injury with the gun, there would have a big lawsuit against them, which they would lose.

    There is one comment above that people already think Pizza Hut should pay damages if a crook injures one of their employees! A jury would surely hold Pizza Hut responsible if their employee injured some innocent third party, or they couldn’t prove that the third party had threatened the employee.

    Of course, they have to fire the employee, or some later lawsuit would claim that they condone their drivers carrying guns, even though they have a policy against it.

  19. Denny, Alaska Says:

    I’m positive, positive that Sen. Obama (D-Buyer’s Remorse) will come out firmly on at least two sides of this issue.

  20. Tully Says:

    I hate to defend Pizza Hut at all here, but the policy for drivers has been in effect for decades, and they’ve fired drivers for the very same thing in the past. I don’t have to like it, but they ARE consistent.

  21. Daniel Says:

    It is obviously a dangerous policy for Pizza Hut drivers/deliverers.

    After all, the employer doesn’t care about several things – your life or your constitutional right to defend yourself.

    On the other hand, they care about their profit level.

    There’s only one word for that.

    Greed.

    After events such as these, why would anyone want to work for them?

  22. Mark Says:

    Let me offer a saner thought to the rants:

    One word: safety. Most retail stores have a no confrontation policy about robbers. Allowing employees to confront usually results in dire consequences — for the employee. The chances the gun will be turned on the employee is far greater.

    Who thinks it’s worth it to lose a life over a pizza and $20 in change?

    Anyone? Anyone?

  23. Ogre Says:

    Mark, you have fallen for that MSM false bit of made up statistics about guns being turned on the owner. It most cases, the criminals turn tail and run at the mere sight of a firearm. It’s rare that the law abiding citizen needs to actually fire. It’s almost unheard of for the criminal to attempt to take the gun.

  24. Xrlq Says:

    I hate to defend Pizza Hut at all here, but the policy for drivers has been in effect for decades, and they’ve fired drivers for the very same thing in the past. I don’t have to like it, but they ARE consistent.

    So? Whoever said that being a prick the same way many times in a row makes you any less of a prick than you otherwise would have been?

    Who thinks it’s worth it to lose a life over a pizza and $20 in change?

    No one, but if you’d bothered to read the story before commenting, you’d know that cops say his life was threatened. Maybe his life is only worth $20 to you, but I can scarcely blame the guy for valuing his own life a bit higher than that.

  25. Lee Says:

    A lot of convenience stores will fire an employee who pursues a robber outside the store.

    Which makes sense. If a robber has left a store and is no longer a threat to the employees and customers, there is no sense to continue to put you or anybody else in danger. Ain’t nothing stolen that can’t be replaced.

    Now if you’re in a bad part of town delivering pizza pie at 10:30pm and somebody pulls a gun on you and you fear for your life…

  26. straightarrrow Says:

    Well, Mark, have you shared your expertise with all your local law enforcement agencies? Have any of them disarmed their officers so they wouldn’t have their guns taken away and be killed with them?

    If you have not yet done so, I encourage you to go in and talk to your police chief and sheriff and inform him of your plan to keep his officers safe.

    As for the commenter who said Pizza Hut is consistent, so what? So am I? I don’t trade with people who are willing to be a silent participant in the murder of their employees for profit.

    Being a prick as was stated above does not become more acceptable because one is prick a lot.

  27. straightarrrow Says:

    Oh yeah, mark. let us know how it works out after your meetings.

  28. Gregg Says:

    Mark,
    I’m guessing that you have never delivered pizzas. Admittedly, during my time as a pizza driver most of our issues were resolved with our flashlights.

    Personally, I never cared much about the $$ or the pizza, I cared much more about my own skin and my car. Oh, btw, when you do 4-5 pie runs you don’t have $20 on you, you have $80-200 on you until you can get back to the store and make a drop.

    OTOH, the horsecrap about some goblin disarming you may have some validity if you believe that a firearm is a magic wand that dispells bad guys. However, if you have training and take the tool seriously as a tool the likelihood of some yahoo disarming you is reduced exponentially. Yes, it can be done, but typically the people who are able to do so don’t rob pizza drivers.

  29. Linoge Says:

    After discovering the miracle of Dijourno (sp?) and learning to add my own addition to pizzas, delivery companies simply cannot compete – in terms of quality or cost. As such, Pizza Hut will not be gaining or losing business from me.

    That said, as a legal neophyte, a question – if a company does not specifically make something against the rules, does that fall under “corporate allowance”? For example (and all analogies are flawed), if a company does not make suicide against the corporate rules, and someone goes out and offs themself, can their survivors hold the company liable?

    Because, damn, that would just be stupid.

  30. Greg Says:

    Well it’s Papa John’s or Domino’s for me from now on. I don’t have any problem with the Pizza guy packing, heck I want the Deliverator himself to bring me my pizza. Something like a quarter of OTJ fatalities for Pizza deliverers are due to criminal violence (other 75% are mostly vehicle accidents).

  31. Orion Says:

    Armed delivery drivers opens them to all kinds of litigation. If they say it’s OK and an innocent bystander gets shot his relatives eat free pizza for the rest of their lives. If the felon sues they lose more money than the driver was carrying in court fees. I agree that I’d rather be alive and looking for a new job than dead and Employee of the Month, but that’s the way it is.

  32. Tom Kelly Says:

    It will probably take this guy like, 2 or 3 minutes to find another pizza delivery job.

    When I ran a pizza delivery store we would often hire drivers to start immediately when they came in to fill out an application. Getting a driver who was experienced in the area was considered a bonanza- some of these guys/girls have their own flock of regulars.

  33. Ma Says:

    I drove for Pizza Hut when they first started by buying a bunch of Winchells donut shops and converting them into carry out/delivery stores. They had a “no weapons” policy then, too. Likely copied from Dominoes, who also has a “no weapons” policy at the time, and still does.
    Nobody should be surprised the guy got fired.

  34. Thunder Pig Says:

    I will not be visiting a Pizza Hut Restaurant (except to tell them I why I will not be doing business with them) or calling them (except to tell them why I will not be doing business with them) to order takeout.

    The only way to prevent me from carrying anywhere is to search me. America would be a safer place if the 70 million plus who do own firearms had the same attitude. They can’t lock all of us up.

  35. Peg C. Says:

    Our family hates Pizza Hut anyway (I’m in upstate NY which means excellent pizza on every street) but this is one more reason NOT to patronize them.

    I’m starting to think EVERYONE should carry. And I don’t own a gun.

  36. TRO Says:

    I am for the right to carry, but it seems to me that Pizza Hut is well within its rights to prohibit its employees from carrying while working. No one HAS to work for them and the guy knew the policy when he took the job. He made a decision to carry and it paid off because he is alive. Good on him. He lost his job but he is alive to find another one.

  37. Mark@c Says:

    I quit patronizing Pizza Hut – both in store and takeout – several years ago after a similiar incident. For like reasons, I avoid 7-11’s as much as humanly possible when I’m in the states. Don’t care to do business with someone who puts risk avoidance ahead of their employees’ lives.

  38. davod Says:

    “Perhaps if it was so expensive they were forced to drop delivery entirely, the other players in the field (Domino’s et al) would just go along with the local CCW laws.”

    In Washington, DC, a pizza chain (I think it was Dominoes) was sued for not delivering to less savoury areas (Racial discrimination). DC has, if not the toughest, one of the toughest gun laws in the nation.

  39. Nylarthotep Says:

    Who thinks it’s worth it to lose a life over a pizza and $20 in change?

    Interesting that you assume that the only thing they want is the pizza and $20. Tell that to this guy.

    Brian Wells died August 28, 2003, in Erie, Pennsylvania, after he claimed gunmen grabbed him, locked the bomb around his neck and ordered him to rob a bank. Police detained him after the robbery, and the device exploded as he waited on the pavement. A bomb squad was en route to the scene but did not arrive in time.

    Authorities have not said whether they believe Wells was a victim or a co-conspirator in the plot.

    I’m betting he wasn’t a co-conspirator. Usually Co-conspirators don’t strap live bombs around their own necks.

  40. Dan Says:

    In my college days in the late 80s I worked as a driver for Domino’s plus a regional chain. Back then, I’d guess about 25% of the drivers carried. Being a liberal moonbat at the time, I was horrified (today if I was a driver, I’d DEFINITELY carry).

    It was only later that I realized that it was mostly the older, more experienced drivers who carried, and two of the ones I knew who were more-or-less “lifers” had installed custom hidey-holes in thier cars that would pop the gun out, grip first, at the press of a button. Those dudes only needed about half a second and they were ready to fire.

    Note: I do recall three or four times out of four years in a mid-sized college town where somebody carrying scared away would-be robbers by brandishing. Nobody ever had to fire. There were three times as many or so who were unarmed and simply gave up their moneybag & pizza.

    If they were all carrying and all brandished upon confrontation, I wonder how long the bad guys would continue to attempt to hold them up?

  41. Heather Says:

    larry weeks:

    The mostly female, liberal group thought Pizza Hut was right

    Did you suggest they head down to the SE side of Des Moines at night, alone, unarmed, with a big flashing “I have money” sign on their car, and see what happens?

  42. mike devx Says:

    Daniel Said:
    April 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 pm
    After all, the employer doesn’t care about several things – your life or your constitutional right to defend yourself.
    On the other hand, they care about their profit level.
    There’s only one word for that.
    Greed.

    Daniel, it’s not only about greed, it’s about nuthouse lawsuits and juries that award millions of dollars. Let me hit YOU with a frivolous million dollar lawsuit and see how you’d react.

    Because of the lawsuit threat, Pizza Hut had to fire him. I’m still boycotting them, because they could have found a way to take care of the fellow anyway. The lawsuits force the firing, not the need to f’ the young man over.

    The deliveryman defended himself, and he is alive. Hurrah for him! Pizza Hut: blech. They can go bake themselves. But until lawsuit abuse is reined in, we are ALL at risk.

  43. Kristopher Says:

    Hey … the worst thing they could have done to him would have been to let him keep his job.

    At least this way, he can do something with his life other than being a pizza-boi.

  44. The Ace Says:

    The pizza companies are merely doing what the society wants, as expressed by the liability law.

    You must be joking. That’s like saying the top income tax reate is “merely doing what society wants”

  45. The Ace Says:

    One word: safety. Most retail stores have a no confrontation policy about robbers. Allowing employees to confront usually results in dire consequences — for the employee. The chances the gun will be turned on the employee is far greater.

    Who thinks it’s worth it to lose a life over a pizza and $20 in change?

    Hilarious.

    Um, how then do you explain this?

    Members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly conducting an investigation into the July 6, 1997, murders of three Starbucks Coffee Company employees at the Starbucks store located at 1810 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. The three murders occurred during an apparent robbery attempt after the store was closed.

    That is in an “upscale” section of DC.

    People like you simply don’t live in reality.

  46. chris Says:

    i know this much, every single time i got into a somewhat hairy situation while delivering, i could see it comming a mile away… generally something just wasnt right… people looking at you funny, a light burned out in a hallway, a car parked the wrong way… i personally only had two problems in the 6+ years that i delivered… one was when a 13 year old girl fired a hunting slingshot at my car… she was later arrested and charged with a felony… and the other time was when 2 gang bangers approached me in a hotel parking lot at about 2:45am… all it took was for me to draw and rack the slide on my .380 for them to decide that i wasnt worth the trouble…

    that said, i know many guys that were robbed, beaten, had their wallets and cars stolen etc… the worst part about getting robbed is not loosing the pizza and the $$… but it is knowing that the robbers now have your ID and your address… and if they were willing to rob you in public, what might they be willing to do if they come visit your house?

  47. snowed in Says:

    Yet another reason for me to continue patronizing Papa Murphy’s for some great take-and-bake pizza.

    And converting a Winchells into a Pizza Hut is a major step down in quality.

  48. Ex Gun Nut Says:

    I’ve delivered pizzas for the dominant chain, and frankly I was more afraid of my co-workers than any goblin. Several drivers were drunk or stoned on duty, had extremely bad tempers, barely literate, often ex-cons, etc. Most of the other drivers carried some kind of weapon since we delivered in very bad parts of town. The inevitable result was lots of fights amongst the employees, not to mention altercations with customers.
    When I managed the store briefly before returning to professional employment, I inspected each driver’s car every night. Those that had weapons went home and were off schedule for two weeks. I also called the spouses/parents/probation officers and explained things to them.
    Pizza Hut was absolutely correct in firing the driver, but they should have done it immediately, and pushed for prosecution of the driver for murder. The self defense claim is frankly BULLSHIT! Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

  49. SayUncle Says:

    Pizza Hut was absolutely correct in firing the driver, but they should have done it immediately, and pushed for prosecution of the driver for murder.

    Are you retarded?

    The self defense claim is frankly BULLSHIT!

    The police disagree. And they have not charged him.

    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

    I guess you are retarded.

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