Surveillance video shows a man run into the restaurant with a beanie over his face while waving a gun. He forced all employees to the floor, then turned his attention to (Marissa) Holcomb. "By the back of my shirt, he pulled me up and he pushed me to the front," she said. "He told me to give him everything out of my safe." But the only thing she could open were the registers.The robber ended up getting away with nearly $400 in cash.
Later, she was given an ultimatum: Repay the stolen money or get fired. She got fired. They said that it was because she kept too much cash in her registers, which was easy to do mid-shift on a busy day.
The story went viral and now Popeyes is realizing that they probably handled this situation badly:
(Z & H Foods owner Amin) Dhanani refused to talk on camera Wednesday, but his company released a statement that reads: "We deeply regret the way this matter was handled. We are committed to continuing to work with Ms. Holcomb, and we apologize to her, our employees, the public and other franchise operators of the Popeyes system. We have let them down and are committed to do better."Holcomb has been offered her old job back, plus $2,000 in back pay. Not surprisingly, she is hesitant to return to the job that screwed her over so royally.
We also contacted the Popeyes corporate office in Georgia. They initially referred us back to the local franchisee, but the CEO Cheryl Bachelder released the following statement Wednesday evening. "We recently became aware of a story in Houston involving a Popeyes restaurant and employee. The restaurant is operated by an independent franchisee of the Popeyes brand. We have spoken to the local franchise owner of the restaurant, and he has taken immediate action to reach out to the employee to apologize and rectify the situation. While the facts are gathered, we will closely monitor this until it is appropriately resolved. We deeply regret the distress this situation has caused."