Restaurant Workers Who Mocked Police Officer Pay the Price

Restaurant Workers Who Mocked Police Officer Pay the Price

Every now and then, a story pops up of a restaurant employee refusing service to police officers, spitting in their food or drinks, or writing them rude notes on their receipts. These stories never end well, yet people apparently never learn. And when one employee insulted a Virginia police officer, she learned firsthand why that always backfires.

A uniformed Alexandria police officer had stopped into Noodles & Company to get some food and was quickly spotted by one of the cooks. The employee came out of the kitchen and walked up to the cashier, saying, “You better pull me off the line, because I’m not serving that,” gesturing towards the officer. The cashier and the cook both laughed, so the officer left — and told her police chief what had happened. And he didn’t keep quiet.

Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook slammed the restaurant for what the employees did and took it up with management. “Well, your first response as a police officer is anger,” Cook said of the incident. “These are very difficult times right now with our relations with everyone, and to have one of my officers treated in that manner unnecessarily — your first response is anger, then you calm down a bit.”

Management promised Cook that they would investigate and sure enough, the incident happened as the officer described it. They then released a statement.

“Noodles & Company expects the highest ethical and personal behavior from its team members,” the statement read. “We value each of our guests and are committed to treating every one with dignity and respect. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination. We are working with the appropriate authorities and local police association representatives to get to the bottom of, and resolve this matter as quickly as possible. We have made efforts to reach out to the police officer involved, but have not yet spoken with her. We will continue to look into the situation and will take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of this review.”

The employees involved were then fired.

Pete Feltham, of the Alexandria Police Union, said that the restaurant would be placing signs on the doors to show their support for police in the future.

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