Okay Geek Farm
Stop a Shoplifter - Get Fired from Sprint
Brandon Davenport
Ok, two employees are on their way back to the Sprint store - when they see an over-the-hill security guard charging after a thief. They whip their heads around and see that he’s crying out for help, and is no longer able to keep up with the crook. Naturally, testosterone kicks in and they start legging it after the thief. They run at full sprint (pun) when they grab the thief by the scruff of his neck, and hold him down until mall security and police arrive. Yay, they’re heroes… or are they?
Let’s back up for one sec.
Mike McGee and Paul Shoemaker were veteran Sprint employees, having worked for the company for four years and six years, and both of them were in good status. Mike works also as a security guard at Lodo’s Bar and Grill, while Paul serves as a volunteer firefighter in the Denver metro area. They sound like two of the most trustworthy, and badass Sprint employees that ever walked the earth, but the big guys upstairs didn’t like what they did.
Mike McGee and Paul ShoemakerShoemaker and McGee filled out a mound of paperwork for the mall and the police, accepted sincere congratulations for their quick thinking, and then returned to the Sprint store.
Before long, they were celebrities at the mall, and people were noticing them left and right. A woman at the Apple store was very thankful and said that “We’ve been sending you business over the last week,” because Sprint sells a drive that works really well with the iPad. Appreciation was endlessly received from other employees and the random passer-byer in the mall’s busy corridors.
All was great until last Thursday, when they recieved some odd emails asking about more details on the incedent, and for the very first time Paul and Mike found out that Sprint had a policy stating that employees shouldn’t confront thieves.
The next day, Paul and Mike were called into separate meetings, and they were bluntly told that their Sprint days were over. They were fired. “They didn’t really tell us anything,” Paul says. “They didn’t let us know where they were coming from. They just said, ‘We looked into it further, and you’re fired.’ They labeled it a form of misconduct.”
Now I can see where the company is coming from, but the employees weren’t confronting shoplifters in the Sprint store. This is another fine example of when doing things “by the book” and “politically correct” gets way out of hand. There needs to be exceptions made because these aren’t two employees you come across every day; employees who also work as a fireman and a security guard, and have the balls to take down a public threat by themselves. They should be your employees of the month… forever!
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if from all the ones who congratulated them earlier on offered them jobs elsewhere. Best of luck to you, Paul and Mike.
