Tony Rohr has been reinstated :)

[Swede Atlanta]

31. I don't disagree that there are "essential" functions that must continue even on a holiday....

I worked for an airline for a number of years and my function where at the reservation desk or at the airport were essential because we needed to serve passengers traveling on the holiday or beyond. My father worked for an oil company his entire career and whether he was in drilling or production he often worked holidays because you can't stop pumping and producing oil or stop a drilling rig in the middle of a well simply because it is a holiday. Hospitals, fire and police departments, etc. are essential. The need for those services doesn't go away simply because we have decided to make a day on the calendar a holiday.

But I would argue a pizza restaurant, a Wal-Mart and even a grocery store, are not essential services to be open on a holidays. What's the worst that can happen if your turkey burns up? You make P&B sandwiches, not order delivery pizza. What happens if you forgot to buy whipping cream for the pumpkin pie? You eat it without whipped cream and kick yourself in the butt for not making your list. What happens if Wal-Mart doesn't open until 0600 on Friday? You can't jostle and fight your way in to buy foreign-made crap until Friday morning. The world is not going to come to an end except for the owners of Wal-Mart who are already so filthy rich they have more personal wealth than most of the nations in the world.

I hope this young man has seen the handwriting on the wall and will start pursuing something else. The franchise may have brought him back but it is only to smooth over his relations with Pizza Hut and the public image but they will find a reason to fire this man soon, very soon. He is an "at will" employee and can be let go for largely any reason except for things like race and religion. They will either contrive a reason to fire him or will just wait until the smoke clears and then fire again.