A pizza place in San Francisco fired an employee after he denied service to several city police officers over the politically-charged weekend against the backdrop of the killing of Tyre Nicholas, who was savagely beaten by Memphis police on January 7.
Pizza Squared, the Detroit-style pizza parlor, apologized to the San Francisco Police Officers Association which characterized the employee's statement as "shameful" and "hateful". The restaurant tweeted that the employee was a trainee and on his third day.
"When our shift manager told us about the incident after it happened, we expressly told him we didn't share his views and that he was out of line. He was fired at the end of the day. When we notified by SFPOA, we apologized."
Backlash from the Public
But the firing of the employee has drawn criticism from the public. A user tweeted "one star review for cowardice. How's that!" Another user expressed outrage. "You threw an employee under the bus to appease snowflake cops? That looks great to your employees/applicants that you're willing to throw them under the bus. Are you going to complain about how nobody wants to work anymore when you throw the rest of the employees under the bus?"
Kelly Ellis expressed disappointment. "I love pizza but not if it's made by bootlickers."
Douglas Carranxsa, manager at the Brannan Street pizza joint Pizza Squared, said the employee was terminated right after owner Christina Siu learned about the incident. He said the cashier had been hired only a few days prior and added that neither he nor the owner of Pizza Squared would ban police officers. "We try our best to provide good customer service, and it's just so sad when stuff like this happens."
The shift manager was also fired.
Tracy McCray, SFPOA president, said their police officers are frequent patrons of the restaurant. "Our officers were surprised and dismayed by this bigotry. The SFPOA notified the owners of the restaurant of the shameful and hateful actions of one of their employees." McCray said the SFPOA appreciated the sincere apology and the owners' willingness to make an unfortunate situation right.
