Jun 20, 2009 12:22
As many of you know, I worked at Hungry Howie's pizza since May of 2008. I worked there and did a great job and was promoted to assistant manager in August of 2008. I worked there full time through the fall, and continued to work there this past spring part time through school and then into the Summer. Neither me nor my fellow employees were ever paid enough for the jobs we had to do, and often we saw our hours get cut to keep the labor cost down because I guess its expensive to keep two Hungry Howie's open. Luckily as a manager I continued to get pretty good hours there so whatever. I could have complained but at least I had a job. Then something really fucked up happened on the night of June 18th, 2009.
It was around 10:40 or so and we were getting ready to close. One of my co-workers was at the back washing dishes while another co-worker and myself were cleaning the bathroom. As we open the door to go back to the kitchen/behind the counter area. We are met face to face with a man with a gun and something covering his face. He tells us to get the fuck back there. He then tells me to open the register and give him the money. I of course complied. I told him I had to hit a button to open the register and was that okay. He said to do it. I attempted to hit the silent alarm but I honestly don't think I did it right. He didn't notice and I opened the register and threw all the money on the floor. Once he picked that up he told me to open the safe. I told him there probably wasn't anything in there but I would check. I opened the safe and there was nothing in there. I honestly thought he might kill me when he saw that. Luckily he didn't. He told me to lay on the floor and then he and his companion who had been holding my co-worker down left. It was over quickly and luckily none of us was physically hurt.
When one of my bosses, co-owner of the store shows up, she almost immediately begins scolding me and the other two drivers, saying that we have "safety measures" in place that were not followed. Those being keeping the back door closed and locked at all times, turning the outside lights on, and making drops from the cash drawer to the safe. The guys that held us up came through the back door because it was not completely closed, this is true. Yes I had forgotten to turn the outside lights on, and no I had not done a single drop to the safe that night. This is true and I was the one in charge.
The next day, yesterday, I get fired because of this. Let me explain why that is total bullshit. First of all, it is the responsibility of the last person through the back door to make sure it is closed and locked. I had not gone through that door all night. I do not know of a single manager at Hungry Howie's that periodically goes back to make sure the back door is closed and locked. Additionally, I believe the reason the door was not closed is because the fucking idiot owner of the place decided to hang a light inb front of the building and run the cord for it over the roof and through the back door to be plugged in. Not only is this a violation of fire safety code, especially a metal door, but a power cord through a doorway makes it very difficult to close, and often even when one thinks the door is closed it isn't fully.
I have this to say on the subject of the outside lights. While I admit I should have turned them on, it is easy to forget and literally every manager has forgotten this at some point. I also fully believe that even if the outside lights were on, that doesn't mean we wouldn't have been robbed. The police told us the same people had robbed a bunch of places recently. I'm sure at least one of these places had their exterior lights on.
On the subject of the cash drops I will say this. I did not do any drops all night this is true. However, there was only about three hundred and twenty dollars in it, hardly enough for a significant cash drop. Additionally, even if I had made a drop to the safe it makes no difference, because the man with a gun made me open the safe anyways. Also why the fuck did the co-owner decide to scold me about three hundred dollars she lost that night when I literally less than an hour prior had a gun pointed at me.
So we see here that I did everything correctly to make sure me and my co-workers did not get hurt or shot to death by intruders. I was so relieved to be alive and unhurt and my reward is getting fired for not doing three things I should have done. However none of these things would have prevented us from getting robbed anyways.
I encourage all of you to please stop ordering from Hungry howie's pizza on friendly or high point road. THe owners of these places are soulless people with no compassion and know nothing but greed. If you're dying for some Hungry Howie's I suggest ordering from the one on Church Street who is actually a direct competitor and has a separate owner. I Hope at least some of you read all this. Also please spread the word and feel free to tell any and everyone you know about it. You could even copy and paste it somewhere else. Thank you for reading.
-Jack Dougherty