Employee claims he was fired after leaving post to put out customer’s car fire
People are not pleased with grocery store giant Meijer this week. Why? UpNorthLive.com reports that their Gaylord, Michigan location let go of one of its employees after he helped Ken Kuzon, a store customer, put out a fire in the store’s parking lot because he left his post.
David Bowers, who had been a store greeter, told WPBN NBC News, via UpNorthLive.com, “When [Kuzon] came in and said his dashboard was on fire, I grabbed the fire extinguisher and I followed him outside and sure enough his dashboard was on fire.”
He was able to put out the fire, but after doing so, was called into the store director’s office where he was suspended. Bowers told WPBN, “The one supervisor there told me that my heart was in the right place, but my brain was not.” It was only a few days later that the store fired him. Again, this is after he helped put out a customer’s car fire, a car fire blazing in the store’s parking lot.
Meijer, in a statement to MLive.com , wrote:
"Please be assured that this was not a random decision. We have well-established safety procedures for emergency situations and we train all team members on those procedures. These procedures help ensure the safety of everyone – both customers and team members, and our team members know there are consequences when they don’t follow them. In this particular case, we feel we have to respect the privacy of the team member and therefore cannot get into the details which led us to this point.”
As for Kuzon, the man whose car caught on fire, he’s praising Bowers for his help and is not happy with the grocery store over what they did, telling UpNorthLive.com, “I just think it's ridiculous…why should you be penalized for being a good Samaritan?”
Now is the time to become clear: Bowers doesn’t have a spotless record with Meijer. He was previously suspended for the dastardly deed of…chasing after a shoplifter. How dare he. Mr. Bowers is understandably upset that he was let go from his job, telling WPBN, “I thought that’s what we were supposed to do. You know, you have somebody that’s in need, don’t you help them? But, I guess not.”
So, to the businesses of Otsego County in Michigan, there’s a guy named David Bowers who could use a job. He helps customers put out fires in their cars and doesn’t like it when people try to shoplift from his store. Maybe give him a shout.
More info: UpNorthLive.com, MLive.com
