Walmart and several other big-name stores have made quite a disturbance this year with people who disagree with merchants remaining open on Thanksgiving day, and now Pizza Hut is getting in on the action.
A former manager at the pizza chain says he was fired for refusing to make his employees work on the holiday, a decision the franchise’s director of operations says came down from corporate.
“I said, ‘Why can’t we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees and they can have the day off?'” Tony Rohr explained. “Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days that they’re closed in the whole year and they’re the only two days that those people are guaranteed to have off and spend it with their families.”
Rohr, who has been with the company in Elkhart, Indiana for ten years in various positions, said he was given an ultimatum: open on Thanksgiving or sign a resignation letter.
“I am not quitting. I do not resign, however I accept that the refusal to comply with this greedy, immoral request means the end of my tenure with this company. I hope you realize that it’s the people at the bottom of the totem pole that make your life possible,” he wrote in a letter to his boss.
A director of operations for several Pizza Hut stores throughout Indiana told WSBT that Rohr wasn’t fired, but rather quit.
While it’s unclear how most Americans feel about eating out during a holiday, a new Consumer Report study says that 56% of them won’t be shopping on Black Friday this year, which spells trouble for businesses who count on the major deals to draw in huge crowds. Instead, many people will be relying on Cyber Monday sales, which they can shop from the comfort of their own homes.
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