We may not all work in a Subway restaurant. Not all of us may have gotten our first job in some sort of fast food place or grocery store – two common jobs for high school students. However, one female worker at Subway just quit her job because of something her manager told her.
It was a typical hot day in Arizona, about 115 degrees outside. A man walked in to get a sandwich. He was homeless, but he had enough money to get a sandwich this hot day. After confirming that his sandwich wouldn’t cost more than $10, he walked to the register.
He searched frantically for his money. After a few minutes, he began to walk out because he couldn’t find his money. The look of shame on his face was so moving to this one worker that she called him back in. When he returned, she offered to pay the full price of his meal despite the employee discounts she might have been getting.
She did just that. After swiping her credit card and paying for this man’s meal, the man thanked her multiple times. The next customer came to the register and commented that the action she had just done was so nice to do.
At the end of the workday, she had cleaning duty in the back. Her manager found her and began to yell at her. The thing that made her most upset was that she was told to specifically tell anyone who was unable to pay for their meal to leave. That they wouldn’t get their meal.
She wouldn’t stand for it. Her response to her manager’s critique wasn’t to step down and stop. Instead, she decided to tell the manager that she was going to let the man starve. She stated the temperature and that she thought that he was dehydrated, exhausted, and starving.
The manager left her alone, and left her baffled. Why would she get in trouble for helping someone who so clearly needed the help? She reflected about what she was always being told while working at Subway – that she needed to make the customer happy. After all, Subway is known for letting the customers customize their subs to the way they like them. She decided that, to Subway, the homeless and those that couldn’t pay were not people.
But they are people to her. A week after this incident, she quit her job at Subway.
This girl deserves to be cheered for her actions, not yelled at and in trouble. In a world with so many who are willing to let those who cannot pay for what they need starve, freeze, and overheat in the extreme weathers this day and age brings, a kind soul like her can be difficult to find in fast food establishments – especially if the store is full of teenagers who probably would rather be anywhere else. The man was touched by her kindness, and probably wouldn’t have had the meal if she had not offered to pay.
Something must be done. She paid that man’s price – in full. No discounts. At all. She gave up her money – which no one else has the right to tell her how to spend. She could have just as easily moved onto the next customer and let that man walk out without getting food, without the nutrition and water he needed. What matters is that she didn’t act like that.
She didn’t act like that. Even the woman that was next in line recognized how kind she was. Isn’t it good enough that she decided to be selfless instead of selfish?
