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Detroit firefighter fired for bringing watermelon to station
Fox 2 detroit ^

Posted on 10/07/2017 2:14:34 PM PDT by TigerClaws

DETROIT (WJBK) - Fired before he officially started.

Last Monday, 41-year-old Robert Pattison went to introduce himself to his fellow firefighters at Engine 55 at Joy and Southfield in Detroit.

Second Battallion Chief Shawn McCarty calls it a tradition for firefighters.

by Taboola Sponsored Links Ad Content U.S. Trust: The Growth of Wind Power & Its Economic Affects From U.S. Trust The States Most Affected by Rising Sea Levels Zillow "It's not mandatory, it's voluntary," he said. "You come in bearing gifts. The usual gift is doughnuts but you are allowed to bring whatever you want to bring in."

photo And Pattison, a probationary firefighter, decided to bring a watermelon wrapped in a pink ribbon.

We're told some African-American firefighters were instantly offended since 90 percent of the people who work at Engine 55 are black.

"When you get your first detail at a firehouse you pretty much know what you are getting yourself into," said Patrick Trout. "So you would have to say it was probably a bad call."

FOX 2: "Is it racially insensitive to bring a watermelon into a fire house?"

"To some people," McCarty said.

FOX 2 spoke to Pattison by phone who claims it was not a joke - and he did not mean to offend his fellow firefighters. But he clearly did.

Fire Commissioner Eric Jones says the Fenton native was officially discharged.

In a statement Jones says: "There is zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior inside the Detroit Fire Department. On Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, at Engine 55, a trial firefighter (probationary employee) engaged in unsatisfactory work behavior which was deemed offensive and racially insensitive to members of the Detroit Fire Department.

"After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the best course of action was to terminate the employment of this probationary employee."

In a world where racial tensions run high, some tell me the trial firefighter should have known better. Trout doesn't know if he meant anything by it - but feels it was a bad choice.

"For sure by far it was,"

The question is did DFD take it too far?

FOX 2: "Should he have lost his job over a watermelon?"

"I don't think so," McCarty said. "Between what he did and what was there are a few things that could have been done."


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: detroit; foodnazis; michigan
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To: Islander2
I had a black woman of Face Book refuse to read an article because of the words “tribe” and “village”. She nearly worded herself up into a rage.

Things are getting serious. I'm glad the demographics of my city is about 95% white.

121 posted on 10/07/2017 5:06:50 PM PDT by muggs
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To: workerbee

Send the white guys in first......There’s watermelons in the house...The new 911 call from white people when their house is on fire......


122 posted on 10/07/2017 5:14:05 PM PDT by Hambone 1934
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To: TigerClaws

Watermelon contains L-citrulline an erection booster—supposedly.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/watermelon-as-treatment-for-erectile-dysfunction/


123 posted on 10/07/2017 5:15:15 PM PDT by tflabo
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To: TigerClaws

Firefighter TRAGIC JOHNSON.....Affirmative action hire STANDS BY THE FIRE TRUCK,when they are on call...JUST STANDS THERE AND GETS PAID FOR IT....


124 posted on 10/07/2017 5:17:45 PM PDT by Hambone 1934
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To: TigerClaws

Politically incorrect fruit. Be careful what you say, what you wear, what you do, and now what you eat. The list of taboos gets longer and longer, lest someone is offended.


125 posted on 10/07/2017 5:24:25 PM PDT by Spok
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To: ozaukeemom

Only if they were NOT from Dunkin Donuts...


126 posted on 10/07/2017 5:25:42 PM PDT by ConservaTeen (Islam is Not the Religion of Peace, but The religion of Pedophilia...)
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To: BOOHA
Exactly how Gary Larson would write it in a Far Side!

That comment made me so happy.

Love Gary Larson.

Boneless Chicken Ranch anyone?

127 posted on 10/07/2017 5:45:15 PM PDT by Bodleian_Girl (Click on my profile page to find out why Alabama rejects Luther Strange!)
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To: Big Red Badger
...then
It was KFC and All Hell broke Loose!

That cracked me up.

128 posted on 10/07/2017 5:46:51 PM PDT by Bodleian_Girl (Click on my profile page to find out why Alabama rejects Luther Strange!)
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To: fr_freak

I’m flashing back to Steve Martin in The Jerk.


129 posted on 10/07/2017 5:47:24 PM PDT by Bodleian_Girl (Click on my profile page to find out why Alabama rejects Luther Strange!)
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To: EDINVA

If I were him, I’d take the training and seek greener pastures.


130 posted on 10/07/2017 5:47:48 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Bodleian_Girl

Watermelon is going the way of mud flaps on Cadillacs.


131 posted on 10/07/2017 5:48:20 PM PDT by kjam22 (America need forgiveness from God)
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To: TigerClaws

Triggering food items: Collard greens, fat-back, mac and cheese, fried chicken , etc, etc. BTW this white boy was raised on all of the above, and watermelon from the Central Valley.


132 posted on 10/07/2017 5:52:00 PM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
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To: M-cubed

What about cornbread?


133 posted on 10/07/2017 5:53:58 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (Lock her up!)
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To: Rastus

When I worked at McD’s many decades ago, when the blacks came in they virtually always ordered either orange drink or strawberry milkshakes and either fish sandwiches or cheeseburgers.

If we were low on those we’d start a fresh batch when a carful of blacks pulled in the lot.


134 posted on 10/07/2017 5:54:13 PM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: Pollster1

Government employees are the most petty vindictive assholes I’ve ever worked with


135 posted on 10/07/2017 5:58:04 PM PDT by Mr. K (***THERE IS NO CONSEQUENCE OF REPEALING OBAMACARE THAT IS WORSE THAN OBAMACARE ITSELF***)
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To: metmom

Now, that’s funny. “Get the Filet o Fishes ready! Here comes a carload!”


136 posted on 10/07/2017 5:58:30 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: TigerClaws

None of the whiny ass bitches should ever show up with fried chicken, greens or watermelon ever again. That would pretty much cancel our Friday lunch where I work. Unreal.


137 posted on 10/07/2017 5:59:25 PM PDT by Mathews (Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV), Luke 22:36 (NIV))
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To: TigerClaws

He should have told them it was a Chicago ham.


138 posted on 10/07/2017 6:07:28 PM PDT by bushpilot2
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To: TigerClaws

Bookmark


139 posted on 10/07/2017 6:16:56 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: M-cubed

shudda brought mac and cheese, a white folks (WASP) staple.


140 posted on 10/07/2017 6:18:20 PM PDT by Surrounded_too
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