After suspending butcher who defended pregnant woman, Safeway faces public wrath

Santa Cruz Sentinel ^ | 05/16/2012 | KATE MOSER

[artichokegrower]

When Ryan Young, a butcher at the Del Rey Oaks Safeway, stopped a customer from hitting his pregnant girlfriend in the store last month, he won praise from the police department.

But Safeway slapped Young with a suspension — without pay — while the company investigates the altercation.

The story, which appeared Tuesday on KION, has spurred a public relations headache for the supermarket chain. Its Facebook page was peppered with outraged comments.

"Safeway is taking this matter seriously," Safeway spokeswoman Wendy Gutshall said in a statement. "We have store security video of the incident and have been engaged in a careful and thoughtful forensic review of what transpired."

[artichokegrower]

This is a follow up to a story posted yesterday. Thanks to all of you who contacted Safeway

[arrogantsob]

Further proof that no good deed goes unpunished.

[Tucker39]

Safeway Corporate Headquarters is in Pleasanton, CA. Just knowing it’s a California corporation raises a question mark in my mind as to the sanity of top management....right or wrong, that’s how I feel.

[CrazyIvan]

This SOB should be damn glad that the butcher left his tools
of the trade behind the counter.

[healy61]

Safeway doesn’t know if they should s*** or go blind. They are not trying to do the right thing. They are trying to work this into a sales campaign. Fat chance that.

[One Name]

I thought that Safeway was owned by Mormons...

[lewislynn]

I thought that Safeway was owned by Mormons...

Yea, or maybe even JOOOOS.

[lmr]

I’m going to be a skeptic here. There are 2 sides to every story. Why was his girlfriend in the store? Was she visiting him or shopping or both? It is a rarity that my wife would come in to my workplace, and in many jobs I’ve had it was against the rules. Something here doesn’t add up, and I’m one to think that it takes two to tango. What did the Butcher or his wife say or do to provoke the customer? If there was some unprofessional behavior that may have led to this incident then maybe suspending the worker pending an investigation isn’t such a bad idea. We don’t have all the facts we just have a sensational one-sided report.

[One Name]

According to WIKI; they don’t and haven’t. I heard it first back in the 70’s, what with the years’ worth of food storage and all.

So be it.

I’m not an enemy of the Jews; are you?

[lmr]

I’m not an enemy of the Jews; are you?

I think he was being sarcastic.

[artichokegrower]

Why are you so ignorant? It was not the butcher’s girlfriend getting attacked. It was a customer beating up the customer’s girlfriend. Read the story before commenting.

[One Name]

Could be- but the Safeway thing has been around long before the internet.

[Bob]

The article was poorly written. The woman being hit was not the butcher's girlfriend. She was a customer's girlfriend.

Langford said the store's security tapes matched Young's statement and witnesses' accounts of how the man and his pregnant girlfriend got into a physical fight near the meat counter.

[lmr]

Why are you so ignorant?

You don't have to engage in ad-hominem insults, it just confirms that you are uncivil and unintelligent.

My questions are fair. What was she doing there and what led to the altercation between her and the customer? Was the employee involved in this? We don't have all the facts. We just have one side to this story. I happen to think that Safeway is right to want to investigate this before they pick a side here. Do you understand that if they don't handle this properly they could be sued by the customer? That is the society that we live in, unfortunately. I will not apologize for being rational.

[artichokegrower]

It was the customer’s girlfriend. She came with the customer. The employee worked in the store. Two sides to a man stepping in to prevent another man from giving a woman a beat down? You live in a different world than me.

[BooBoo1000]

Just like my High School Sweet Heart always told me, there is no safe way...

[lmr]

The woman being hit was not the butcher's girlfriend. She was a customer's girlfriend.

Yes, I see that now. This type of thing would make you not want to be a samaritan for sure, Safeway is probably wrong to suspend him without pay but having him report to work might be inviting further confrontation. What would happen if this guy and a few of his buddies came back to get 'revenge?' What if they waited till the Butcher got out to the parking lot? All I was saying is that, in any event, the store is in a difficult situation because of possible legal trouble and fear of reprisals.

[vette6387]

“I thought that Safeway was owned by Mormons...”

And just how does that play into this issue? Really! For what it’s worth, the Mormons owned Alpha-Beta at one time. Actually, perhaps you have misspelled the word, because from my perspective, Safeway is RUN by MORONS!

[lmr]

You live in a different world than me.

I am not condoning a guy beating up his girlfriend. Pay attention to what I said in my posts. It's not a black and white situation. There is plenty of gray area and I don't blame the store for treading carefully.

[vette6387]

“There are 2 sides to every story”

You might want to re-read the article. The butcher came between a male customer and his pregnant girlfriend. His wife was not involved, but she too is pregnant, and thanks to the a$$holes at Safeway, the two of them don’t have a paycheck!