I don’t care what their policy is-they can do whatever they like-I’m pointing out that it was a mistake to think it would not play badly with so many-most of us certainly relate more to a person fired for giving muffins to a homeless person than some chain restaurant with a cutesy name that has awful PR and mediocre food. That is not a good thing for a business that probably wants customers to keep coming there.
They probably didn’t expect it to “play” at all. People get fired every day, with food services turn this restaurant probably fires somebody every couple of weeks. Most of them don’t become news stories. Now they’re in a bad position, firing the guy was the right move, he broke hard and fast rules, apparently multiple times, but the whiners are whining, so they’ll probably throw a bunch of money at some charity to get a bit of good press before the crowds move on to something else the way they always do.