boycott autozone!

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/autozone-fires-worker-who-stopped-robbery.html

Wow. I am not surprised, but very disappointed after reading that article.

I feel bad for the current employees and how they all are now targets for the bad guys.

Unreal

Sorry, but I have to take a contrarian view here.

Tactically, the AutoZone worker (Devin McLean) made a monumentally stupid mistake by escaping and then returning to the scene with a weapon. He easily could of escalated the situation and gotten both himself and his manager killed.

Let’s look at the situation and assume Fox has the facts correct. Which, BTW, is a huge assumption, but we’ll go with it.

Devin McLean is off in a bathroom where he has a clear path to make an escape unharmed. The manager is opening the safe. At this point, the most likely course of action is the robber is going to take the money and run. Nobody gets hurt.

So instead of calling the police and using the time that it’s going to take for the manager to open the safe to let the police respond and get in position, McLean blundered back into the fight and therefore allowed the robber to escape because nobody knew the robbery was in progress. Fail!

Sorry, but I don’t blame AutoZone for firing him. He made just about every mistake it would have been possible to make in that situation short of actually opening fire. And what did he accomplish? Allowing the robber to get away, which is what was going to happen anyway.

The best course of action would have been to call the police and get them en route. By staying in communication, he would have given the police live intel on the situation, which is ALWAYS the most valuable. Other possible options would have included taking his vehicle and using it to block the robber’s escape. Going back into the store was the worst possible option and he’s lucky he didn’t get a whole bunch of people killed.

Grouse

I agree that he could of handled the situation a lot better but if the same thing happened to someone you held as a close friend would you let them fend for themselves in there with a armed intruder.

To me its normal human compassion to help others out. If i had been in the store with a concealed weapon and i had the chance to help or run i would do what i thought i could with out getting myself or others injured.

I dont believe that firing the guy was the correct move nor do i believe he should be made a hero for his actions.

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The manager is opening the safe. At this point, the most likely course of action is the robber is going to take the money and run. Nobody gets hurt.

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WOW. Are you for real? Tell that to the family of the May’s Photo robbery and murder of the father and son in LaCrosse this fall. That kid opened the safe and then was shot in the head and killed. You go run like a cowered and show your true colors. That guy did a very commendable thing. Thats what a true friend would do. Auto Zone can kiss my I will never shop there again.

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To me its normal human compassion to help others out.

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Totally agree, but the key is to do the things that are most likely to help someone out AND that are LEAST likely to make the situation worse and get somebody hurt or killed. He was lucky that in this case the worst that happened is that he let the perp get away.

Grouse