SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Applebee’s has confirmed that an employee at a Missouri-based franchisee has been fired after he sent an email speculating that high gas prices and the end of pandemic stimulus funds were causing the Force employees to work longer hours for lower wages.
“This is an individual’s opinion, not Applebee’s,” Applebee’s chief operations officer Kevin Carrol said in a statement, adding that the franchisee had terminated the middle employee. The clerk did not work directly for Applebee’s.
Trouble arose after someone shared the email with Jake Holcomb, the manager of an Applebee’s restaurant in Lawrence, Kansas, last month. He quit shortly after reading the email, which said, “As inflation continues to rise and gas prices continue to rise, it means employees will have to work longer hours to maintain their current standard of living.”
Holcomb said he printed a few dozen copies and left them where servers could find them, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
“Then I gave everyone in the restaurant their food for free and we just left; we didn’t even close up shop,” he said, adding that he also shared the email with a friend, who posted a screenshot on Reddit on March 21.
The next day the restaurant remained closed and the email spread across the internet.
For copyright information, contact the distributor of this article, Springfield News-Leader.
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