Restaurant Stands Up for Employee with Autism, “Fires” Customer Instead

In many cases, when a customer complains against an employee, the latter receives a warning letter, is reprimanded, or might even lose the job – but, of course, this would depend on the situation and various factors. Moreover, the employer does not fire the employee without due process.

But there’s a restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska, which had gone viral after it “fired” a customer for ranting and cursing an employee with autism.

According to a post on the Little Italy Restaurant on Facebook, one of their customers was angry because of a mistake in his delivery order. The restaurant would have taken the incident in stride and change the order or offer something to pacify the customer but the guy was too angry with the delivery driver in question, accusing the latter of being on drugs when he brought the wrong food.

Moreover, the customer not only accused the delivery guy of using drugs, he also allegedly used foul language and called him names.

This employee actually has autism and a speech impediment; he has also been with the restaurant for two years. He is also a student at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and is described by the restaurant owners as “a hard worker, extremely funny, and observant.”

It was the owner’s daughter, Emily, who fielded the call. She tried explaining to the customer that the delivery driver was not on drugs but actually had a speech problem but he wouldn’t listen. He continued angrily ranting about the driver and calling him names.

Emily told her mom, P.J. Gialopsos about the customer’s tirade; she also told news reporters, “So (the driver) is a little awkward socially — gee whiz — that doesn’t give you a right to call him a foul name and make his day miserable.”

In response to the incident, Gialopsos chose to “fire” the customer instead of his loyal employee. All the employees of Little Italy Restaurant were instructed not to accept calls from the customer’s number, accept any reservations from him, or deliver him pizza (or any other food for that matter).

The internet appears to enjoy the fact that the restaurant “fired” the rude customer…