By Police1 Staff
TORRANCE, Calif. — A pizzeria employee has been fired after handing a uniformed officer a receipt with an anti-police message printed on it.
The officer went to pick up lunch Thursday from Pieology, The Daily Breeze reported. After paying, the cashier handed him a receipt that had “F*** the cops” printed on it.
Sgt. Ronald Harris said that the officer didn’t bring it up and actually left a tip for the employee.
“He watched her very closely when they packaged his pizza because he wanted to make sure it wasn’t altered,” Harris said. “He was empathetic. He wanted to know “what happened to you to make you do something like this?’”
Later in the day, the officer showed the receipt to other officers. One of the officers’ wives posted a photo on social media to show the “unprovoked hatred that my husband and his partners deal with everyday.”
https://www.facebook.com/AnotherTimeAroundTLH/posts/1916075645088447
“This is not the type of business that I want to see in the city where I live,” she wrote. “My husband’s partner was just trying to get a quick bite to eat in the middle of a busy shift and this is what he received. Needless to say, we will never eat at Pieology ever again. I hope you all will help support our police and share this both near and far. It is NOT ok to treat our officers like this.”
On Monday, Pieology spokeswoman Vanessa Legutko said in a statement that the company is “extremely disappointed in the actions of the employee and apologize on behalf of the entire Pieology family.”
“The actions of this employee do not in any way reflect the thoughts of Pieology, and we are taking swift and serious action to rectify the situation, including terminating the offending employee,” the statement said. “We have the utmost respect and gratitude for the men and women who keep our communities safe, and have no tolerance for hateful language or actions. This location in Torrance is a heartfelt supporter of all men and women in uniform, especially the brave first responders, and shows its support with a discount for all uniformed police, firefighters and military members.”
Harris told The Daily Breeze that the officer has “no hard feelings” against the restaurant and plans to reach out to the establishment.
“Our stance is that this is an unfortunate situation,” Harris said. “We don’t hold any ill feelings toward this business. We will try to get in touch with the manager and handle it internally.”