Texas Popeyes manager fired for not paying back $400 robber stole at gunpoint

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-popeyes-manager-fired-armed-robber-steals-400-article-1.2194117

BY Meg Wagner
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A pregnant Texas Popeyes manager says she was fired because she couldn’t pay back money stolen from her at gunpoint during her shift at the cash register.

An armed robber took about $400 from the Channelview chicken outpost last month. Shift manager Marissa Holcomb was working behind the counter when he stormed in, grabbed her by her shirt and demanded the cash.

Less than two days after the harrowing ordeal, Holcomb’s mangers demanded she pay back the stolen money. When she refused to replenish the lost cash, she was fired, she said.

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The Popeyes franchise owner, Z&H Foods Inc., said Holcomb was keeping too much cash in the register — a violation of store policy — when the gunman robbed the store on March 31. She should have moved some of the money to the shop’s safe, the company said.

It was not the first time she broke the restaurant’s rules, mangers told the TV station.

But Holcomb said she didn’t intend to leave that much cash in the register. The restaurant was running a $1.19 two-piece chicken special that day, and the Popeyes was swamped with diners. She moved cash to the safe when she could, but with so many hungry customers, it was hard to find the time, she said.

The gunman — who jumped over the counter, shoved Holcomb and pointed a gun at her before dashing off with the cash — is still on the lam.

[If she had left her post while customers were waiting, to put the cash in the safe, they would have criticized her for that.]\

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