A police officer walked into a restaurant looking to get a hot meal. When the cop approached the counter, two employees said something disgusting. The officer turned around to leave, not wanting to cause a scene. That’s when the workers started laughing. They didn’t realize they were making a massive mistake.
A uniformed Alexandria, Virginia police officer was reportedly denied service at a local Noodles and Company restaurant by one of the cooks, who refused to serve the female officer while she was in uniform. As the cop was waiting in line at the restaurant for dinner, a female cook came out to the register and told the cashier, “You better pull me off the line because I’m not serving that,” gesturing toward the officer, according to Alexandria police spokesman Crystal Nosal. As the cook and cashier started to laugh, the officer decided she didn’t want to make a scene and left the restaurant after simply stating, “I guess you don’t want my money.”
However, the cop wasn’t done with the incident. She promptly reported what had happened to her superior, and Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook was none too happy about it, according to Fox 5. Upset, Chief Cook decided to pay a visit to the restaurant and speak with management about their disrespectful employees. Soon, the Noodles and Company cook and cashier would find out how big of a mistake they’d made, and it’s safe to say the disrespectful duo aren’t laughing anymore.
“Well, your first response is a police officer’s anger,” Cook said of the moment his officer told him what happened. “These are very difficult times right now with our relations with everyone, and to have one of my officers treated in that manner unnecessarily, your first response is anger. Then you calm down a bit,” he added. He felt his officers handled the situation perfectly by disengaging rather than escalating the confrontation and was surprised this happened in Alexandria since they typically have a good relationship with local businesses and residents.
After the restaurant told Cook that it would be conducting an investigation into the incident, management later confirmed that the incident had taken place just as the officer had claimed. The restaurant released a statement regarding the incident: “Noodles and Company expects the highest ethical and personal behavior from its team members.
We value each of our guests and are committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect,” the statement began. “We do not tolerate any form of discrimination,” it continued. “We are working with the appropriate authorities and local police association representatives to get to the bottom of and resolve this matter as quickly as possible,” the statement added. “We’ve made efforts to reach out to the police officer involved but have not yet spoken with her. We’ll continue to look into the situation and take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of this review.”
Following the initial statement, Noodles and Company later announced that both of the employees involved in the incident had been fired for treating the officer with disdain. According to The Washington Post, in a statement, the company said that the views and actions of these individuals were inexcusable and do not reflect those of the company or the rest of the staff at the Duke Street location.
The source adds, “We’ve concluded the two team members in question acted inappropriately and we immediately terminated their employment,” the company said in the follow-up statement. “We have the utmost respect for law enforcement officials and value the relationship we’ve built with the local Alexandria Police Department over the years.”
But that’s not all. Not only did the manager in the restaurant apologize to Chief Cook and the officer involved, but the restaurant is also going out of their way to right the wrong and make it clear to both their employees and the community where they stand in regards to supporting local law enforcement. According to Pete Feltham, a representative for the Alexandria Police Union, the restaurant hopes to make up for the way the officer was treated by placing signs on their doors declaring their support for the police. “We hope that the business is not judged by the actions of a couple of individuals,” Feltham said.
The situation drew the attention of Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg, who said in a statement that she appreciates Noodles and Company’s swift and thorough response to and full apology for this unfortunate situation. Adding that after extensive dialogue with the company’s regional and national leadership, she was satisfied that this situation was an anomaly and should not reflect on the company nor its other hard-working employees.
Many readers of the Fox News story about the incident expressed outrage. “I don’t know why the offending officer didn’t sue for $150,000. This is no different than the Oregon bakers refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Discrimination is discrimination,” one reader said.
Another reader took a more pragmatic view, commenting, “If I was a cop, I’d be way less concerned about these people who are openly anti-police than I would about someone quietly harboring resentment and handling my food.” Either way, it’s a sad state of affairs when anyone has to worry about those who are handling their food simply because of the career path they’ve chosen.
