Grocery Cook Fired for Hurting North Carolina Governor's Feelings
By Arit John3 hours ago
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is a lot of things, but not a job creator. After 45-year-old Drew Swope, a grocery store cook, said a mean thing to him, McCrory kinda got him fired, according to the News & Observer. As far as we can tell, Swope's comments weren't "death threats" mean, or even "personal attack" mean. It was more on par with "I disagree with you politically and your economic policies aren't doing anything to bring manufacturing jobs back to North Carolina" mean. There are two versions of the story:
- According to Swope, he approached McCrory to see if he needed help when the governor entered his store on Sunday. After realizing who he was — the governor, and a man he disagrees with politically — Swope said, "Thanks for nothing." McCrory got mad, started yelling about how he was the customer and then complained to Swope's boss. “I did speak out of turn," Swope admitted, but he was surprised the governor “had me excluded from the workplace because I upset his feelings.”
- According to the governor and his communications director, McCrory never yelled, and Swope made an "obscene gesture" at McCrory. Swope also posted on a January Facebook page protesting the governor's visit, suggesting protesters kick an effigy of the governor in the groin — apparently that counts saying “things about physically harming the governor as well.”
Swope's boss said the governor was polite, and he fired Swope because you're not allowed to be rude to customers. Fair enough. But the Republican govenor should have a lot of experience dealing with people who don't like him. The state's Moral Mondays rallies, which protest the Republican-led legislature's cuts to Medicaid and unemployment benefits, among other things, don't like him either. Back in July, McCrory said, "I went out and talked to several of them and they were not very respectful. They did not represent the majority of those who call themselves moral by cussing me out."
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On Monday McCrory reiterated the same sentiment — mean people get to him. "Sure, sure, I hide my thin skin most of the time," he told WBTV. "Everyone likes to be liked. Name calling and swearing and shouting and screaming is not the way I think good political dialogue should go." We're not sure where complaining to someone's boss falls in that dialogue, either.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/02/grocery-cook-fired-hurting-governor-mccrorys-feelings/358211/
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