Save the door, screw the employee. Wow. If this story’s true, then I hope the person stuck inside called the fire department anyway.

I would also send this story to every news outlet you can think of. Get the company ALL the bad press. That boss is straight up evil and does not perform well sexually, probably.

No emergency exits in a commercial building?! Especially in a big box store that can pack in the entire town during peak days. How is that not illegal?

Update

EDIT2: The firemen chief (idk his actual title, the guy in charge of the men who showed up for the fire dept.) called my boss and told him if he doesn’t come in and get something in action like calling a door technician or a locksmith or something, they will be cutting up the door. So he’s coming in and going to figure something out, and some of the fire dept. will be staying until i am confirmed out. If its going to take an unreasonable amount of time with the solution he chooses theyre going to cut me out anyway due to safety concerns. Thank you everyone!

Final edit: thank you everyone for the concern, i am out and in my car now, unfortunately for my boss and the store owners the door had to be cut as no locksmiths were available and door techs wouldnt be there until tomorrow afternoon, and it is 10pm my time. If i am fired for this event…i may make a 2nd post referencing this one. I am sure something will be done about there being no emergency exit in the restaurant, the fire cheif was not happy about that. I’ve never had to call 911 or anything before and was very hesitant, but all the comments suggesting so eased my mind i wasn’t being over dramatic.

The part that I’m struggling with is so: in what universe, even the one with maximum cynicism, would this cost the manager anything? Like, will corporate come down on them because they had extra charges for a defective door this quarter? Will promotions not happen because of this?

Surely it can’t be lost sales that are the issue… they were willing to have the store closed until late afternoon of the next day. They were going to lose out on those anyway.

I suspect when we see circumstances like this, some proto-reptilian embarrassment reaction is kicking in deep in their brain. Even ignoring the inconvenience, risk to safety of, and well-being of their employee… there’s just no upside to waiting this out. No money saved, no sales saved, nothing.

Logically the wisest option is to call the fire department and make them open the door since this is how an emergency sounds to me, but sadly the person in this situation is doubting to take the correct course of action because he can’t afford to lose the job. Capitalism has gone to fucking far.

Is there seriously no one acknowledging the fact, that this person rather starts a reddit thread than dealing with his current confinement situation (by rightfully calling the fire department)?