A Navy veteran who spent more than 20 years managing Advance Auto Parts claims he was fired for doing what the military taught him best: stepping up when it counted.
Greg Pinson claimed he was simply following his military training. He served in the United States Navy for 24 years.
“All I knew since the age of 18 was to be loyal and committed,” said Pinson, who had worked as a manager for Advance Auto Parts for nearly as long — 22 years in nine different locations.
However, his loyalty proved costly in the end. Pinson claimed he was fired after attempting to stop an alleged thief from stealing merchandise on April 24 at the store’s Almeda Genoa location in southeast Houston.
Video from inside the store shows Pinson attempting to stop a man from leaving while another employee calls 911.
However, instead of thanking their employee for going above and beyond, Advance presented Pinson with a pink slip.
“He said, ‘You’re being fired for basically being rude to a customer,'” Pinson recalls being told. “I replied, ‘Wow. “That really hit me in the gut.”
The video is currently being investigated by the Houston Police Department.
Despite the circumstances surrounding his dismissal, Pinson refuses to blame anyone else, claiming that his military training taught him to follow orders. He admitted that he may have gone too far in preventing the customer from leaving.
“I believe I violated store policy. “I do,” he replied. “As far as stopping the individual from leaving with the items from the store.”
When asked if he’d do it again, Pinson said, “I can’t say I wouldn’t do it again.”
Advance Auto Parts did not respond to the station’s repeated requests for comment.
Pinson received support from social media users.
“What a dumba-world we live in,” one Facebook user wrote. “The guy was trying to protect the store and got fired. The guy is a hero. “What do you get for being a hero?”
Another questioned why Advance showed no loyalty to a long-term employee who was attempting to do the right thing.
“They could have written him up, but not fire him after one incident,” she informed me.
However, not everyone was sympathetic to Pinson.
“He knew the rules plus he knew the danger of trying to stop a thief,” he told me. “I don’t feel sorry for him.”
