Newspapers are carrying a story that the Texas Roadhouse has asked police to compensate them for lost income just after the funeral of fallen officers shut down the street for a few hours. That anyone would conceive of such a thing is totally gut wrenching, and a nationwide boycott of the Texas Roadhouse is happening. Problem is, the story is wrong.
Ever get the feeling that perhaps something is so amazingly off base that perhaps the media is showing only a distorted side? That perhaps the sensationalism of the story is what’s poopularizing it, not the accuracy. Perhaps the media thinks it has everything. I have no vested interest in either side, and certainly mourn the loss of the officers, but as a society that claims it wants the truth, it’s our responsiblity to go looking for it, not to pass ill-informed judgement without some fact checking. It took no effort to dig up more than the reporter.
Here’s some tidbits of what will eventually come to light… and I suspect get burried.
During the actual shooting, the Roadhouse DID send food to the officers, and apparently quite a bit, even as the lockdown was in progress. In fact, if one looks at the record of Roadhouse donations for food and cash, one sees that the Texas Roadhouse is a very involved and generous community member. Not to mention -very- supportive of the police.
A nationwise boycott simply dries up the donations and relief efforts. Nothing says the Roadhouse has to donate, and if there’s less to give, they can’t. If a community suffers a loss, from a fallen officer, to a broken levy, don’t be surprised if the Texas Roadhouse isn’t already on it. One merely has to look at past history as a metric of intent. The Roadhouse has a stellar history. So, invoicing for lost business is totally out of character.
You haven’t seen the actual email message either, have you? Hmmm. You’ve only been quoted pieces, huh. Turns out the phrases you’re seeing in print are out of context.
The email, it turns out, was sent to the fire department and had NOTHING to do with the police. One of the new owners was apparently going through the books and noticed there were a number of fines, and due to hardship wanted to know if there was any way get the fines reduced or forgiven. Nothing wrong with that, in fact, there’s a good chance if you’ve had a speeding ticket, you’ve asked a judge for a reduction. Often they’re granted if there’s demonstrated changes or proof of hardship. In this case, however, the enumeration of the hardships were listed and included everything from general construction of a local bypass to the sad day of the police shooting. The email wasn’t an invoice, nor was it addressed to the police. Nor did it belittle the terrible loss.
So how did the police get it?
As many people in corporate America do, they don’t read. They see a key phrase and extrapolate. And someone at the firehouse thought the email was asking something it wasn’t. They forwarded it to the police with their own take.
Then the media got involved because it sounded like good news, and apparently never got the actual letter, nor did they follow up with the author.
The police… the ones that get discounted dinners, and the ones that were given donations, the ones that were recepients of the outpouring of good will during their time of need …remained silent.
I suspect they’re still hurting over their fallen officers. A loss like that doesn’t heal easily. And the gunman that did it was dead. Problem is, with that much anger, there isn’t a good way to focus it or release it, and it seems the mis-perception that happened provided that release value.
The community was hurting too, so it wasn’t like this was going to go away, corporate silence didn’t end it, instead it ballooned. Problem is, in mass, the public is pretty stupid. And dangerous. Just like Agent ‘J’ from Men In Black says.
Kids. And I’m talking young highschool kids. Ones who had nothing to do with anything, who are only there to earn a little cash for college later, are being harassed and threatened for working at the Roadhouse now. Think about that for a second. A sixteen year old kid being assaulted for something they didn’t participate in to make the public feel better.
Meanwhile, damage control at corporate headquarters has seemingly gotten the focus off themselves. And the local community continues to punish the people and the tiny store, even though the focus of their disgruntledness isn’t there.
So, what can we expect to happen?
1. The email will eventually leak out, but few will care — facts just aren’t interesting, and people don’t like to admit they’re wrong.
2. Within six months the majority of community and country will totally forget about this anyhow.
3. The Texas Roadhouse, unless they take the higher ground, will be LESS inclined to make generous donations to the community and police.
4. Every person there has just learned an important lesson about the police force in general, and trust them less, respect them less, and help them less in the long term. That’s not what the police need — especially since donation to furture fallen officers and their families will get less support.
5. Every person there has just learned that a corporation won’t protect you, even if you’re falsely accused or misrepresented. It’s easier to make you go away.
6. Every person there has just learned that the media isn’t interested in accurate reporting. What other stories are false, misleading, or wrong?
7. And, most likely, some uninvolved kid will get physically hurt over something that didn’t happen, no one will care, labeling it justice.
But at this point, keep in mind, you’re now hearing this second hand. And this isn’t about the Roadhouse anyhow. It simply is a matter that if something sounds so outrageous, check the facts yourself. It isn’t that hard. You may be surprised to learn who you can trust, and who you can’t.
The price we pay for this kind of incident isn’t short term. The community as a whole now suffers. It’s one of those cases where each side will feel grossly wronged by the other, when there wasn’t an issue to start with. We see it all the time, and oddly enough, it’s the media fanning the flames. Maybe we should be boycotting the papers, and not the steakhouse, buying a dinner for an officer who’s putting their life on the line for us all.
