Injustice Delivered: Pizza Hut Demotes Delivery Guy For Defending Himself

Dec. 30, 2012 - I don't usually go for boycotts, but Pizza Hut needs to be on the receiving end of one for this. Sam Swicegood, college student and pizza delivery man in Maryland, defended himself against attackers while delivering pizzas. His mistake: He used a "weapon." To show him their moral support and compassion, Pizza Hut demoted him.

The trouble began as Swicegood tried to deliver pizza. He said he was "sucker punched" and his glasses flew off his face. Dropping the pizzas, he swung a piece of a tent pole he had up his sleeve.

“It’s a little fiberglass [rod] I had up my sleeve not thinking I would actually have to use it but more or less having a little comfort up my sleeve,” recalled Sam. Swicegood faced five attackers and said those odds “is just not a good situation to be in.” The rod is part of a tent pole, he explained, and it might have saved him from being more seriously injured. Hat tip to Freedom Outpost.

Swicegood said he was attacked previously, "so before he got out of his car, he grabbed something to protect himself," reported Fox News Balitmore on Dec. 28. Fox News also said that one of Sam’s co-workers was held at gunpoint last month and robbed "in the same area Sam was attacked; luckily in Sam’s case police arrested 3 out of 5 of the individuals - all of which are juveniles."

Pizza Hut: Now crap in my eyes.

Pizza Hut's outrageous reaction to Swicegood protecting himself: They demoted him, making him a cook earning less money than as a driver. Why? Because he violated Pizza Hut's no-weapon policy that forbids drivers from being armed.

Comment:  Suppose, instead of the tent pole rod, Swicegood hit his attackers with a pizza box? Those boxes are stiff and have sharp corners. You could take an eye out with ont. Could a Pizza Hut box be considered a weapon? After all, any solid object could be used as a weapon. A ball point, for example, is not a "weapon" until it is intentionally plunged into somebody's throat. 

Sam Swicegood deserves to work for a better employer. Here's a link to his resume. Additionally, there is a Facebook group now called "Support Sam Swicegood," so please check it out, "Like" it and share it. And the next time you want to go out for pizza, forget about Pizza Hut. At the Facebook page, somebody wrote the following:

Keep the pressure on Pizza Hut to reverse their silly decision to demote someone for protecting their life while delivering their product. I am not saying they need to be armed, but if in the course of defending oneself they pick something up to use as a defensive instrument, they should not be demoted or fired.

Pizza Hut Corporate Office Headquarters
14841 Dallas Parkway 
Dallas TX 75254
Phone: 800-948-8488