A disabled veteran served as a grocery store greeter for five years before he was suddenly called into the office and told to gather his things and leave. The struggling grandad was told that it was all because a colleague had complained about his “Islamophobic” behavior.
For a disabled veteran, there aren’t many options when it comes to providing for one’s family. So, when 54-year-old Brian Leach secured a position as “meeter and greeter” for British supermarket Asda, he took his duties very seriously.
For five years, Leach stood at the entrance of the grocery store, smiling and cheerily receiving every customer who walked through the doors. Regardless of who they were, he made sure that each shopper felt welcome the moment they arrived. Unfortunately, a perfect record and stellar work ethic simply weren’t enough for the massive corporation.
According to Mirror, Leach was called into the office of the Asda supermarket in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, to find that a coworker had complained about one of his old Facebook posts. The colleague accused him of “Islamophobia” for a years-old post he had shared, which featured an old comedy sketch in which Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, most famous for participating in the Monty Python troupe, mocked religion in general.
It appears as though the coworker had scoured Leach’s Facebook profile in an effort to find something offensive of which they could accuse him, ultimately going back several years to see the comedic post. The colleague was reportedly offended by the comedian’s comments about Islam and proceeded to raise a complaint with their employer.
It includes the lines: “Religion is over, lads, it’s f****** over. Take your Reformation, your Vatican, your f****** Mecca, and f*** off. Suicide f****** bombing – now there’s a bright idea. Every time there’s a bang the world is a w***** short. F****** idiots.”
When the employer brought the post to his attention, Leach immediately apologized for upsetting his coworker and quickly removed the shared post. Still, it wasn’t enough. Leach’s fate was sealed from the beginning.
For the unforgivable sin of mocking Islam, Leach was “dismissed without notice” for violating Asda’s social media policy. He was forced to gather his belongings and leave the premises. In a series of heartbreaking posts, Leach has expressed the devastation losing his means of income has caused.
“It’s been a pleasure working with my friends and serving the public of Dewsbury and I will miss my regular customers.” He later wrote: “Feeling lost today. I would be getting prepared for my busy Sunday afternoon shift. 12 – 4.15 oh well I’ve got to get past this feeling.”
Leach has obviously been beaten into submission by today’s era of political correctness. He continues to apologize profusely for offending his ultra-sensitive colleagues and claims to understand that he apparently has no right to criticize any religion. He concluded his post by promising to never again joke or even share jokes on the topic of Islam.
“In mitigation, I immediately removed the item causing offence and removed the association with Asda on my profile, also removing Colleagues from Facebook friendship who may have been deeply offended by such post. I have spoken to affected Colleagues apologising for my post, taking their feedback onboard. I have realised people’s faiths are very important to them, and the nature of the post regarding the sensitive nature of it relating to the holy place of Islam.”
Disturbingly, an Asda spokesperson seemed to accuse Leach of “discrimination,” although joking about religion is hardly any such behavior. The corporation likely knows that the disabled veteran cannot fight back and isn’t a part of a union to defend his rights.
An Asda spokesman said: “We would never comment on individual circumstances. However we do not tolerate any form of discrimination from colleagues or customers and take such behaviour extremely seriously.”
As Leach likely knows now, there’s no amount of apologizing or deleting that can be done to appease once the sharks begin to circle. Once they slapped the label of bigot or racist on you, the best thing to do is stand in defiance of their accusations.
Leach’s case highlights the extremes to which individuals have gone to enforce their own views on the most vulnerable and harmless of people. They are now attacking comedy, which is the last bastion of free speech. Sadly, if comedy goes, free speech is dead. This final frontier used to be off-limits to regulation and restriction. Now, it is being beaten down in favor of a restrictive and, frankly, more boring way of life.
