US College Student Fired From Restaurant For Asking To Attend Friend's Funeral

News broke about a New Jersey student who got fired from the local restaurant for wanting to attend a friend’s funeral. The text message exchange between the student identified as “Katie”  and her manager at Cafe 72 in Ewing, New Jersey got leaked and instantly went viral. The Typical Student team learned more details about what had happened.

In the message exchange, the student tried to get coverage for her hosting shift explaining that  she wanted to attend her close friend’s funeral. “Katie’s” friend, Michael Sot, 20, was a student at the College of New Jersey, who sadly died as a result of a car crash.  As told by NJ.com, Sot “was struck by an allegedly drunk driver while he was acting as a designated driver for fellow classmates.”

Who Leaked the Text Messages?

Source: NJ.com

So, in response to her request, the manager, who identified the girl as “Katie” in the screenshots, fires the girl and tells her she "has a business to run." The manager advised “Katie” to only attend Sot's viewing. The TCNJ Facebook group was the first to publish the message exchange, which has since made the rounds on social media causing outrage among the commenters.

“It’s Outrageous!”

People called the manager’s response "ugly," "disgusting" and "heartless" and called for boycotting the restaurant. As a result of publicizing the message exchange, Cafe 72's Yelp reviews and ratings have also tumbled.

Source: NJ.com

Eventually, the Cafe 72’s management took a shot at improving the situation by donating $1,000 to a GoFundMe page for Sot and posting the apology on its website and (now deleted) Facebook page. However, the public took it skeptically rejecting the apology, so the Facebook page was removed.