Katy cookie store reverses decision to suspend employee after he paid for officer's order (Updated)

The Katy Police Department shared a photo of themselves congratulating Zack Randolph for his deed. The Katy Police Department shared a photo of themselves congratulating Zack Randolph for his deed. Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Katy cookie store reverses decision to suspend employee after he paid for officer's order (Updated) 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

A young man was temporarily suspended from his job after he offered to pay for an on-duty police officer's order, which upset a family who witnessed the act.

The story has since gone viral with some people complaining about the company's actions.

Zack Randolph is an employee at Great American Cookies at Katy Mills Mall, where he was working Sunday, July 2. During his shift, an officer approached the store and placed an order. His mother said her son purchased it with his own money, and the officer thanked him before walking away.

A family who was in line behind the officer allegedly became upset because he would not pay for their order, too.

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The employee's mother took to Facebook to share the story:

"The next family walked up and said 'are you going to buy mine too?' My son replied with 'I'm sorry I bought his because he is wearing a badge'...... then this customer started verbally attacking him, calling my son a racist, & threatened to beat him up. His wife threatened to go back there and slap him.. The middle aged man sat down his little daughter and tried to come behind the counter to attack him. Thankfully his coworker defused the situation. The man then said 'I will get you fired.'"

Randolph's mother said her son was reprimanded for his deed. She said the day before the incident, her son was offered a $2 hourly raise. This meeting, however, did not go as well.

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"He was told the upper managers want him fired. Thankfully his manager refused and said you are an excellent worker and and everyone agreed that you did nothing wrong," she wrote, adding that the manager issued a warning and said he "was suspended for a week following his shift."

"(The warning) says 'he bought a cookie for a police officer and a customer wanted to physically fight him' it does state if this happens again he will be terminated.'"

Biju George, VKC Refreshments, owner and operator of the Great American Cookies at Katy Mills Mall, released this statement:

"On behalf of Great American Cookies Katy Mills, we owe the employee an apology. It was never an issue that he purchased a brownie for a police officer, but rather the events that unfolded with another customer in line at the time. However, after further review, we realize that the employee was in fact in the right and we continue to reach out to him and his mom to issue an apology. The corrective action and suspension was reversed immediately and we hope to connect with him today."

"Great American Cookies proudly supports Law Enforcement, First Responders and all who serve our country," David Kaiser, executive vice president at Great American Cookies said via email Thursday. "Though our stores are independently managed and operated, when the situation first arose, we reached out to the franchisee to ensure that the situation was addressed and handled appropriately."

The mother's Facebook post immediately generated thousands of shares.

"Since when does buying a police officer a cookie give anyone else a reason to attack someone. And when did a Corporation want to FIRE someone for being KIND, taking what a customer said or did, regardless of how hateful they are," the employee's mom added."Thankfully my son said he would do it again in a heartbeat."

Wednesday, a photo was posted to the Katy Police Department's Facebook page showing Randolph standing with officers. They wrote:

"It was our pleasure to finally meet the young man from Great American Cookies, who did a selfless deed despite what others may have thought. Sergeant McClure and the rest of the Katy Police Department would like to say thank you for supporting law enforcement and going the extra step to show your appreciation."

Thursday, July 13, 9:56 a.m.: This story was updated to include the photo and statement from the Katy Police Department.