Walgreen's, Winner Of The 2011 'Let No Good Deed Go Unpunished' Award

Really, just can't make this stuff up.

From the Detroit Free Press, recounting the heroic actions of a Walgreen's pharmacist who repelled armed robbers, and likely saved several innocent lives.

May 10, 2011

BENTON TOWNSHIP -- They wore masks.

They wore gloves.

They brandished handguns.

But there was one thing two robbers didn't anticipate when they barged into a Benton Township Walgreens drugstore early Sunday and tried to march workers into the back room: A worker already in back carried a handgun and knew how to use it.

Township police Lt. Delmar Lange said the worker fired multiple shots at one of the bandits, forcing the men to flee.

"He could see the hostage situation developing," Lange said. "He could not retreat any farther. He was in the back room. If it was me, I would have done the same thing."

Lange said the worker, whose name was not released, saw one of the robbers force another worker from the front of the building toward the rear. That robber then saw the worker in back and started to pursue him.

The worker then fired multiple shots.

The robber tried to fire back, but his gun malfunctioned. The robber and his partner ran out.

Lange said none of the four workers was hurt in the 4:30 a.m. incident in the store at Napier Avenue and M-139.

It's a story of selfless courage--the pharmacist could have been killed. In these situations, often no innocent person emerges alive, once herded into the back of the store. No witnesses, no way to prosecute effectively, and hey--who's gonna get worked up about a couple-a-thugz knocking over a Walgreen's anyhow? Just go ahead and kill 'em all.

Now, in a sane situation, the gent would receive the heartfelt thanks of corporate HQ, a bonus quietly tucked into his pocket, a raise, and a couple of weeks off at the company beach house, to gather his wits about him.

However, to quote John Belushi: But, NOOOOOOOOOO!

Walgreen's fired his ass! That'll motivate the rest of the employees to go that extra mile for the customer...Pharmacist John Hoven found out the hard way that some companies never let good deeds go unpunished. But, at least he's still alive, as are the others who were in the store that early morning.

That also is equivalent to setting a billboard up over every Walgreen's that announces: Hey ya'll! If you wanna walk in here with guns and rob this store, terrorize and kill people, come-on-in, bubbah! Ain't no one gonna give yew a bit of worry!

Out of concern for his safety, OS will be avoiding Walgreen's in the future. Notice how many of these stores are in dodgy locations (cheap real estate), and how easily someone with bad intentions could walk in, hide out for a few minutes, and then wreak havoc, given the store layout?

There are other pharmacies out there, and many grocery stores now have pharmacies.

If'n ya'll feel inspired to share your feelings and future shopping plans, John Lott shares this email address with us: consumerrelations.bb@walgreens.com

Hey-lookie-here: Walgreen's has a customer service link on its site!

Shoot-farh! They even got a phone number, that they pay for, to field customer inquiries and opinions. Isn't that handy! 1-877-250-5823

Now, these horses-asses won't actually respond to the complaints, not until they notice that their stores have emptied of customers, or a few customers end up getting shot because Walgreen's doesn't consider them worth defending. It will take either financial bleeding, or customers bleeding, to rouse them from their sleep.

OS ain't volunteering as a customer no moh'.