Subway Sandwich Artist Fired For Defending Purity Of Philly Cheesesteak (And For Fighting With Customer)

This is Subway's version of the cheesesteak.

This is Subway’s version of the cheesesteak.

Even though it’s a common practice here in Philadelphia, there are some who believe you shouldn’t put ketchup on a cheesesteak. Whether or not the “Steak & Cheese” thing sold at Subway even qualifies for that debate is itself debatable, but a Sandwich Artist in Florida is now jobless because he refused to ketchup-up a customer’s sandwich.

And also because he came around the counter and challenged the customer to a fight.

It all began on New Year’s Day at a Subway inside a Walmart in Orlando. The customer wanted a Steak & Cheese with ketchup, onions and American cheese, but the Subway employee refused.

“I have never put — we don’t even have ketchup at Subway — I’ve never put ketchup on anybody’s sandwich,” he explains to WFTV.

After some alleged bad words from the customer — which the customer denies — the employee admits, “That’s when I flew off the handle.”

A bit of chair-pushing and chest-bumping ensued, with the Sandwich Artist telling the customer, “Let’s go, fight me like a man.”

The customer tells WFTV that things escalated quickly.

“I was scared. Next thing, I’m thinking a gun’s going to come out,” he recalls. “He threatened to kill me in front of my wife.”

The customer called 9-1-1 but the Artist was no longer around when police arrived at the Walmart.

Amazingly, the employee came back to work the next day, where he was fired. WFTV actually scored a lengthy interview with him while he still sported his uniform.

Philly.com’s Mike Bertha — who seems to believe that only heretics put ketchup on cheesesteaks — writes of this story in words normally reserved for caped crusaders: “He’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A dark knight.”

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