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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