TGI Fridays - General Manager (John) Trying to rid the company of bad apples? Upper management may want to start with Jon, their General Manager. Parma Ohio

I recently noticed while visiting the TGI Fridays in Parmatown Mall, that our group's favorite bartender that we normally visit was M.I.A. A couple weeks later while I was at the grocery store, I happened to run into our favorite bartender near the frozen food section and asked him why we haven't seen him around the restaurant in a while.
He then told me that he was fired immediately when he came into work the previous weekend when he had 2 12 oz. beers at the Irish Cultural festival while he was volunteering before work, and that his last beer was consumed before 2:30pm, and that his shift didn't start until 6pm.
He also told me that he wasn't given any warning, written or verbal, before being terminated.
After learning about this I immediately informed my group when I returned home, and have decided we will no longer visit this TGI Fridays location ever. This bartender was the ONLY reason why our group even considered returning to this restaurant time and time again, because he knew how to treat people and make them feel like we were at home. He made us feel like family, and we loved being in his company.
Far too many times in the past we were disappointed in the food. It either came out cold, overcooked, and sometimes there were even a couple key ingredients missing from the meal. However, we always stuck around, because our bartender always knew how to take care of us despite any shortcomings by the kitchen, management, etc.
But seriously, firing a very good bartender for having a couple of beers earlier in the day while not on company time or property? C'mon, what kind of a novice of a General Manager does this? The bartender even had plenty of time to let his body process the alchohol before he reprted for his shift, and he's over 21 years of age, so his actions were legal as well.
I own and operate a few family owned restaurants in the Akron and Cleveland area, and my family has owned and operated restaurants all of my life. In all of my 42 years of ownership, I have never limited the actions of my employees outside of work as long as they are legal and in good faith, because employers have no business dictating what their employees do during their free and private lives.
And furthermore, I have had plenty of experiences at the Parma Fridays with either servers who were hung over, or who wreaked of liquor while they served us. So maybe the General Manager, John, should focus more of his efforts on the REAL cancers that are destroying his profit margins; most notably, his poorly trained kitchen staff, and style of management; if one can even call it management at that.
This guy should come to one of my restaurants and see how a restaurant SHOULD be run and function correctly. And as for Will, he now works at one of my restaurants making at least 3 times as much money as he used to during one of his old "busier shifts" at Fridays. Not only is he a much happier person now, but now so are MY guests, because I know ALL of my guests are getting that same family treatment that he gave to us.
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Oh, how great it is!! Thanks Fridays for sending me a diamond in the rough!!

George
Rocky River, Ohio
U.S.A.