Teen's good deed for officer turns into suspension at work

KATY, Texas (FOX 26) - A teen worker who wanted to do something nice for a police officer ended up punished instead. The story has absolutely exploded on social media.

18-year-old Zack Randolph was working Sunday at Great American Cookies at Katy Mills Mall. A police officer placed an order and the teen said he would like to pay for the officer's dessert. How is that a problem? Well, the person in line behind the officer apparently didn't like it, and the teen ended up suspended, but the story doesn't end there.

"He was told you know you're probably going to get fired," says the 18-year-old's mom Tami Randolph. Fired? For what? The teenager says the police officer also works in the mall and he just wanted to be kind and buy the officer the cheesecake brownie he ordered to show his appreciation for protecting and serving our community.

"He's just a really nice guy and on top of that he has a badge. That's enough for me to buy him something. That's the least I can do," explains Zack Randolph. The teen paid the $2.75 for the brownie with his own money. "Yes ma'am. I didn't even use the employee discount, full price," says Randolph.

The teenager says the man and woman in line behind the officer then asked for a free dessert. The couple began making such a fuss Randolph went to a back room.

"He put his daughter down and came around to the side and was about to come back and come at me and thankfully my assistant manager and my co-worker stopped him," Randolph said.

The teen was later notified by his company that he was in trouble. So what started as a kid doing something nice for a cop ended up with the teen written up and suspended for a week. Tami Randolph couldn't believe her son was in trouble for doing a good deed. So she posted the story on Facebook and the support started rolling in.

"It's very heartfelt. It's very touching," says the teen's mom with tears in her eyes.

The 18-year-old says he has great respect for officers and would do it again. "A lot of people I know my age don't support police officers. I don't think it's fair," says the 18-year-old.

Great American Cookies says after further review the company "realizes the employee was right" and is not suspended or in trouble. Great American Cookies Corporate released a statement saying, in part, the company "proudly supports Law Enforcement". Great American Cookies Katy Mills says "We owe the employee an apology" and have reached out to him and his mom to issue an apology.