“No good deed goes unpunished,” as the saying goes. 18-year old Zack Randolph found this out when a local policeman came to his place of employment, Great American Cookie, and ordered a brownie.

Zack offered to buy the $2.75 brownie as a gesture of gratitude for all the policeman does for the community. Zack paid full price, not even taking advantage of the employee discount, and for a second, felt good about what he’d done.

Then the couple behind the officer demanded Zack also pay for their dessert. When Zack explained, he bought the officer’s dessert because he had a badge the couple threatened to beat him up or get him fired.

If other employees had not intervened, the confrontation might have escalated. His manager wrote him up for the incident and suspended him for a week, writing future write-ups would lead to firing.

Zack’s mom, Tami, went to social media to share about the unjust acts of the company and outrage from the public began. The Great American Cookie Company did lift the suspension, reinstated Zack, paid him for his missed time at work and apologized after pressure from the public prompted further action.

Many police officers get little to no respect from people. Especially young people, so seeing an example of a teen respecting the badge is uplifting. When asked if Zack would still buy the dessert, he affirmed he would.

“A lot of people I know my age don’t support police officers. I don’t think it’s fair,” stated Randolph.

While this ordeal was a surprise to Zack, it teaches us all that even when things do not go as expected it is always best to treat one another with respect.