Chicken Republic and the dancing security guards…

These are the boys that neglected core duty to follow fame, at the expense of the brand they represent and the security company that hired them.

75% of calls I’ve received in the last 48hours have been from people who wanted my take on the trending incident at Chicken Republic where two security guards were filmed dancing at their duty post with different narratives making the rounds as an offshoot of that.

To set it straight, Chicken Republic weren’t the direct owners of those boys, as you all know about the fact that security companies outsource and manage security guards for companies, I’d like to share a few insight and hope those that followed sensationalism on Twitter and IG learn something.

I know Tom Salem Security, employers of those dancing boys inside out, I have spoken with the company’s MD, Mr. Biodun Opawole (CPP) a good number of times since the incident happened and he confirmed what some of us already knew.

The boys were having fun at work, that’s what we all preach and practice, but not at the expense of your core duty. A security guard is the first contact of every company, at a time we’re all wary of security challenges and Covid, choosing your duty post as dancehall will forever be ill-advised.

If you saw the trending video, while the boys were dancing, a man came in without face mask and the boys didn’t even notice, I ask you this objectively, can you walk into any eatery with a reputable name and be allowed in without face mask?

Social media is powerful, the noise this generated didn’t surprise me and the support the boys got wasn’t unprecedented, that was because the story sold was that the boys were fired without pay, this is false from the pit of Old Trafford where the devil lives.

The boys weren’t fired by Tom Salem Security. The management withdrew them for retraining and then subsequent redeployment but following the support the boys got online, they decided to resign and trust your Twitter PR guys, they encouraged the boys to lie that they weren’t paid so the sympathy could generate further support…

The game is the game but let me ask you this: Tom Salem Security has hundreds of guards at Chicken Republic and their subsidiaries nationwide, imagine CR making a rash decision based on the action of the boys, will social media folks feed the lots that would be rendered jobless?

Everyone saying Chicken Republic could have spined the story to make people see them as a playful brand, what about someone else that would see them as risking lives and properties by compromising on security? There are two sides to every coin but we just love to trade the side that favors our narrative.

Quick one, KFC jumped on this incident and posted a video of a staff dancing on their eatery floor, did you ask them why it was an attendant that they posted and not a security guard? It’s not like we don’t know it’s wrong but we just love to follow social media trends.

If the guy that entered CR that moment the boys were dancing without a face mask had Covid, how many lives would he have endangered? Or we think because rules have been relaxed and Russia’s madness as well have taken the virus away?

Have fun at your place of work, but not at the expense of your core duties. It is not the place of a security guard to entertain like that, he has off days to expend on his hobby, why doing it at a point you’re on duty?

Immediately the boys were withdrawn, they stood outside the eatery and continued dancing and I’m glad they now have a TikTok account that was pushed to thousand of followers overnight, I hope the fact that people zone out completely won’t bring them back to planet earth too quickly.

Each working environment has its own culture, as playful as my industry is, I was once suspended for a week without pay for playing chess at work, story for another day but back to the point, the boys were entertaining but at a very wrong and costly time.

I know you have an opinion, tell me with your chest and leave your name behind as well if e sure for you, I’m waiting.