Miller Brewing forklift driver fired after photographed sipping a Bud
AP | Mon Feb 14
RACINE, Wis. (AP) - Just sipping a brewski gave Isac Aguero a career hangover.
Aguero, 24, said he was fired from his job with a Miller Brewing distributor, the same day a picture appeared in the Journal Times of Racine of him drinking a Bud Light, which is brewed by rival Anheuser-Busch Co.
The photo, taken Feb. 5, was part of the newspaper's weekly "On the Town" feature, which depicts the city's night life.
Aguero, who had been a forklift operator at CJW Inc. for four years, told the newspaper he was informed by co-workers when he arrived at work last week that he was in trouble because of the picture.
He said he was called into the general manager's office and told he was fired. Aguero said he was not given a reason and claimed he never had problems with his bosses.
"It was a Saturday and I wasn't at work," he told The Journal Times. "They can't tell me what beverages I can drink. Bud Light's my beer of choice, I always drink that. Just because I work there, do I have to change what I drink?"
Thomas Bey, a CJW sales manager, read a statement to the Associated Press on Friday and would not answer any questions. He said the company does not publicly discuss past or present employees.
"We consistently remind our employees that drinking alcohol is entirely a personal decision," Bey said. "The image and reputation of any company is determined in large part by the way its employees are seen to behave. Our employees can and should be our best ambassadors."
