This situation is so absurd, so fucking mindblowing, it was hard for me to comprehend. I thought it might be fake at first. I actually knew a guy who managed a few Subway stores- he was ALWAYS within at about a 2-3 hour drive to any of the locations, just in case something came up that needed his attention. He would often have to quickly leave when we were hanging out, to go help some teenaged employee get a ride home or some shit. His employees loved him, but he was also extremely stressed out. It sounds like the manager in this case was extremely stressed out, to the point of burnout. He put himself into a position where he was unable to get to one of his locations. He was unable to contact another employee and ask them to go help. He didn't even consider a locksmith or contacting corporate and getting direct approval to have the fire department bust their way in... or maybe his boss might have had an easy solution. Could've been something as silly as "Oh, it's these new doors we just started using, sometimes they get stuck- you have to pull right on this part and then lift and it should come right up". Instead, this manager threw away his career and likely ruined himself. He was more willing to let an employee remain **TRAPPED** in his store than he was to get a stern talking-to for having the door broken by the FD. And in some states, telling someone not to call emergency services when they are in an emergency (this was absolutely an emergency situation) is a pretty serious crime. Could treat this almost like a kidnapping.