Russian tourists had shared it with laughter: Employee who wrote 'Putin' on receipt because he couldn't read foreign license plate fired

In an incident that took place at an Opet gas station on Şehit Cüneyt Yıldız Street in the Gürsu district of Bursa, Seyithan Alay, who had been working there for about 8 months, performed a fueling operation for a vehicle with Russian license plates during a busy period. Because the license plate was complex and he could not read the information clearly, Alay wrote "Putin" on the receipt to enter it into the system without delaying the transaction. When the Russian customers in the vehicle noticed the situation, they laughed and recorded those moments with a mobile phone camera.

After the footage spread on social media in a short time, the station management launched an investigation into the matter. Although it was stated that there was no malicious intent or intention to insult, Seyithan Alay was fired.

Alay stated that there was a rush at the station during the incident and said, "A vehicle with Russian plates arrived. The plate was very confusing, I couldn't read it. At that moment, it occurred to me to write 'Putin'. It was entirely due to the rush. I had no bad intentions. Despite this, they called me in and fired me. I was very surprised."

Evaluating the subject, Lawyer Elif Şuara Güngör said, "The sanction that can be applied to the worker in this regard is not dismissal; at most, if there is any damage, it is a deduction from their daily wage. The fact that the worker's defense was not taken for any reason before and that they were forced to resign despite acting in accordance with the rules of honesty constitutes an abuse of rights. In this case, it will later emerge that the termination was unfair."

The incident also caused a wide stir on social media. While many users reacted to an employee being left unemployed due to a momentary reflex, some users expressed that the decision taken was disproportionate.