The city of Springfield, Missouri. An employee of a Missouri-based franchisee was fired after sending an email that said high gas prices would force employees to work longer hours for less pay.

Kevin Carrol, Applebee's chief operations officer, said in a statement that the franchisee terminated the midlevel worker. The employee did not work for the restaurant.

Jake Holcomb, who was the manager of an Applebee's restaurant in Lawrence, Kansas, had issues after someone shared an email with him. He quit after reading an email that said that more hours would need to be worked to keep up with inflation and gas prices.

Holcomb said he left a few copies where the server could find them.

He said that he gave everyone in the restaurant their food for free and that they didn't even close the store.

The restaurant was closed the next day and the email started circulating online.