Arby's employee is fired after fleeing armed robber

(CBS) FAIRBORN, Ohio - Mary Archer, who worked at an Arby's restaurant in southwest Ohio for the past 22 years, was fired after she fled an armed robber at the restaurant early last Friday morning, CBS affiliate WHIO reports.

According to the station, the 56-year-old was alone at the Fairborn Arby's when an armed robber came in and demanded money. 

"He held up a knife and kept saying, 'Give me the money,'" the former assistant manager told the station.

Archer says she was able to push away the robber and escape through the drive-through window.

"I had pushed him away...because I'm like, 'I'm not going to die in Arby's tonight ... I'm just not,'" she told WHIO.

According to the station, Archer was fired less than 24 hours later for violating the company's safety and security police by being alone in the restaurant. 

Archer said she was closing the business for the day and a co-worker had just left when she heard the doorbell to the business. She thought it was the co-worker, who perhaps had forgotten something, but it was the knife-wielding man instead.

Arby's said violations of its safety and security policy mean termination of employment without exception.

A human resources official with Arby's told WHIO says he says he feels bad that Archer had to go through this, but that she knowingly violated the company's safety and security policy, and had been warned before.

"I don't want my job back," she said, noting that January would mark her 23rd year with Arby's.