Mikhail Savitsky was delivering pizzas in Chelyabinsk, Russia, when he saw Dodobonya, the female dog who had been sleeping outside the establishment for more than a year, trembling in -20-degree cold. He covered her with a blanket before continuing his deliveries. Minutes later, he no longer had a job.
The branch manager had warned weeks earlier, in an internal chat, that anyone who helped the animal would end up on the street alongside her.
She carried out her threat. Dodo Pizza said the firing was due to previous lateness and absences, not the dog, but no one believed them: one-star reviews flooded its app and thousands of people called for a boycott of the chain.
The pressure worked. Founder Fyodor Ovchinnikov ended up apologizing publicly, promised to make all of its pizzerias in Russia pet-friendly, and offered Mikhail his job back.
The manager who fired him was suspended. Dodobonya now lives in a shelter, safe from the cold the company chose to ignore.