Global Courant
A sign on a franchise of America’s most popular sandwich chain raises eyebrows.
On July 1, Timothy Mauck, resident of Brooklet, Georgia Post a picture that has since gone viral. In the image, the sign outside a Subway sandwich shop in nearby Rincon, Georgia reads: “Our submarines do not implode.”
The board in question. (Courtesy of Timothy Mauck)
The sign refers to a recent tragedy that dominated headlines in late June five people aboard OceanGate’s Titan submarine were killed after it imploded tens of thousands of feet below the surface of the water.
The submarine was traveling to see the wreckage of the Titanic before losing contact with humans above water on June 18 and going missing for four days. After the wreckage of the submarine foundthe U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the deaths of all five passengers on June 22, saying the debris found was consistent with a “catastrophic implosion.”
Reactions to the image usually ranged from utter disbelief to anger.
“That’s just wrong,” one Facebook user commented.
“That’s disrespectful as f—!” remarked another. “I bet if that was their family, they (wouldn’t think) it’s that funny.”
“This is tasteless to say the least. In Rincon, GA. Better be Subway, ‘someone else tweeted.
“@SUBWAY this is at your shop in Rincon, GA. Not only is it distasteful, it’s just sad. Do better,” tweeted another person.
But there were some supporters of the board who found the joke funny.
“I’m sorry, it’s so wrong,” wrote one person on Reddit, where the image has spread like wildfire. “But it did make me chuckle.”
“I chuckled too. It’s actually smart,” wrote another Redditor. “Humour, by its very nature, always offends someone. We need to get lighter.’
When reached for comment, Subway confirmed it was aware of the sign and said it had spoken to the franchise about it.
“We have been in touch with the franchise regarding this matter and have made it clear that comments like this have no place in our business,” a Subway spokesperson told TODAY.com. “The sign has since been removed.”
A follow-up post from Mauck confirms this: In an image huh posted on July 2the same Subway sign now appears blank.
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Mauck says he took the photo because he found the sign surprisingly disrespectful.
“I’m sure it would be disrespectful to the family, you know what I mean?” Mauck tells TODAY.com. “It was a very inappropriate thing because that’s a place of business, and for one of their employees to put that on their plate just lets everyone know that the situation is a joke.”
Mauck says that while he was surprised by the sign, he “didn’t expect it to go as far as it did.”
While Mauck doesn’t see the humor in it, the Titan submarine tragedy has inspired the internet to release a decent collection of “eat the rich memes and jokes in style about the fate of the wealthy passengers, who each paid $250,000 to make their ill-fated journey.
“I actually stopped on the highway to take a picture of it,” says Mauck, adding that he couldn’t get it out of his head. “I’ve said to a lot of people, ‘You know, if it was your family, whether it was a situation like that or just another tragic accident, and people would make fun of them, it wouldn’t be so funny to you, it would the man?’”
This article was originally published on TODAY. com
