Grubby election aftermath

OPINION:

This is the season for paying off election bets, and not every angry loser takes his frustration to the streets. Some satisfy their anger by making others suffer. Matt Maloney is the founder and president of an internet food-delivery service in Chicago called Grubhub, and he was more than ready for Hillary.

Apparently Hillary’s defeat at the hands of Donald Trump hit him harder than it hit either President Obama or Hillary herself. They were gracious in defeat, conceding neither principle nor policy, and urged everyone to remember that though the country is bitterly divided it’s still the country all Americans love, cherish and honor.

Mr. Maloney’s company connects diners to 45,000 take-out restaurants in 1,100 cities in the United States and England. Diners can order pizza, tacos, and other take-out specialties through Grubhub and expect delivery within minutes. Mr. Maloney, who holds two master’s degrees in business from two universities and has been named by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful CEOs in the nation, nevertheless reacted to the Trump triumph with the irritation, or worse, of a man who ordered a pepperoni pizza and got a pie heaped with barbecued chicken. He was not amused.

Mr. Maloney dispatched an email to all employees on the mourning-after to say that he rejects the Donald’s perceived “nationalist, anti-immigrant and hateful politics” and anyone who disagrees with him should leave Grubhub at once “because you have no place here.”

That seemed pretty hateful — even a bit grubby, one might say — to employees who had demonstrated that they weren’t ready for Hillary. After a little reflection, Mr. Maloney decided his passion for Hillary might have been a little over the top, that maybe he was not as powerful as the business magazines thought he was. Trump voters in his company might have a place at Grubhub, after all.

This time he dispatched not an email, but a Twitter tweet: “Grubhub does not tolerate hate and we are proud of all our employees — even those who voted for Trump.”

Mr. Maloney, who is on the advisory board of the business school of the University of Chicago, one of his alma maters, might be well advised to advise the tweakers of the curriculum to add a course in good manners, tolerance and civility in dealing with employees, and that for whom his employees vote is none of his pea-picking business. And he should pay attention to the pepperoni.