Well if your staff keep calling in sick maybe they are just sick and tired of working for a jerk. Good on Olive Garden for firing this manager and hopefully the next one is better.
The sad irony is he sacrificed himself for his job and they dumped him without a second thought. It really shows how much all that effort was worth in the end.
The memos from head office about the corporation not wanting bad publicity of any sort seems to be a message that middle management or franchise licensees tend to ignore far too often. Still lots of little Napoleons out there who firmly believe that being a total dick to the employees all the time is the best way for them to move up the ladder.