Several American businesses reacted to the news of President Obama’s re-election with both anger and despair

Outrage as McDonald’s flies U.S. flag upside-down and at half-mast as businesses close for a ‘day of mourning’ after Obama’s re-election

Several American businesses reacted to the news of President Obama’s re-election with both anger and despair, as one McDonald’s location hung the Stars and Stripes upside-down and at half-mast.

Some diners at the Follansbee, West Virginia, restaurant could not believe their eyes when the say the flag on the day after Obama secured more electoral votes than Republican rival Mitt Romney.

An upside-down flag is a ‘signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property,’ according to federal law.

Flag flap: Some diners at the Follansbee, West Virginia, restaurant could not believe their eyes when they saw the flag on the day after Obama was re-elected

Romney won West Virginia in Tuesday night’s election – and its five electoral votes.

Karen Mezan, the McDonald’s franchise owner, said in an emailed statement to WTOV-TV: “Unfortunately, a flag cable broke and during the process of trying the fix the flag, it was inadvertently turned upside down.

‘It wasn’t noticed that the flag was upside down until a customer inquired about it. We are working on fixing the flag right now. It’s important to note that this was an accident, not intentional.’

While Old Glory flew in reverse in West Virginia, a Florida real estate mogul backed down from a pledge to lay off some or all of his 8,000 in protest of Obama’s victory.

Instead, David Siegel says he gave all of his workers a raise this week, to help them cope with new taxes and regulations that he believes the president will heap on in his second term.

Threat: David Siegel has threatened to downsize Westgate Resorts if President Obama is re-elected

The property magnate’s 1,400-word rant was largely copied from a chain email which circulated around the time of the 2008 presidential election, according to Gawker.

Mr Siegel told Bloomberg BusinessWeek on Wednesday, the day after the election, that he hadn’t laid off anyone – yet.

‘I’m going to work my hardest to keep the company going and expand the best I can. We’ll see what happens,’ he said.

n Bedford, Virginia, Lyons Jewelers posted a massive sign in the store window saying: ‘Closed to mourn the loss of the America that our forefathers endowed to us.’

Signage: In Bedford, Virginia, Lyons Jewlers posted a massive sign in the store window saying: ‘Closed to mourn the loss of the America that our forefathers endowed to us’

WDBJ-TV reports that the store also had a sign that said ‘Shame on the U.S. and Virginia’ and one that read ‘Lyons will reopen tomorrow to continue the fight against a president who seeks my demise.’

Also on Wednesday, a man who claimed to own a business in Las Vegas called into a local radio station to announce he had fired 20 per cent of his staff.

The man, who called a talk radio program on KXNT, gave his name only as ‘Dave’ and said ‘elections have consequences.’

He claimed that Tuesday night’s victory for the Democratic president was the tipping point for him to decide that he needed to cut back his business to save money.

He said he had 114 employees and that he sacked 22 of them.

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