If a man walks into a store and states an argument with as employee and the employee hits the man can store be held liable? Why or why not?

This is a fairly standard first-year torts question in law school. Under a doctrine called "respondeat superior," the employer is liable for the employee's wrongful acts when they are committed in the course and furtherance of employment. The employer's defense in such a case will be that it was not part of the employee's job to punch customers, but that is too simplistic an answer -- part of the employee's job was to resolve issues with customers, and in this case, the employee did so but chose the wrong resolution.