Burger King Worker Refuses To Take Drive-Thru Order Because The Customer Took ‘Longer Than 1 Second’
“It’s just not my fault that you hate your job.”
Antoniodiaz / Shutterstock.com Fast food workers get a bad rap, but it's a hard job. Stigmatized, underappreciated, and underpaid, their daily grind is often filled with hostile customers and exhaustingly long shifts.
Case in point: the recent interaction between TikToker @iamgorgeousdoll and a Burger King employee that denied her service at the drive-thru. “Why would you refuse to take my order? You don’t know me and I don’t know you … unless you hate your job, which is not my problem.”
A Burger King employee refused service to a mom and her family because she took ‘longer than 1 second’ to order at the drive-thru.
In a video from July 5th, the TikToker shared a video of her late-night drive-thru experience where a Burger King employee simply said, “Have a nice day,” after she tried to order for her car of 6 people.
“If you’re going to work in fast food, don’t be mad at the customers, because you hate your job,” she said. “It’s not our fault!”
When she pulled up to the window, the employee let her know that they were only accepting orders for certain menu items, so she asked for “one second” to figure out what everyone wanted. “She said, ‘Have a good day,’ like she wasn’t going to take my order.”
After trying to get her attention, it was clear the speaker was turned off inside. After an argument, ending in a refusal to give out the store manager’s contact information, the Burger King employee simply shut and locked the window.
With her entire family in the car, the woman said she was trying her best but was still ignored by the Burger King worker inside.
At the end of their shift, the employee told her at the window that they didn’t have many of the menu items that she’d ordered, but that was lost in translation. According to the TikToker, it was “the attitude” and disrespect she’d experienced at the window that set her off.
“I had no reason to have any kind of entitlement about myself,” she said. “All I wanted to do was feed my child and go home. I was tired.”
After going to another Burger King and decompressing at home, she felt the need to share her experience online — confused and frustrated with how she’d been treated by the employee. “I don’t know if she saw me on camera, if she followed me on social media, but she knew who I was,” she said, after the employee posted her own “update” to social media. “Did you already feel some type of way about me?”
Clearly, both this worker and this mom were exhausted and it resulted in an unfortunate argument. “When you get a good customer service worker, appreciate them,” one commenter wrote. “A lot of them are struggling and can’t help but take it out on customers.”
The employee’s response called out the woman for being ‘entitled’ followed by 10 minutes of swearing and name-calling.
After this woman’s TikTok went viral online, the Burger King worker was quick to share her own side of the story—a 10-minute since-deleted video filled with name-calling and expletives. Whether she’d done a deep dive on the customer’s socials or knew her previously, it was clear she knew more about this woman than just how she acted in the drive-thru.
“First of all, I was short for the 4th of July,” she started. “I had two call-outs. So, no [expletive], I didn’t have [any] [expletive] attitude … I was exhausted from dealing with [expletive] like you all day.” Later in the video, she also mentioned people from the customer’s life, including romantic partners she’d had — all to “degrade” her character.
While many commenters supported this customer, it’s important to also recognize — despite her slightly misguided response video — that this service worker was struggling at the end of a long day.
She was exhausted at 2 a.m., likely having dealt with disrespect — like many other service workers do — for the entirety of her shift.
Service workers deserve grace, especially when struggling with being understaffed and overworked — but customers also deserve it.
We’re all human, we all make mistakes, and we all get heated during moments when we shouldn't. Just because this woman was well-spoken and respectful in the drive-thru — and in her response videos — doesn’t mean commenters should feel compelled to bad mouth this service worker.
Gumpanat / Shutterstock.com
The TikToker was right. It’s not a customer’s responsibility to face the wrath of an employee who dislikes or feels “stuck” in their job, but showing empathy for others doesn't hurt either.
As one commenter noted, “Managers rush workers, so sometimes we rush the customers … Her actions weren’t okay, but I can see where she’s coming from with her frustration. You just have to work fast food to understand.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.