Current Events > Video: Taco Bell employee throws boiling water on customer

(+) Yeah! (+)

The customers were upset about their order and went behind the counter to confront the employees.

That's when one of the workers grabbed boiling water and splashed it on the customers.

The Taco Bell employees are now being sued.

https://youtu.be/Xz87CBta-9Q

Edit: link to story, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/21/taco-bell-manager-poured-scalding-water-customers/10117670002/

Don't go behind the counter. All bets are off at that point. Ive seen people beaten and stabbed for doing as much.

Even though the employee should be sued as that is not the way to handle that, I feel like the customer isnt blameless here when they are coming around the counter to accost an employee over a food order. Its people doing things like this that ruins it for the rest of us. Wouldnt be surprised if they wall off getting behind the counter in some way now due to legal reasons.

Well that's fucking terrifying. I almost had that happen with a falling pot of water last month, thankfully I only got a few drops on my ankles. I don't even want to imagine a direct hit.

unhinged taco bell employee escalates situation by giving life-altering injuries to angry customer.

they should be in jail because that level of unhingedness is a major threat to re-offend.

i love how she went back to get more water. god damn what an unhinged ANIMAL. raised wrong, is my guess

IDK I'm not sure the employees did anything wrong. Retail is one of the most dangerous jobs in terms of violence from other people.

Edit: wait nvm they were literally locked inside and they tried to throw even more water on them as they were escaping. That's not cool at all.

Tyranthraxus posted...

IDK I'm not sure the employees did anything wrong. Retail is one of the most dangerous jobs in terms of violence from other people.

they potentially blinded someone, because that person tried to walk behind the counter? you think there is nothing wrong with that? you should be on every list in the country tbh.

Ngl I would grab whatever I had on hand as a weapon if some fool went behind the counter. People be crazy, you gotta be crazier to survive.

Naysaspace posted...

they potentially blinded someone, because that person tried to walk behind the counter? you think there is nothing wrong with that? you should be on every list in the country tbh.

Yeah I'm going to file this one in my "fuck around and find out" folder. The employees didn't know the customer's intentions, but if you're going behind the counter to get up in someone's face, expect retaliation.

burns112233 posted...

The customers were upset about their order and went behind the counter to confront the employees.

Really burying the lede here by not mentioning that the manager had locked them inside the building and the employees were getting combative first. Manager is a psycho.

The_Popo posted...

Probably didnt need to seriously injure the customer, but at the same time, dont aggressively confront people while expecting zero consequences.

Fast food isnt worth getting violent.

GATTJT posted...

Yeah I'm going to file this one in my "fuck around and find out" folder. The employees didn't know the customer's intentions, but if you're going behind the counter to get up in someone's face, expect retaliation.

Read the link and not just the OP. TC made the customers look far worse than the reality.

Naysaspace posted...

they potentially blinded someone, because that person tried to walk behind the counter? you think there is nothing wrong with that? you should be on every list in the country tbh.

They should perhaps not have gone behind the counter then. Obviously it's messed up but that customer was fucking around and thus they found out. Even Karen knows it's better to ask to see the manager.

It's not unheard of or even uncommon for people to assault or kill retail/fast food workers for messed up orders or service. My wife was telling me about someone who came through the drive thru and threatened to kill one of her co-workers after messing up their food.

Someone comes behind the counter pissed off, do whatever you have to with whatever you have handy. You never know what they're gonna do

The employee should be sued for what they because that was incredibly unprofessional, but as a customer you're not allowed to go behind the counter. These girls were looking for trouble by doing that and got it. I hope they do win their lawsuit but I don't have any sympathy for what happened to them.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Nerevarine791 posted...

Really burying the lede here by not mentioning that the manager had locked them inside the building and the employees were getting combative first. Manager is a psycho.

Nerevarine791 posted...

Read the link and not just the OP. TC made the customers look far worse than the reality.

TC is either purposely or accidentally trying to make the customers look like the bad guys here. The article is almost the complete opposite lol.

My GF at the time was working fast food one day when a customer threw a trash can at her and threatened her. My GF went to the back and locked the door, which she was supposed to do. The video got uploaded online by bystanders and people called her weak and a coward. It upset me. She never deserved that.

Nerevarine791 posted...

Read the link and not just the OP. TC made the customers look far worse than the reality.

Yeah, I just deleted my post after reading the article. According to it, the customers didnt even go behind the counter (in the video, it looks like they go beside it to continue talking, as the manager leaves them at the counter). They came inside after their drive thru order was messed up twice. The manager then locked them inside.

That changes everything.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I edited that part of my post a bit before you quoted me.

TC you LIAR.

The_Popo posted...

Yeah, I just deleted my post after reading the article. According to it, the customers didnt even go behind the counter (in the video, it looks like they go beside it to continue talking, as the manager leaves them at the counter). They came inside after their drive thru order was messed up twice. The manager then locked them inside.

That changes everything.

At :58 seconds they are behind the counter.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


this, and the timeline of events in the article was something prepared by the customers' attorney (which would obviously paint them in the best, and the TB staff in the worst, light possible)

Well I was on TB employees side till I learned the Manager locked them in before this happened.

Jesus

Nerevarine791 posted...

TC is either purposely or accidentally trying to make the customers look like the bad guys here. The article is almost the complete opposite lol.

The article is one sided though. It's only the allegations by the claimant. We haven't heard the employee side of the story yet but the locked door is not a good look.

This is in Texas, so the employee has a chance if they "correctly" utilize Texas's self defense laws. Remember this is the same state where a man received no charges for gunning down an innocent 9 year old girl.

The manager and employees were 100% wrong here. The manager should be facing multiple criminal charges. People focusing on "don't go behind the counter" did not read the story

The_Popo posted...

Yeah, I just deleted my post after reading the article. According to it, the customers didnt even go behind the counter.

The video directly contradicts that. The 2nd attempt to splash them was over the line because they were running away, but the 1st time was justified self defense. Like I said in my other post, the employees didn't know the customer's intentions when they stepped behind the counter.

Tyranthraxus posted...

The article is one sided though. It's only the allegations by the claimant. We haven't heard the employee side of the story yet but the locked door is not a good look.

Yeah the article is just posting the customers lawsuit and doesn't have the other side. But not sure why they got locked in. However, they were still able to get out anyway.

I think there was a story in New York some years ago where McDonald's customers went behind the counter and an employee beat the shit out of them with a metal rod of some sort. He ended up winning the court case, I believe.

burns112233 posted...

Yeah the article is just posting the customers lawsuit and doesn't have the other side. But not sure why they got locked in. However, they were still able to get out anyway.

Only reason I can think of is the manager agreed to let them in to discuss the order and locked the door so other people wouldn't enter the building, if people saw other customers inside they would assume they can dine in.

Tyranthraxus posted...

The article is one sided though. It's only the allegations by the claimant. We haven't heard the employee side of the story yet but the locked door is not a good look.

it's common practice in most drive thrus to lock the dining room while the drive thru is still in service (ie: dining room closes at 9pm, drive thru stays open til 12am). many doors in commercial establishments also have one sided locks, meaning the door would stay open from the inside, but locked from the outside. if they had already closed the dining room for the evening, or the staff had pre-locked the door in preparation for closing, i'd doubt there was any malicious intent here.

the article even states that the manager wasn't involved in the dispute until the incident, so why she would lock them in intentionally doesn't make sense

We may need to unironically wait for all the facts

Taco Bell has become really scummy and low quality in my area lately. Order something, they give you what seems to be leftovers and if you object and try to get fresh food they aren't thrill that you didn't accept what you got. One time a few years ago they had me waiting 20 min in store in line for a order despite being able to complete other people's orders somehow and mine was only for two people. I asked for a refund and they didn't seem thrilled but I got it. This chain really went downhill.

As for the video they didn't deserve to get boiling hot water poured on them but they shouldn't have tried to go around back either.

Idk.. A teenager working the cash register at a NYC Burger King was shot while working night shift. An angry customer walking across the counter is a threat, because you don't know what they're going to do.

I think running after the customers is going overboard.

We only got one side of the story, but I have no idea why the fuck they were locked inside? I get that stuff like this can get heated but that makes no sense other than unprofessionalism. I used to work at Carl's Jr. and we had a situation that a person got their order wrong twice. The customer asked for two famous stars, but one famous star to have no ketchup or onions and wanted extra mayonnaise and tomatoes while the second burger were to have the vegetables and the ketchup with mayonnaise at the bottom of the burger with the pickles on top. Unfortunately that day we were short staffed and only had two newbies prepare the orders while I was the only one on the cash register taking orders on a busy Lunch rush. On the third time we finally got the order right the guy then demanded we fully refund his order and give him a free large drink. I told him we could give him a complimentary drink free for the circumstance, but our store manager gave a flat no on the refund unless he returned the food. So yeah this guy didn't take that lightly and attacked our manager with a pocket knife, luckily he wasn't stabbed but he had to get surgery on arm because it was a deep cut.

Prestoff posted...

We only got one side of the story, but I have no idea why the fuck they were locked inside? I get that stuff like this can get heated but that makes no sense other than unprofessionalism. I used to work at Carl's Jr. and we had a situation that a person got their order wrong twice. The customer asked for two famous stars, but one famous star to have no ketchup or onions and wanted extra mayonnaise and tomatoes while the second burger were to have the vegetables and the ketchup with mayonnaise at the bottom of the burger with the pickles on top. Unfortunately that day we were short staffed and only had two newbies prepare the orders while I was the only one on the cash register taking orders on a busy Lunch rush. On the third time we finally got the order right the guy then demanded we fully refund his order and give him a free large drink. I told him we could give him a complimentary drink free for the circumstance, but our store manager gave a flat no on the refund unless he returned the food. So yeah this guy didn't take that lightly and attacked our manager with a pocket knife, luckily he wasn't stabbed but he had to get surgery on arm because it was a deep cut.

Damn. I remember that one story where some guy shot a Subway worker or because the order was wrong.

The only mistake the employees made was letting them into the closed dining room in the first place. From the video that's a modern TB so the doors would be push bars, which open even when locked. I'm going to tentatively call bullshit on the claim that they were "locked in."

Lyrica posted...

Idk.. A teenager working the cash register at a NYC Burger King was shot while working night shift. An angry customer walking across the counter is a threat, because you don't know what they're going to do.

I think running after the customers is going overboard.

Yeah, attacking twice isn't a good look. Once they ran away, that's basically it. Wish there was sound in the security video.

TheOtherMike posted...

The only mistake the employees made was letting them into the closed dining room in the first place. From the video that's a modern TB so the doors would be push bars, which open even when locked. I'm going to tentatively call bullshit on the claim that they were "locked in."

The video shows them fleeing put the door

TheOtherMike posted...

The only mistake the employees made was letting them into the closed dining room in the first place. From the video that's a modern TB so the doors would be push bars, which open even when locked. I'm going to tentatively call bullshit on the claim that they were "locked in."

Yeah, I was a little confused. They were locked in but still able to get out themselves? That's what the article made it seem like. Unless, I missed something.

Priere posted...

The video shows them fleeing put the door

...what?

Following after them with more water doesnt seem to be an issue either. You need to keep pursuing the threat as they flee to make sure they dont get any ideas.

Of course, actually scalding them again as they try to escape would be too far.

There's no audio, so nobody knows if the customer threatened them.

Self defense case is strong.

Good on the employee, dunno why people can't act normal in fast food restaurants these days, literally fighting over 2$ pig slop, but maybe boiling water to the face will help you act correct.

NeoShadowhen posted...

Of course, actually scalding them again as they try to escape would be too far.

Would it? A robbery victim blindfired and killed a 9 year old girl all on the assumption that the robber had come back again.

Priere posted...

Don't go behind the counter. All bets are off at that point. Ive seen people beaten and stabbed for doing as much.

This but at the same time no do not throw boiling ass water regardless because a simple fight at worst you have some bruises and maybe a broken bone or nose.

Boiling water however does SO much fucking more damage

Baha05 posted...

This but at the same time no do not throw boiling ass water regardless because a simple fight at worst you have some bruises and maybe a broken bone or nose.

This is a stupid take.

Baha05 posted...

This but at the same time no do not throw boiling ass water regardless because a simple fight at worst you have some bruises and maybe a broken bone or nose.

Boiling water however does SO much fucking more damage

Theres no way you could possibly know that its just going to be a simple fight. If someone comes at you like they want to fight you, the only reasonable assumption is that they are going to try and kill you. React accordingly.

TheOtherMike posted...

...what?

The video shows them fleeing out the door