An order for a Happy Meal turned into a very unhappy experience for a Cincinnati woman whose squabble with a manager over a bad order escalated to the point the employee being caught on newly released video throwing a blender at a customer’s face.
According to local station WLWT, surveillance footage of the Sept. 22 incident shows customer Brittany Price waiting patiently for assistance after complaining about her order. A mistake was made at the drive thru so she entered the restaurant while her four children stayed in the car.
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“I wasn’t the only one that got frustrated,” recalled Price. “You know, watching the video we see a lot of people that see me and her [the manager] talking, trying to resolve the issue and they’re like, ‘I’m not dealing with this.’ They just left, they didn’t even place their order.”
Price waited more than 20 minutes before losing hope and returning to her vehicle to retrieve her food and ask for a refund.
“So what choice do I have? I don’t have to put up with this. So I went and got the food. I want my money back.”
That’s when she says the McDonald’s staff began “directly ignoring” her and in a fit of frustration she throw the bags of food towards the unidentified manager. While this action was ill advised, in retaliation the manager upped the ante and suddenly a blender from off-screen flies at Price, striking her point blank in the face, knocking her to the ground.
“I wanted to get some Happy Meals and some cheeseburgers and that was a very unhappy day for me,” said Price who suffered a broken cheekbone and broken nose as a result of the incident.
Price said that even if she had not tossed the food back at the manager, the result would have still been the same. “I definitely don’t feel like there would have been a different result. I feel like even if we would have just went verbal back and forth that it still would’ve escalated to something else,” she said.
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“The safety of our customers and employees is of utmost importance to us,” a spokesperson for McDonald’s clarified. “We are looking into this matter and will take the appropriate steps once our investigation is complete.”
In a follow-up statement from McDonald’s management later confirmed that the individual who threw the blender is no longer employed by the chain.
A lawyer for Price said she is taking legal action against the company. There have been no criminal charges filed against the manager and the station reporte it has not been able to contact her to explain her side.