Working at a fast food restaurant means have to deal with customers who may or may not be a delight. It's great when you get a helpful customer, although as one Jacksonville, Florida, Burger King customer showed, there is such a thing as a little too much customer service.
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A Jacksonville news station reported a story on Wednesday about a customer at a Burger King Florida location who got out of the line waiting at the register and went behind the counter to help make the food.
Action News Jax reporter Ryan Nelson followed the story.
A #Jacksonville @BurgerKing customer says a woman in plain clothes went behind the counter, started making her own food after she got tired of waiting in line. @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews pic.twitter.com/ZaqgVP7l2Q
— Ryan Nelson (@RyanANJax) July 18, 2018
The photo of the woman in plain street clothes showed her at the food counter preparing menu items along with other Burger King employees. According to other customers waiting in line, the woman did put on gloves first but didn't wash her hands.
Jeffrey and Marcelita Jones, who was also waiting in that slow-moving line, told Action News Jax that the other Burger King restaurant employees didn't seem surprised by the woman being back there and no one stopped or questioned her.
It turns out the customer was an employee at the fast food restaurant. Nelson contacted the chain's corporate office in Miami-Dade County, Florida, after a manager at the Burger King location in Jacksonville directed him there with questions.
A spokesperson for Burger King replied in a statement, "The person in the photo was an off-duty employee who went behind the counter to prepare food. This should not have happened and as soon as the owner of this location was made aware of this incident the franchise owner terminated the team member and manager for violating their company policies."
The witnesses to the incident noted that they thought to have the employee fired was harsh and that a better response from the company would have been more training.
The Burger King chain was founded in Jacksonville in 1953 as Insta-Burger King and purchased in 1954 by two Miami-based franchise owners, who expanded the chain across the United States and introduced the Whopper burger.
