Dairy Queen manager does a Karen, swears and flashes middle finger at customer for asking her to wear a mask
MEDFORD, NEW YORK: A Dairy Queen manager reportedly swore at a drive-thru customer for asking her why she wasn't wearing a mask. The manager, identified as Deb, also showed the middle finger to Brandon Trotta when he asked why she was not wearing a face mask amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The incident reportedly happened on July 4 when Trotta was at the Dairy Queen drive-thru in Medford, New York, with his children. He captured the heated exchange between him and Deb on his phone camera before sharing it on Facebook, which seemed to be taken down now.
According to reports, when the father questioned the staff member of the fast-food company who was preparing his order for not wearing a mask, and the manager, who was also without a mask, the latter one became confrontational.
"You want me to be a Karen?" the manager asked in the video, before continuing: "'Cause I’ll be a Karen, okay?" Trotta then asked his money back to which Deb ordered another employee to give "him his f***ing money" and told the man "get the f*** outta here" and "don’t come back”, The Sun reported.
Deb also slammed the drive-thru window shut after another staff, who was wearing a mask and gloves, handed Trotta his money. “Put your mask on before you get your employees sick, loser,” Trotta said as the ‘Karen’ waved at him. “Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!” she said while flashing both middle fingers up at him while he drove off. Trotta then shared the video of the incident on Facebook in which he tagged the chain and wrote: “Not acceptable”.
Dairy Queen soon responded to the social media post, thanking Trotta for “bringing this serious concern to our attention”. “We share your concerns and are in contact with the franchise owner of this restaurant who tells us the crew member is on suspension pending an internal investigation, which will be of the crew member’s demeanor and review of mask use to ensure compliance with local government regulations,” they said.
The fast-food chain added: “Know that Dairy Queen expects its franchisees and franchisees’ employees to treat every person they serve safely with both dignity and respect and we are sorry that wasn’t your experience. Thank you again for sharing your experience as it helps us continue to improve.” But it seemed Trotta was not happy with their response as he commented: “This is your response??!! Pathetic. This is the view my kids and I got as we drove away,” he wrote, next to a screenshot of Dairy Queen Deb giving the finger behind the drive-through window. “What exactly do you need to investigate??! Fire Deb now!!!”
In a separate reply, Dairy Queen stated, “Dairy Queen expects its franchisees and their employees to treat every person they serve safely with both dignity and respect; we are sorry that did not happen in this case. The franchise owners of this location shared that the employee featured in the video immediately was suspended and employees were retrained on proper mask use. Following an investigation by the franchise owners, the employee in the video was demoted from her management role and is being provided additional training.” “Additionally, the franchise owners are providing new well-being services to better help their employees manage stress and self-care while working in a COVID-19 environment,” the company added.