Elderly McDonald's employee gets $40K after TikTok clip shows him slogging under hot Connecticut sun
A viral TikTok video has been doing the rounds on social media and has sparked a great deal of outrage. Filmed and posted by TikTok user @kandykaine92 on the social networking app, the video shows a senior citizen cleaning trash under the scorching Connecticut sun in a McDonald's parking lot, and clearly struggling with his task.
It was TikTok user @kandykaine92 who saw the worker, later identified as Gregorio, and immediately grew concerned given his age and the nature of physical labor he was doing. The user shared a video in which Gregorio can be seen sweeping the Connecticut fast-food restaurant’s grounds in the summer heat. And it is safe to say that the video has made a lot of people on the app upset.
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In the TikTok video, Gregorio can be seen working under the hot sun, sweeping up trash in the parking lot. “I’m at the McDonald’s in Bloomfield, Connecticut,” TikTok user @kandykaine92 reportedly said. She spoke about how the working conditions stacked up in that particular restaurant for the employees, young and old. "A young man took my order and my payment. A young woman served my food. Another young woman came outside to serve people that were doing pickup. I go to my car, and I see this man, outside, in this weather, sweeping this parking, while these three inside, in the AC."
She highlighted the dire conditions in which the old man was working. "This man has no water, no food, no one is out here watching him. He’s obviously elderly; he’s at least 70 years old. He can’t stand up straight. He’s struggling. You’re telling me people can’t have consideration and help this man? He deserves a fucking raise; he deserves a gold medal." The clip, which was filmed early in June, has now more than 2.2 million views. It is just one example of a senior citizen who doesn't have enough funds to stop working and successfully retire. Under the posted video, there are many comments from people who express their sympathies for the old man.
One user wrote, "This is the world that we live in where elderly ppl like him have to work bc they probably don’t make enough from retirement to survive." Another added, “He should be inside, not out in the heat like that; that is just wrong on so many levels". At the same time, there were some who doubted the TikToker’s video and her motives in the first place. "This woman put him on TikTok without asking him if she could film or if he was ok with what he was doing,” they wrote.
At the same time, @kandykanie92 said that she got to know Gregorio and his family after she shared the video. In order to help him further, @kandykanie92 also started a GoFundMe for him titled 'Help Gregorio retire!!!'. In the caption, she wrote, "Sadly, his wife died due to COVID last year. This GoFundMe is to help him retire! Anything you can give help." While the goal of the fundraiser was $100,000, it has thus far garnered $40,276. The final video shows Gregorio thanking supporters and those who contributed to the fundraiser.