Mouse jumps into deep fryer at Whataburger, video sets the internet on fire: 'How much for mouse burgers?'
BASTROP, TEXAS: A video of a mouse jumping into a deep fryer at a Whataburger outlet has left a bad taste in many people's mouths.
The video in question was uploaded by Facebook user Brushawn Lewis on Saturday. "This s**t is crazy. I'm at Whataburger in Bastrop Tx. It's a damn rat just out in the open! But it did get deep fried! Smdh," she captioned the video.
The nearly three-minute-long clip shows a rodent running around on the counter of the famous burger joint, trying to find a way down from the top. Unable to do so, it takes refuge among the many containers and utensils (some with food in them) kept on the counter.
As a female worker tries to get rid of the rodent by lifting up the utensils, the creature panics and, in a desperate bid to save its life, jumps into the oil boiling in the deep fryer next to the counter.
“This girl really fixin’ to try and catch this rat,” Lewis is heard saying in the background, moments before the mouse takes its fatal plunge.
Lewis is then heard yelling: “Oh, Lord! It went in the grease!” Soon after, customers could be heard screaming in the aftermath of the incident, as a worker says, “I’ll try and get it out."
“When it’s cooked, it’ll float up to the top,” Lewis jokes. “I’ve seen it all.”
The video has since gone viral and was viewed over 2 million times. Amid the bad publicity that the company was getting, Whataburger issued the following statement on Facebook: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” the fast-food chain said. “At Whataburger, cleanliness and food safety are top priorities for us. In this instance, we closed the restaurant out of an abundance of caution and notified pest control. The entire restaurant has since been cleaned and sanitized. We addressed this situation as quickly as possible, reinforcing procedures with our Family Members. While we’ll continue to be very diligent, it’s important to know there was no history of this type incident at this unit and there is no ongoing issue.”
However, that did not stop the trolls. Many users took the opportunity to make jokes at the company's expense. "So when we're y'all announcing the new deep-fried mice nuggets?" one user said, while another quipped, "How much for mouse burgers?"
A third wittily commented: "Plot Twist: Ratatouille was cooking the food no wonder Whataburger was so damn good!"
There were also users who saw a bigger problem than a deep-fried mouse at how the company ran its joints. "The mouse isn’t the biggest issue here. The biggest issue are (sic) the employees that let customers behind the counter. Any type of accident could’ve resulted in a lawsuit. Especially when dude decided to play with the fryer and an employee just walked on by like he belonged there," one of them wrote.