A family in Elma, Washington, claims that a Burger King employee “p-ssed” in their Minute Maid lemonade. Outraged, they tried to bring it up to an employee, only to get gaslit and told that they were seeing —and tasting—things wrong.
It all started when Brittany and William Lingnau’s (@vividlybritt) child took a swig of a Minute Maid drink the family ordered during a night stop. The child immediately picked up on something “funny” in the beverage, passing it to their father to try. He, too, noticed that the drink seemed off, getting “irate” when he noticed that the drink tasted like urine. When Lingnau opened the container and smelled it, she noticed that it reeked of it.
William Lingnau swiveled his car back around and pulled back up to the Burger King, one of a few food options available in Elma. He ran back inside the store to report the incident to the employees inside. But when he said someone inside the location had peed inside the cup, an employee indirectly accused him of peeing in it.
The video, which Lingnau uploaded on Oct. 26, has garnered 1.5 million views in the span of three days. Burger King employees have responded, and it’s even led to the Lingnau family calling the health department. So, will anything be done about the alleged contaminated beverage?
Burger King’s employees respond
Multiple Burger King employees—including the supposed district manager for Elma, Washington–reached out to Lingnau on TikTok direct message regarding the issue. Some replied in her live feed while she was discussing the story, while others directly messaged her.
Some messengers, who claimed to be employees, said that it was impossible for Burger King to distribute a contaminated drink that night.
One person going by the handle @kota_is.a.ho3._, sent Brittany a message that said, “Hey girl, you seriously don’t have to believe me but… that claim is fake. I promise you I [know] who was working, and it would not be possible to hand out a drink that’s contaminated with no footage of it.”
In her video, where she posted screenshots from the employees who personally reached out to her, Brittany asked, “Why are your employees seeking me out? I am not lying about this. My husband is not lying about this and we wanted to deal with this with Burger King but obviously that’s not going to work so I’ve contacted the health department and spoke with them and made a report and he’s gonna make a report with the police department.”
Since posting that video, however, Brittany has deleted the screenshots, leaving up her Oct. 28 update and other videos.
@vividlybritt Here is the full video of us going back to BK @Burger King ♬ original sound – Brittany Lingnau
An update on Oct. 28
Lingnau called the health department, which, according to her, will be doing its own investigation into the matter. Her husband may also have called the police department regarding the situation.
Lingau clarified in her update that the family wasn’t looking for a refund or compensation. They just wanted the party responsible for allegedly peeing in the cup to get in trouble. Whether that means firing or something criminal depends on how far an investigation can go.
Many commenters asked why Lingnau threw away the cup, which would contain evidence. She said hindsight is 20-20. She wasn’t thinking about the police department or the hospital for her child. They just wanted an actual response from Burger King.
She also commented further on that location: “From the sounds of it, that Burger King is yucky. Roaches and mold and.. Just yucky stuff… It’s not surprising me that this happened.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Brittany Lingnau and Burger King via email. We’ve also reached out to @kota_is.a.ho3 via TikTok direct message.
Update Oct. 31, 2025:
We reached out to Burger King’s media line, and an official spokesperson gave a comment on the situation: “The claims made in this video are false. At Burger King, we take food safety and the well-being of our Guests very seriously. After learning of this claim, the local health department conducted an on-site inspection, reviewed footage from the time of the reported incident, and confirmed there were no health code violations.”
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