A video of a McDonald’s worker refusing to serve a customer coffee has been making the rounds on TikTok, garnering over 6.6 million views.
In the video, TikTok creator @bigjudo_ films the employee repeating the phrase, “I’m not serving you coffee,” over and over again. Big Judo, on the other end, repeats lines like, “And I’m stupid, right? Go ahead and say it again.”
Viewers in the comments were mostly confused about what led up to the exchange, with many siding with the employee.
Later, the McDonald’s worker posted her own video explaining what happened that morning.
What Went Down, According to the McDonald’s Worker
Under the TikTok account @t3h0nlyvvxdreamy, the McDonald’s worker posted her own video addressing the incident and explaining what led up to her refusing service.
She starts by clarifying that the interaction happened early Monday morning, around 5:30 a.m., near the end of her overnight shift. She says she had worked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and spent most of that time alone.
“I’m running floor, packing orders, packing drive-thru orders, mobile orders, delivery orders—and I also have to cook fries and hash browns by myself,” she says.
She explains that she wasn’t upset or having a bad day when the customer arrived. According to her, the situation escalated once the man pulled up to the drive-thru speaker.
“I’m taking the order through the headset, going like, ‘Welcome to McDonald’s, how can I help you today?’” she says. “No one was answering me, so I kept saying hello.”
When the customer finally responded, she says he immediately spoke to her disrespectfully.
“They were already being rude to me,” she says. “They were like, ‘Damn, [expletive], can I get a minute?’”
She says she ignored the comment at first and continued trying to do her job. The interaction worsened, she explains, when the man began asking questions about coffee options.
“He asked me what kind of coffee we got,” she says. “You acting like this is Starbucks. We don’t have much options.”
She says she directed him to the menu, which he didn’t like.
“He didn’t like how I responded,” she says. “That’s not my problem.”
According to the worker, the customer then began calling her names through the speaker. “So I’m like, OK, you know what sir, I’m not serving you,” she says.
She tells him she’s refusing service due to his behavior and begins taking another customer’s order instead. At that point, she believes he’s leaving, until he pulls up to the drive-thru window.
Things Escalate Further
“He gets out of his car and starts yelling,” she says.
She explains that her co-worker, who was in the kitchen and did not speak English, stepped toward the window at that moment.
“He starts yelling at her,” she says. “He’s like, ‘Who the [expletive] took my order, was it you, [expletive]?’”
The man then turns his attention back to her.
“He looks at me and he’s like, ‘Did you take my order, [expletive]?’” she says. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I took your order—and I’m not serving you.’”
She admits that the argument escalated further, including name-calling on both sides, before the man pulled out his phone and began recording her—the clip that later went viral.
After the video ended, she says the man left. But the situation doesn’t stop there.
She explains that later that same day, the man returned to the restaurant asking to speak with a manager. Her sister, who allegedly works as a manager at the location, handled the complaint.
“He really thought my sister was gonna be on his side,” she says. “She was the first person I told about the situation.”
According to the worker, the man denied calling her names and claimed she refused service for no reason. She disputes that.
“I told him plenty of times why I was not serving him,” she says. “It was because he was disrespecting me.”
She adds that management did not discipline her and that she remains employed.
“To this day, they still haven’t told me I’m in trouble,” she says. “Because I didn’t do nothing wrong.”
She ends by defending her decision to refuse service.
“I have the right to refuse service to anybody who is disrespecting me,” she says. “I don’t tolerate that [expletive].”
The Final Outcome
She was allegedly ultimately fired. In a follow-up post, she shared a photo of an employee discipline form showing the incident as her final warning.
According to the document, a previous warning cited rudeness toward customers, another referenced calling off work at the last minute, and the final one stemmed from the incident described in her video.
She later posted another video addressing each warning individually, explaining what she says happened in those situations and why she believes she did nothing wrong.
It’s worth noting that legal experts generally agree that private businesses have the right to refuse service to customers for disruptive behavior, as long as the decision is not based on protected characteristics such as race, sex, gender, or disability.
The Mary Sue has reached out to McDonald’s via email, as well as Big Judo and the worker involved, through TikTok messages.
@bigjudo_ Dam,I just wanted coffee for my lil boo ?? #Fyp #Viral #Mcdonalds #Bigjudo #Rapper ♬ original sound – bigjudo_
Commenters Side With The McDonald’s Worker
In the comments, many people shared images of cute animated characters dressed in McDonald’s uniforms, suggesting she looks similar.
Others focused on the worker being left alone during an early-morning shift.
“Girl all alone!??? where is your raise ?” one person wrote.
“SIS IS THE MANAGER. Thats SO clutch,” another commented.
“Working alone is so dangerous let alone in the morning :((” someone else said.
Others pointed to how customers treat workers during confrontations. “Customers get all disrespectful then act shocked when you respond .. bro just bc im clocked in doesnt mean im not a person… you were 100% in the right,” one person wrote.
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