A dispute between Dunkin’ employees and a manager went viral when a third party got involved by posting a series of videos chronicling the friction on TikTok.
The four videos come from creator Kimberly (@_medlifekim), who shares a video that was sent to her child, who works at the coffee chain, by the store’s manager. In the video, the manager is heard chewing out her employees for not completing tasks correctly and breaking the rule of drinking store drinks for free.
In the first clip, which received upwards of 315,000 views, Kimberly tags Dunkin’ in the caption, asking, “Is this how your managers supposed to treat their employees?”
@_medlifekim Part 1: @Dunkin’ Is this how your managers supposed to treat their employees? #dunkindonuts #rude #unprofessional ♬ original sound – Kimberly 🤪
The TikTok shows a message that an employee received from their supervisor at Dunkin’. The manager can be heard berating an worker for leaving eggs out, which according to her, resulted in “$146 down the drain.” She also says the employee will lose two days of work for being responsible for the waste.
In the second clip, which got 24,4000 views, the creator shares yet another video that the manager allegedly sent her child. The TikToker also notes that the Dunkin’ manager was “messaging minors early in the morning.”
In the video, a half-full Dunkin’ beverage cup can be seen, with her stressing that nothing in the store is free for employees. “You can’t eat nothing for free, no ice cream, no nothing.” She goes on to say that when she finds out which of her employees was responsible, she was going to make them pay for the drink and suspend them from work for a week.
At one point in that video, the manager remarks, “Y’all are going to follow the rules in here, or y’all gonna stay home and play with your parents.”
@_medlifekim Part 2:@Dunkin’ messaging minors early in the morning #dunkindonuts #rude #unprofessional ♬ original sound – Kimberly 🤪
Despite the fact that Kimberly posted these videos to TikTok with the belief that the Dunkin’ manager was in the wrong, viewers felt otherwise and let it be known in the ensuing discussion in the comments section.
One person, responding to the first video, said, “I’m confused, I’m on the manager side.”
Another reasoned, “If this was my manager, id understand. I hear nothing wrong coming from her. Hope she gets better employees.”
When one user wrote, “I dont see nothing wrong with what she said or her tone, shes firm and sounds like a black mom. Do your job correctly,” Kimberly decided to create a follow-up video.
She argued with the commenter, saying, that although she didn’t work there herself, she would “be darned if anybody talked to [her] child that kind of way.”
The second clip brought in 32,300 views and more comments in which viewers expressed their solidarity with the Dunkin’ manager.
“Y’all new parents be killing me. THIS IS A MANAGER WHO IS ENFORCING RULES INSTEAD FIRING THEM.”
Another opined, “If you not following the rules you dont need a job,” adding, “this isnt school we not holding hands.”
In a second response video, which addressed the comment, “Your child was wrong and you wrong,” Kimberly claimed someone sent her the video and clarifies that she doesn’t have a child who works there.
She does say, however, that she wouldn’t let anyone talk to her child like that and that the right thing to do would be for the Dunkin’ manager to address the employee individually and not put them on blast in a group message.
The video only received 8,997 views with one commenter responding, “Regardless, you’re wrong, we aren’t on your side,” noting, “The whole shift was wrong by not putting the eggs up.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Dunkin’ via email.
