An Instacart shopper says that a Del Taco employee stared through a crack in the women’s bathroom stall because she “thought [she] was a man,” sparking outrage in the comments of the now-viral TikTok.
In the video posted by TikToker @hikerdiscoveries on Jan. 12, she explains that she was in the parking lot of the Del Taco in Lake Elsinore, California to get “better service” for delivery requests.
She continues that she decided to use the restroom in the nearby Del Taco but soon realized that someone had followed her into the women’s restroom.
“I realize that someone is staring at me. I look up and there’s an employee with their face right at the door looking through the cracks at me while I take my pants down,” she says in the clip. “We stared at each other for a good 30 seconds until I finally said, ‘Are you staring at me? What are you doing?’”
She says the employee says, “Oh, no, no. I thought you were a man.”
After she leaves the restroom, she says that she asks for a manager and then asks for the “corporate number,” to which an employee says that the store is a “franchise.”
The TikToker shows a picture of the woman who allegedly followed her into the bathroom in the clip, and asks commenters to help her figure out who the worker is.
@hikerdiscoveries i was harrased for going into a womens restroom #deltaco #harrasment #karen #gender #genderissues #lgbt #lgbtqi #equality #equalityforall #genderequality #illgowithyou #wejustneedtopee #california #lakeelsinore ♬ original sound – Hiker discoveries
The video has reached over 305,000 views as of Feb. 27, with many commenters blasting the Del Taco worker for harassing her.
“Not only get a police report, call the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint, news stations Yelp & Google Reviews….,” one commenter said.
“I’m sorry this happened. I worry about this bc my wife is a masc presenting woman and she gets stares all the time. I hope you can get this resolved,” another wrote.
“So sorry that was done to you. What a horrible person, what a horrible company for treating you like that,” a third added.
In an update video on Jan. 13, she says that she tried to call Del Taco’s corporate number but was put on hold twice. She then called the local police but was unable to get “through to them.”
However, she says that Del Taco reached out to her through Facebook to get in touch about the situation.
@hikerdiscoveries update on peeping tom at Del Taco #deltaco #harrasment #karensgoingwild #karensoftiktok #karen #gender #genderissues #lgbt #lgbtqi #equality #equalityforall #genderequality #illgowithyou #wejustneedtopee #california #lakeelsinore ♬ original sound – Hiker discoveries
In another update video on Feb. 3, she says that she finally got a call from corporate. She relays that the corporate worker asked her whether she thought the worker was “seeking pleasure” or “just trying to verify that [her] genitals match the restroom.”
“I was kind of blown away by this question. Honestly, I have no idea what her intentions were. It doesn’t matter what her intentions were. It’s still not acceptable,” she says in the clip.
She continues that the corporate worker said they would put the worker on “leave” until they completed an “investigation”— saying that she would talk to the employees the following Monday.
@hikerdiscoveries says that a few days later, she received another call that the investigation was “inconclusive” because the employees sided with the worker.
She ends the video by saying that she is planning to pursue legal action against Del Taco.
@hikerdiscoveries deltaco sweaping sexual harassment under the rug #deltaco #wejustneedtopee #california #illgowithyou #genderequality #equalityforall #equality #lgbtqi #lgbt #genderissues #gender #karen #harrasment #mistakenidentity #karensoftiktok #karensgoingwild #stopsexualharasement ♬ original sound – Hiker discoveries
The Daily Dot reached out to @hikerdiscoveries via TikTok direct message and to Del Taco via email.
