In a viral TikTok, a so-called Karen’s attempt to “see a manager” totally backfired when Wendy’s staff refused to answer her questions—and eventually quieted her down using a bullhorn.
The video was posted over the weekend and by Tuesday had over 200,000 views.
From the conversation in the video, it appears that the woman is dismayed that employees are closing up early at a Wendy’s store in Columbus, Ohio. The woman makes her complaint clear to the store’s management.
When an employee notices she is recording, however, he calmly asks her to leave.
“You are not allowed to [record], and I will call the police,” the employee says.
Unperturbed, the woman’s questions continue, and the employee walks away—or so it seems. After a cut in the video, it’s revealed that the employee actually picked up a combination bullhorn and flashlight that he shines into the camera and yells loudly into the microphone, briefly stunning the woman into silence.
On TikTok, commenters fell in love with this improvised customer neutralization tool.
“Please tell me where this is so I can go there and give the manager and staff a 200% tip,” one commenter wrote. “Love the bullhorn!”
Another joked that this should be commonplace. “I have been saying this for years. Normalize bull horns in retail locations!”
The TikTok appears to be sourced from two YouTube videos uploaded in April to a channel seemingly devoted to the incident. The first video is titled “Customer Confronts Rude Wendy’s Employee Part 1” and the second is called, “Wendy’s Employee Shoves Bullhorn In Customers Face.”
In the description of the first video, the so-called “Karen” elaborates on her side of the story.
“This Wendy’s advertises a close time of 1:00AM on their website but when I went there at around midnight on 4/13/2021 there was no service,” the user wrote. “I called the restaurant on 4/14/2021 to inquire about their real hours of operation and to voice my disappointment that they weren’t adhering to their posted closing time.”
The woman rejects the idea that she was rude to the employees. “Please note that, at no point was I insulting DESPITE the rude manner in which I was spoken to. Never even raised my voice. I was told their hours of operation are none of my business, they plan to close early all week and then he hung up on me.”
The YouTuber who posted the videos, Kayla Wright, did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.
From all of this information, it appears that this incident was motivated by the Wendy’s location’s inconsistent working hours, which many TikTok commenters noted is due to nationwide labor shortages.
“A lot of places close early due to staffing issues,” one commenter wrote. “My Wendy’s closes at 10pm now because of staff shortages.”
“I am in retail and we have been closing opening late due to being shorthanded everyday,” another echoed.
TikTok commenters also reminded the woman to focus on bigger issues in life.
“All over a Wendy’s burger,” writes a TikTok user. “Move on girl, life is super short.”
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