In a viral video, a mom called out Chick-fil-A for allowing teenagers to work outside in the drive-thru in extreme heat conditions.
In the video, Shannon Norwood (@blushbrowzandlashes), a New Orleans business owner and cosmetologist, aired her frustrations with Chick-fil-A after going through the chains’s drive-thru.
“Chick-fil-A, y’all need to f*cking do better. Take them kids out of the drive-thru. They do not have to stand in the drive-thru to take our orders,” Norwood said.
Norwood put her statement into context, stating that it’s 107 degrees in Gonzales, Louisiana, where she is. The 7-day forecast projects four 100-degree-plus days. The heat index in New Orleans, about an hour’s drive away, hit 117 on Sunday.
“Baby, it’s hot out in New Orleans. Do you get what I’m telling you?” Norwood said.
When Norwood goes through the chicken spot’s drive-thru on a hot day, she sees the teenage workers visibly sweating and tired. Even if the chain rectified the situation by adding fans in the drive-thru, it wouldn’t help to bow hot air at the kids.
“B*tch, we know how to place an order,” Norwood said, driving home the alleged lack of necessity for workers to be taking drive-thru orders outside in the heat.
@blushbrowzandlashes This really pisses me off every time I go in @Chick-fil-A ♬ original sound – BlushBrowz&Lashes
She added that the food at Chick-fil-A is so good that customers already know they’ll face a long line and will have to wait for their food. Given that, it’s unnecessary to try to speed up the process by having the teenagers take orders.
If anything, the adult managers should be the ones out there, Norwood said: “Send management out there. While the adults get to be inside in the AC, y’all got people children out in the drive-thru.”
Norwood said she understands the workers’ plight because her own kids used to work there until she pulled them out of that job.
“Parents, get your kids out Chick-fil-A,” Norwood said, concluding the video.
The TikTok has more than 215,000 views and over 1,000 comments.
“This really pisses me off every time I go in @Chick-fil-A Get the kids out that damn drive thru, it’s too damn hot outside!” the caption read.
Several people in the comments agreed with Norwood and shared their own experiences.
“I worked there. That little covering and even the fan is not enough. They would have us rotate but still it was too hot,” a top comment read.
“as an employee going thru this thank u. we have fans but they don’t do nothin when it’s 100 out + we don’t get to b under them at lunch rush,” a person said.
“100%!!!! Atlanta here… they’ll be standing out in the rain, heat and ice girl. It’s not okay! All for the sake of some drive thru times,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Norwood for comment via Instagram DM and to Chick-fil-A via email.
In an Instagram reply, Norwood said that it really pisses her off every time she sees teens working Chick-fil-A’s drive-through lines. She thinks it should be illegal to have them in those working, and when her daughters used to work there, she’d pick them up so they wouldn’t have to stay out in the heat.
She also addressed comments about the kids being rotated out, sharing that she’s noticed the same kids working out there without anything, like ice cream, industrial air conditioning, or ice water cups, to keep them cool.
Norwood called the conditions “inhumane” and said she would be in support of the kids if they decided to strike. She added that it’s unfair to expect good service or excitement for having a job and personal responsibility from teenagers who are exhausted from the heat and working conditions.
“Are any other parents concerned about these kids?” Norwood said, adding that when she sees teens working the drive-thru, she pulls over to bring the issue to management’s attention.
