A Dunkin’ customer is going viral on TikTok after sharing a bizarre encounter she witnessed between a worker and their manager.
Sydney (@sydnrho), who lives in Kentucky, was recording a friend as he ordered from Dunkin’s drive-thru. After asking for “avocado toast with bacon,” along with two additional items, the worker says, “I mean, damn.” The six-second clip ends there.
In the accompanying text overlay, Sydney suggested the Dunkin’ worker was punished for his outburst.
“When we were ordering the holiday menu this morning @ dunky and the guy left his mic on by accident then we proceeded to witness him get fired for this and he walked out yelling at the manager,” she wrote. “OOP.”
As of Monday, her TikTok had amassed more than 731,900 views.
@sydnrho #holidaymenu #dunkin #dunkindonuts #dunky #christmas #nov1st #cookiebuttercoldbrew ♬ The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) – Nat King Cole Trio
What happened after she stopped recording?
In a follow-up video, Sydney confirmed that she didn’t “tell” on the worker nor attempt to get him fired.
In fact, she clarified she was in the middle of recording when she heard the worker’s comment and thought it was “hilarious.” But apparently his superiors didn’t agree.
Sydney said that by the time she and her friend pulled around the drive-thru, the two Dunkin’ workers were “exchanging words.” She added, too, that the manager apparently heard him and, in response, the worker “cussed her out.” That apparently led to the worker storming out and getting fired.
“I didn’t ‘tell on him,’” Sydney wrote. “It’s a less than 5 sec clip that was meant to be funny.”
Sydney was upfront about the fact that she made her friend wake up at 6:30am to accompany her to Dunkin’. As a result, some viewers joked that the worker was simply cranky.
“I worked at dunkin for almost a year and when I tell you having to be there at 4am has you saying some off the wall stuff,” one commenter said.
Content creators document their experiences with Dunkin’
Sydney made it clear that she didn’t take issue with the Dunkin’ worker’s remarks. But in other popular TikTok videos, content creators have documented their own less-than-ideal encounters at their chain.
In March, one woman said that two separate drive-thru workers were rude to her. While picking up her food at the window, she said that one of the employees questioned why she needed certain condiments with her order. More recently, in October, a woman said that she ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich where the meat looked like Play-Doh.
But Dunkin’ is mostly known for its secret off-menu items and holiday specials. In the fall, it rolled out a Halloween Munchkin Bucket filled with doughnut holes covered in chocolate and orange sprinkles. The bucket could then later be used for trick-or-treating.
On Oct. 29, the chain debuted its new holiday menu, which includes items such as the store’s first-ever almond croissant, a holiday cookie signature latte, and a hash brown brisket scramble bowl. (In a third video, Sydney showed viewers that she ordered two of the three holiday items.) In a comment, she said that she ordered Dunkin’s cookie butter doughnut, which she said was “so good.”
Viewers weigh in on Dunkin’ worker’s hot mic moment
In the comments section of Sydney’s video, some viewers expressed skepticism that the hot mic moment was the workers only infraction.
“As a former Dunkin employee that was def not the only reason he was fired,” one man wrote.
“That cannot be the only reason bc I’m sure in my 4 years at Wendy’s I had a slip up like that & (truthfully or not) I just apologized rq and went ‘sorry we just had a spill in here!’” another shared.
“No way he got fired for this,” a third person agreed.
Others, however, said that the worker was in the wrong for his outburst—even if it wasn’t what led to his firing.
“Don’t work in food service let alone morning shifts if u can’t compose yourself,” one viewer said.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if they ordered 5 drinks + food,” another added.
“This is his job. If you don’t have good customer service skills or patience then maybe you should work nightshift somewhere idk.”
“I bet he’s also a server who gets mad because folks don’t tip yet this is his attitude,” a third user wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sydney via TikTok comment and to Dunkin’ by email.
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