Ordering online for pickup is supposed to be a great way to jump ahead of the line. But it cost at least one Popeyes customer time—and may even have led to an encounter with the police. At least, that’s what a video posted by TikToker and real estate agent Monique Santos (@moniquelsantos09) suggests.
@moniquelsantos09 ♬ original sound – Monique Santos
The video, which Monique posted five days ago, has picked up 764,300 views as of this article’s publication. It shows footage of a customer pleading to be given his order at a Popeyes. The customer, who appears to be holding the camera, claims to have ordered and paid for his food online prior to arriving at the fast-food restaurant.
“Will you please get out of the store?” an employee later identified as the manager says at the top of the video. The customer responds by asking if he can have his order, adding, “I’ve already paid for my food.” The manager appears to refuse to give the customer his order.
“Please, can I get my order? It’s right there. Just three pieces of chicken and red beans and rice,” the customer asks as the manager gets on the restaurant’s landline phone. She appears to be contacting the police and states that she has a customer who refuses to leave the store and is recording her “for no reason.”
The Popeye’s customer states once again that the manager will not give him his food or a refund. While the manager continues to speak to the police, he begins to tell other customers in line about the situation. “I don’t know what to do,” he says.
The manager appears to get into an argument with another worker, and the situation then escalates as she starts to berate the customer.
“I don’t care what you paid for! Did you give me money? Did you put money in my hands?” she asks.
“I can show you my receipt!” the customer responds. But the Popeye’s manager answers, “I don’t care what you show me! Get out of the store!”
The customer approaches the manager to ask her name. She gives her name and demands once again that he leave the store. Then, she knocks the phone out of the customer’s hand.
Responses to the video were mixed, with many supporting the customer. However, several viewers mentioned that the real cause of the conflict was the online ordering process, and some offered similar stories of bad pickup and delivery experiences.
“I’m betting the system glitched and the order didn’t go [through] on their end, and [the] manager is assuming the guy is [trying to] steal three pieces of chicken,” one person wrote.
“Every DoorDash [order] I[‘ve] ever picked up from @Popeyes was exactly like this,” another viewer commented about the notoriously bad service at the fast food chain.
Someone else said, “Popeyes is the most ratchet fast-food franchise in the country and I doubt they care about it.”
Popeyes does not appear to have a clear refund policy for online orders on its website. Many restaurant apps will only provide refunds through the app itself.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Popeyes’ parent company, Restaurant Brands International, via email for further comment. We have also reached out to Monique Santos via TikTok to learn more about what happened to the customer in the video.
