A shocking scene unfolded recently in Kansas City, Missouri when a customer lost his cool with a worker in Popeyes because they called his wife “beautiful“. The verbal altercation became quite heated, and was captured on camera by a witness at the scene. Due to the awkward and fiery nature of the footage, the clip has since gone viral.
The tense exchange takes place at the counter of the Popeyes establishment in Kansas City, and sees several workers stood behind the till as a customer angrily scolds them. The clip starts mid-sentence, as the Popeyes patron begins furiously lambasting the workers. “–F*cking beautiful? You just said out of your own mouth what you just said to her. How are you gonna tell me?” The Popeyes employee replies with something hard to make out, but it sounds like, “We didn’t say something illegal.” but this does not placate the irate customer.
“No. You said she is beautiful. Yes or no?” yells the patron. “I said you are looking so good.” responds the Popeyes worker, calmly. “Why the f*ck would you say that?” shouts the customer, though the worker does apologise and says “sorry“. The customer then turns to the cameraman and asks, “Please get this.”
“Am I crazy?” the customer asks the witness recording, before continuing on. “Your wife comes to the store. She wants to pick up a freaking sandwich. Is she crazy? That she sits through these f*cking compliments, these f*cking creeps. This is not your f*cking country. This is not India or something, dude. You’re in the f*cking States.” In the background, you can hear the remorseful workers apologising, and saying things like, “I understand.” and “Yes, Sir.”
After a brief back and forth, with one of the workers blaming their behaviour on being a “generational thing“, the furious customer declares, “It is never okay to speak to a woman you do not know and talk about her looks. There is a difference in class, there is a difference in respect, there is no difference in generation.”
As tensions continue to rise, the cameraman helpfully attempts to defuse the situation. “Listen, you’ve made your point, man. They’ve learned their lesson. They won’t do it again.” exclaims the cameraman. Rounding out the awkward exchange, the customer explains, “Just for future sake. Please don’t do that to anyone. I’m a very nice person. You will someday see a motherf*cker that is not as nice. You know what I’m saying. There are some crazy people out there. And this is Kansas.”
With the video making the rounds on the internet, social media users flooded the comments to chime in with their two cents. Over on Reddit, one user wrote, “Should’ve flipped it and said he was beautiful” with another replying to this comment with, “I think that’s what he was really hurt about…” Meanwhile, a commenter on Instagram sided with the Popeyes workers and penned, “Dude’s got insecurity written all over his face 😂”
As the clip continues to snowball online, it serves as a timely reminder of how a throwaway compliment — no matter how well-intended it was meant to be — can sometimes come across as rude and disrespectful in a professional setting, especially when it comes to peoples’ appearances.
