A woman in Chicago, Illinois, ordered a latte at a local Dunkin’ and, after receiving it, she wished the employee a good day. She then received a thank you, followed by an unexpected label: “weirdo.” The woman then complained online, and, after her story went viral, Dunkin’ apologized, offering her a $100 gift card.
The clip was shared on TikTok by Inayah Beldeen. She is a popular content creator who often posts lifestyle videos around her life as a Muslim woman. The clip attached above became her biggest one ever, garnering 5.5 million views, 635,100 likes, and close to 5,800 comments.
A longer, unedited version of the 16-second clip showed the Illinois woman arriving at the Dunkin’ drive-thru. She was greeted by the aforementioned employee and, after deliberating, she ordered a small Marshmallow Cloud Dunkalatte and a Maple Frosted Donut.
Inayah drove to the next window, paid, and got her order. As she was accommodating the items in her car, she asked the employee, “How are you?” to no response. Then, Inayah thanked her and added, “Have a good day.”
The employee, however, responded, “You too. Thank you. Weirdo.” A confused Inayah, while driving away, only asked, “What?“
‘Weirdo’ Incident Context
In a follow-up clip, the Illinois woman said that the employee was apparently rude to her during the entire interaction. She said that the lady gave her “death stares,” even though she tried to have a brief conversation with her. And when she heard the “weirdo” and played it back as it had been recorded, she felt even more upset as she was having a bad day herself.
After clarifying that she didn’t believe the adjective came from racism or Islamophobia, Inayah added that, while she didn’t wish for the woman to be fired, she did want Dunkin’ to handle the situation.
As detailed in another follow-up, Inayah emailed Dunkin’ and got an apology in return. They offered her a $100 gift card and other items for her distasteful experience at the drive-thru.
Reactions
The videos sparked multiple heated responses, with many users leaving heated responses. One said, “Trusting the algorithm to bring me back for the unemployment update.” Another one commented, “I’m too problematic cus I’d be reversing.”
Others, however, believed that the Dunkin’ employee had misheard Inayah. One wrote, “It sounded like you said HURRY UP.” A small number of viewers even believed she had staged it all, with one user saying, “What a coincidence that you’re recording.” Given Dunkin’s response, this was quickly disproven.
Even though Inayah accepted the apology gifts, she didn’t return to the location. Most likely, she will never go back.
