A woman working at a Louisiana Applebee’s sparked outrage this week after she posted a video online showing herself dipping the ends of her freshly braided hair into a cup while on the clock.
The woman said that she had just gotten her hair braided and went straight to work afterward. However, there was still one final step left in the process, and she decided the restaurant was as good a place as any to get it done.
In the clip, the employee stood inside the restaurant’s kitchen area, directly in front of what appeared to be a stainless-steel food-preparation counter. She gathered the loose ends of her braids together and lowered them into a disposable cup filled with hot water.
After leaving her hair in the cup for a few seconds, the employee pulled it out and wrapped a towel around the ends to soak up the excess water. She then tossed her braids to the side, leaned toward the camera, stuck out her tongue, and ended the video.
Now, dipping the ends of synthetic braiding hair into hot water is commonly done as a finishing step to seal the ends, soften the extensions, and help keep the braids from unraveling. But because the employee was doing it in a restaurant kitchen, viewers widely criticized her behavior and called for her to be fired.
Viewers Were Grossed Out by the Louisiana Applebee’s Employee
On TikTok, netizens were baffled by the employee’s location of choice to handle her hair. “I don’t understand what would make someone think this was okay!!! JAIL please… stop doing your hair on the job,” one comment read. Another questioned, “The fatigue is exhausting. why would you do something so nasty like that?” A third wrote, “Just seeing that makes me wanna throw up how disgusting.” A fourth added, “This is why I’ve stopped eating at restaurants nasty employees.”
Others wanted the employee to face consequences for her actions, with one person declaring, “She needs to be fired.” Someone else called for her to face a “huge fine” and said she should be “restricted from getting hired in any type food job [sic].”
Some black viewers were similarly unimpressed with what they saw. “This is the reason why people do not want to hire us,” one commented, while another chimed in, “I’m ashamed of these kind [sic] of ppl.”
A few people, however, said they could not understand the public outrage and thought the woman did nothing wrong. One netizen asked, “She’s dipping her hair in a disposable cup…..what is the issue?” Another defended the employee more emphatically, writing, “SHE’S NOT GOING TO SERVE THAT TO ANY CUSTOMER IT’S JUST TO SET HER BRAIDS SO THEY WON’T COME LOOSE!!!”
Meanwhile, the employee appears to have deleted the original video following the backlash, although copies have continued circulating online. As of this writing, Applebee’s has not publicly addressed the video or said whether the employee will face any consequences over it.
