Red Lobster Mother's Day Brawl Goes Viral

Angry customer tried to force her way inside
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2020 4:55 PM CDT

Tempers boiled over and a customer saw red outside a Red Lobster in Pennsylvania on Mother's Day. In video that has now gone viral, workers at the East York restaurant push a shouting customer, apparently frustrated at long wait times, out of the restaurant. The woman, who identifies herself as Kathy Hill, demands a refund. Workers assure her she will receive one, but she tries to force her way back inside and ends up taking a swing at the manager, PennLive reports. Unlike the restaurant workers, she was not wearing a mask. The scuffle continued outside the restaurant, with other workers separating the woman and the manager.

"We're paying customers," a person shouts during the video. "You've got people out here waiting three hours for food!" Police Lt. Tony Beam says officers spoke to the woman, who "was upset because her food wasn't ready," but no charges were filed, USA Today reports. He says customers were not allowed inside the restaurant, which is required to offer only take-out and delivery service. Red Lobster says that due to staff shortages, customers experienced long wait times Sunday. "We expect our team members [to] treat our guests with respect, and we expect our guests to treat our team members with respect in return," the chain said in a statement. "We are grateful our manager and the guest involved were not seriously injured in the incident on Sunday." (More Pennsylvania stories.)

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