Whether or not we're parents, we understand that all children are unique and developing at slightly different rates. Their interests in school are different, some are more aligned with sports or a musical instrument, and their bodies are all a little different.
Though these are reasonable observations, we have to be careful about how we address these differences with children, so that we don't create negative core memories with them and so we are sensitive to their potential insecurities.
Unfortunately for Heather Taylor and her six-year-old daughter, a Chick-fil-A manager may have managed to do exactly the opposite.
At the Beaver Creek Commons location in Apex, North Carolina, Taylor was appalled when a manager accused her daughter of being "too big" to play in the restaurant's play area. Though she was slightly too tall for the location, her weight was physically proportionate to her height, and she wasn't the tallest child spending time in the playground.
So the six-year-old unfortunately walked away from the situation thinking she was too big in the sense of her weight, and remembering how "mean" the manager was to her.
You can see the video here:
Fellow TikTokers started calling Chick-fil-A out on the uncalled-for behavior.
@heatherlynne80/TikTok
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In a second video, Taylor shared less of an update than she was hoping for, stating that she had reached out to Chick-fil-A's corporate office and also left reviews on multiple platforms, but with no real feedback.
Emails had been sent, with nothing more than "we received your email"-style replies.
Taylor still hoped that the restaurant chain would take accountability for what had happened, leading to a negative "core memory" for her child that she as her mother could not take back.
You can watch that video here:
Fellow TikTokers continued to applaud Taylor for standing up for her daughter.
@heatherlynne80/TikTok
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In a third video, Taylor confirmed that she would never go back to Chick-fil-A, despite her long history of regularly visiting the restaurant chain over the years.
She had finally connected with the owner of the store location, and the gentleman had essentially "laughed his way" through their conversation and "tried to make small talk" rather than addressing the larger issues.
Another problem was that the camera footage the owner was able to access did not have audio, so while the manager's gesticulations looked reasonable enough to him, Taylor's friend insisted that the gestures and yelling had been much more intense, and obviously scarring for a child, in the moment.
Though Taylor wasn't expecting compensation or anything of that nature, she was disgusted that the owner would not even take ownership of the situation and apologize for what their experience had been, even if it had just been a big misunderstanding.
You can watch that video here:
Though the manager was supposedly a nice woman and had been in her position for 12 years, that is hardly enough to make a person immune to making mistakes and needing to be held accountable.
As Taylor said, the restaurant didn't necessarily need to compensate the family in some way, like with meal vouchers or anything, but recognizing that there had been a misunderstanding, miscommunication and hurt caused by this interaction—and then doing something about it—likely would have earned them renewed trust from a long-time customer.
Sometimes people forget what is really important in life, and this is a great time to remind all of us that pride should not be our top priority, but rather, respect.
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