A female customer who visited a Chipotle in Parma, Ohio, was charged with assault and disorderly conduct after she pitched a fit—and hurled a burrito bowl at an employee.
The suspect, identified as 39-year-old Rosemary Lynn Hayne, was caught on video having some sort of dispute about her order.
Customers in line started recording the tense scene on their cellphones, prepared to catch a viral moment for posterity.
Sure enough, the confrontation escalated, resulting in Hayne slamming the order of her burrito bowl in the face of the Chipotle worker.
The clip ended with an older woman marching right up to Hayne and scolding her while attempting to prevent her from making her exit following the tantrum.
You can see the viral Reddit clip, below.
Social media users on X (formerly Twitter) were appalled at Hayne's behavior.
Meanwhile, people praised the one customer who had the fortitude to intervene.
According to Yahoo! News, a witness who requested anonymity recalled:
“We walked in, and it was really busy. You could tell they were slammed."
“You could tell she was upset with her order."
"She ended up grabbing her order and left. About five minutes later, she came back in.”
“At that moment, I wasn’t sure what to do because I felt so awful for [the worker]."
"At the same time, I was nervous to get involved."
The witness said they and the older woman who confronted Hayne ran out and managed to write down the license plate number of the suspect's car.
The Chipotle worker who was assaulted did not want to do an on-camera interview but did say that the incident left her shocked and dealing with anxiety.
The witness said of the victim:
“We were so impressed with the way she was able to handle herself."
"She had been dealing with it, the woman was screaming for 10 minutes before that and then came back in and continued to act that way."
According to GoFundMe, the employee's name was Emily, and a donation page was set up for her by customers.
The campaign's description read in part:
"Emily maintained her composure and showed her resilience during this terrible incident."
"I would like to show my support by starting this fundraiser. All money donated will be given to Emily."
As of Friday afternoon, $872 was raised ahead of the page's $1,500 goal.
A fellow service industry worker who donated offered encouraging words for Emily.
Contributor Heather Janssen wrote:
"I work in the service industry as a flight attendant and I find this behavior deplorable and repugnant."
"I am so sorry you had to deal with this. You handled yourself beautiful in a horrible situation."
"Hope this financial support will help with giving you time to process and heal."
"Moving forward just remember there are a lot of really wonderful people and customers out there."
"Focus on those moments moving forward."
Wise words.
@GregAbbott_TX/X
