Burger King Employee Speaks Out After Woman Says Uniform Is A ‘Distraction’ To Her Husband
Women aren't strangers when it comes to body-shamers and people policing how we dress, and social media has given us the opportunity to share our experiences.
Now one woman has gone viral on TikTok for an incident between her, a female customer, and a husband who wouldn't keep his eyes to himself. What was the culprit? The woman's Burger King uniform.
Workplace Attire
Every workplace has rules for how employees should be dressed. For example, office workers typically have greater freedom in attire and can wear a suit or dress, or more casual clothing, while someone in a riskier setting would wear protective gear, such as construction workers.
But if you've ever been a fast-food restaurant, you've probably realized that employees wear company uniforms.
The TikTok
Viola, also known as @rockefeller.o on TikTok, is an employee at Burger King and she often shares videos of her adventures at work. Recently, Viola went viral with over 27 million views on one particular video.
She captioned the post with, "Girl, f*** you."
The Customer Incident
The video begins with Viola in a Burger King bathroom and dressed in her work uniform, including a baggy polo shirt, black pants, a mask, and hat. She spins around for the camera and shows off her uniform and curvy figure, which is what sparked an incident with a customer.
"I had a lady complain today because my uniform was a 'distraction' to her husband..."
Next Time
The TikTok itself is only nine seconds long but speaks volumes as to how Viola feels about the uncomfortable and humiliating incident. She ends the video by giving the camera two middle fingers and a caption that sarcastically jokes about how she's going to resolve the issue.
"I guess I'll leave my a** at home next time?"
Clapping Back
In response to a TikTok user who said that Viola needed to "learn the definition" of what it actually means to be objectified and harassed, Viola fired back. She later posted a follow-up video to explain what led up to and what happened during the incident with the customer.
"First of all, if you are a man do not ever fix your mouth to speak on womanly business," she says.
A Bit Of Backstory
"Let's make one thing abundantly clear," Viola says. "When this Karen started her crusade she did not come at me politely or none of that. She started yelling directly in my face telling me how I was inappropriately dressed and a distraction to her husband. Mind you, I'm literally wearing my uniform."
Viola says that the woman demanded that she untuck her work shirt so it covered her butt.
The Audacity
Viola says the customer's demand to cover up her body (despite being fully dressed) is how she was sexually objectified. She adds that the customer continued to yell, which caused Viola to feel insecure and want to "run away and hide."
"[This woman] goes an entire rant about how I need to cover up my body and tries to impose her more conservative thoughts onto me," she says. "How do you get the audacity?"
A New Uniform
In order to drive her point across, Viola shared another TikTok that's meant just "for the body-shamers." Viola wears her current Burger King uniform and holds up two other articles of clothing. The first is a new pair of pants that are loose fit and two sizes bigger, and another shirt. But despite the wardrobe change, she makes an important point.
"As y'all can see, regardless of what I wear, my thang will always be thangin'."
Wandering Eyes
Viola's initial TikTok went viral with over 5.7 million likes and nearly 54,000 comments and many users soon came to her defense against the Karen she dealt with at work and body-shamers online. Many users slammed the Burger King customers and how the woman's issue should be with her wandering-eyed husband, not Viola.
"Maybe she should work on distracting her own husband herself," one user commented.
If You Got It, Flaunt It
Following the posting of her TikTok, Viola had to defend herself multiple times regarding body-shamers, but she did receive abundant support from the community.
In a final message for body-shamers, Viola wrote in a comment, "Please stop projecting your insecurities onto me & shaming me for how my body is NATURALLY shaped."
