Viewers were outraged by a viral New York KFC interaction with a deaf customer, until one employee won them over

In a post that has since garnered hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, a deaf woman is seen recording an attendant wearing a headset behind the counter at a KFC. Follow-up posts revealed that the interaction took place at a KFC on West Ridge Road in Greece, New York, and that the woman is deaf and felt she was not being treated with the courtesy she deserved.

She tries her best to communicate with the attendant, but the employee asks her to stop recording before they can properly address her concerns. One of the attendant’s colleagues comes over and tries to defuse the situation, but the attendant insists that she can handle it herself.

Eventually, another colleague steps in and manages to reassure the customer in a calm voice, explaining that she will take care of her. Users in the comments overwhelmingly complimented how well she handled the situation.

The KFC got review bombed on Google Reviews

One user wrote, “The last girl’s energy is so calm and beautiful.” Other users in the comments suggested review-bombing the KFC location. Over the past few days, the restaurant has received a wave of one-star reviews on Google. One reads, “Some of your workers are extremely rude and aggressive to people with disabilities. People who don’t have patience or willingness to help people with disabilities should not be working with the public or in customer service!” Another echoed those sentiments, writing, “Would never go here. The way a deaf woman was treated here is cruel. I hope the staff is dealt with appropriately.”

Other reviews simply called for the employee who calmed the situation to receive a raise while asking for the other employee to be fired. Another TikTok account later came forward and provided additional context about what supposedly happened.

There is no real way to verify whether that account is accurate, but some of its claims do help explain the situation. Allegedly, the deaf woman had ordered a five-piece chicken tender box with potato wedges and a drink through Uber Eats for pickup.

However, when she arrived at the restaurant, her order was not ready. She is said to have approached an attendant for help, but because she is deaf, she did not understand what the attendant was trying to tell her. A fellow customer then realized what was happening, stepped in to help, and received the order on her behalf.

Her order was getting cold on the counter

But there was a miscommunication, so the woman kept waiting. After growing impatient, she approached the attendant again and wrote on her phone that she had been waiting longer than usual. The attendant reportedly told her that staff had been calling out orders for some time and that her food had been sitting on the counter waiting for her. She then wrote on her phone that she did not want to take food that had been getting cold on the counter.

That is believed to be the point at which the viral video begins. Fortunately, the other KFC employee was also there and was able to salvage whatever goodwill the restaurant still had from the customer’s perspective.