Restaurant managers must possess a wide array of abilities; not only are they tasked with distributing responsibilities to waitstaff and cooks, but also need to have the fortitude needed to manage enraged customers. Praise is rarely found in any conversations about restaurants – rather, people tend to take advantage of opportunities that arise from negative experiences. A video taken on-site recently depicted an apt example: a customer throwing soup at the restaurant’s manager! Now society has been galvanized into discussing this matter deeply.
On the afternoon of November 7, 2021, a startling incident took place in Sol de Jalisco restaurant located in Temple, Texas. As per KCEN’s reportage on NBC affiliate channel – a woman approached customer service to voice her dissatisfaction with regard to the soup she was served.
The customer had become irate over the soup allegedly being served too hot, and police reported that in her rage she threw a container of hot soup into manager Jannelle Broland’s face as retribution for the restaurant. The woman had already raged at Broland on the phone prior to this incident, with an offer from Broland of a free replacement soup proving insufficient to placate her fury.
“All she wanted to do was yell and cuss,” Broland said. “She called me names and the kitchen staff names. I told her, ‘Ma’am, I can still help you. All I’m asking is you do not yell and curse at me.’ She says, ‘Oh no, honey, you haven’t heard attitude yet, and I will talk to you any which way I f—ing want. I said, ‘No ma’am, you will not,’ and I hung up the phone.”
The woman had phoned back, but upon being placed on hold while awaiting to talk with the manager, she abruptly hung up. She eventually revisited the restaurant only to voice her outrage directly and refused every attempt of rectifying — be it a convenient refund or an exchange for another bowl of soup — preferring instead flaring tempers that would result in a raucous scene.
“I said, ‘If you do not leave or calm down, I’m going to call the police,’ and she said, ‘I don’t give a f—. … I said, ‘Ma’am, I can still help you. I just need you to not curse and yell at me.’ That is when she made the split decision to grab (the soup) and throw it in my face,” stated Broland.
Thankfully, the soup wasn’t overly hot; however, its spiciness caused a burning sensation.
“It was still pretty warm, but if anything, the spices from our soup definitely affected me more than anything,” she stated. “It really felt like I had just been pepper-sprayed. My eyes were burning. My nose was bleeding.”
Broland was rocked by the attack, and now law enforcement is taking action.
“We do not condone this type of behavior and hold our citizens to the highest standard,” Temple Police Deputy Chief Allen Teston stated. “If a citizen believes they have received poor service, we advise them to remain civil until the problem is resolved.”
