So, who’s up for some take-out? Not us! Not today!
A restaurant worker in Draper, Utah was fired after he was caught on video apparently peeing in the floor drain at Rancherito’s Mexican Food, according to ABC 4. Customer Robert Talivakoala said he caught the incident on footage early Sunday morning.
He told the outlet he was trying to order through the drive-thru, but didn’t get a response, so he went up to the window. He attempted to get a male employee’s attention, and the man ignored him, he said. Talivakoala said he began recording the encounter, and actually noticed the individual apparently peeing into a drain in the back of the kitchen.
Restaurant management said they fired the employee. The health department said they were able to confirm the urination took place.
“I wouldn’t say this is something we see commonly, no. I was horrified at the video,” spokesman Nicholas Rupp told KSL-TV. “We were able to confirm that the incident described in the complaint did take place at that establishment.”
They said they revoked the employee’s food handler permit.
Now Rancherito’s is in damage control. They were temporarily closed for sanitation. The business also let media outlets into the premises while employees were cleaning.
“We’re actually pretty thankful for the person that recorded the video because we might have never noticed,” Rancherito’s location owner Perla Lee told Fox 13 Now. “Definitely tough. Not only as a manager, but as a human being.”
She said the employee involved didn’t tell her why he did it.
“He couldn’t give me a reason why he didn’t go to the bathroom,” she said. Lee said he wasn’t at the company for more than three months. “He was always here on time. He was doing a great job.”
Editor’s note: headline changed after publication to reflect that it was not the restaurant that said it was “horrified” by the incident, but that others, specially a health department spox, said so.
[Screengrab via Robert Talivakoala and Fox 13 Utah]