A Taco Bell customer in Hialeah, Florida was irate when she couldn’t place her order at the drive thru because none of the employees present spoke English. Alexandria Montgomery couldn’t believe what was going on and asked to see a manager. The store worker said in Spanish that the manager had gone home, as translated by The Miami Herald.
The customer said the incident happened Wednesday night around 10:30 p.m. As you can see, things got pretty heated.
Montgomery refused to move because she wasn’t getting her order. The employee shut the drive-thru window and picked up a phone. A man in Montgomery’s car guessed she was going to call the cops.
“I’m trying to order and she’s telling me I can’t order because she don’t speak English,” Montgomery said. “Who is wrong? What did I do wrong?”
She continued to argue, with the employee responding in Spanish and gesturing towards the line of cars forming behind the customer’s vehicle.
“Te llamo la policia,” the employee said, threatening to call the cops.
Montgomery didn’t accept the explanation that they couldn’t take her order. No police got involved, though. She and the man in the car suggested that the employee could still understand what she was saying if they just referenced the menu, which the employee should know. She wrapped up the argument, said she was going to return the next day, and asked the employee her name.
“Luisa,” the woman said.
Montgomery said this follow-up didn’t immediately lead to anything meaningful.
“I contacted the manager and after explaining to her what happened all she did was apologize and say thank you and the call was disconnected,” she told El Nuevo Herald, the Miami Herald’s Spanish-language supplement.
Taco Bell Corp. told the outlet that the response “does not meet out customer service expectations,” and they worked with Montgomery to make sure the situation never happens again.
And um, it doesn’t seem like Luisa has a job anymore. Montgomery later told the outlet that “Luisa” got fired. It wasn’t her real name, according to Montgomery.
[Screengrab via Alexandria Montgomery]
