A McDonald's employee recently got the pink slip after throwing water on the face of a homeless man in a Detroit location, the store owner told the media on Wednesday.
Caught on video, the footage instantly went viral and sparked anger among its hundreds of thousands of viewers. According to the Detroit Free Press:
"A Detroit McDonald's employee who tricked a homeless man into thinking he would get food through the drive-through and instead threw water at him has been fired amid outrage after a video of the incident went viral.
"The owner of the McDonald's on Grand River near Schaefer on the city's west side confirmed in a statement today that the employee was terminated."
Here's what happened, as reported by Mashable:
"[...] The worker, who has not been identified, beckons over an elderly homeless man, who he calls Willy, to the restaurant window by holding out a food package.
"As the man comes to get the sandwich, the McDonald's worker throws a cup of water in his face while the driver in the car laughs."
"I am very disturbed by the inappropriate behavior of this employee," said McDonald's franchisee Wise Finley.
"This type of behavior is not tolerated in my organization. I expect my employees to treat everyone with dignity and respect, and this was unacceptable. This individual no longer works for my organization," he continued.
Homeless Action Network of Detroit executive director Tasha Gray shared her anger over what happened in the video:
"I think we forget sometimes that people experiencing homelessness are just like you and I. [...] We have working families who just don't have enough means to make ends meet. I like to tell my staff that we're one missed paycheck away from homelessness."
It is still unclear if Detroit police are looking into the incident for "possible assault charges." A police spokeswoman said on Tuesday afternoon on if a complaint had been filed.
