The video, posted last week on LiveLeak and Facebook, shows the former employee talking to a customer at the drive-through window when he then begins talking to a homeless man, Philly.com reports.
The owner of the McDonald’s franchise which is located on the Grand River on the city’s west side issued a statement Wednesday confirming that the employee was fired.
“I am very disturbed by the inappropriate behavior of this employee,” the owner, Wise Finley said. “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.”
In the video, the former employee can be heard encouraging the homeless man, whom he called Willie, to come over to the window and asks him if he wants a sandwich, telling him “I’m about to help you.”
The man walks over to to take the food, and that’s when the employee tossed a cup of water in his face.
“Why you do that?” Willie can be heard saying as he walks away.
Laughter emanates from the inside of the drive-through customer’s car, where the video was filmed.
Tasha Gray, the executive director of the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, was outraged by the video, The Detroit Free Press reports.
“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,” she said. “I like to tell my staff that we’re one missed paycheck away from homelessness.”
Fox 2 reports the employee, who was apparently the manager, was retaliating against Willie for allegedly arguing with a customer earlier that night.
Sadly, there have been other incidences of homeless people being mistreated by restaurant employees, Detroit Eater reports. In August, a Waffle House in Nashville was publicly shamed because it refused to serve a homeless veteran.
In response to Willie’s cruel treatment, Christine Ciana Calabrese, who lives in Chicago, has started a GoFundMe page to provide him with food, clothing, and shelter, Eater reports.
A local rapper who goes by the name Skeez says that he’s the one who filmed the video and he claims he wants to “redeem himself,” for humiliating the homeless man. So he went out on the streets Monday evening, but instead of handing out useful things like food or clothing, he handed out Gucci bags, a rather tone-deaf reaction, Eater notes.
On LiveLeak, the video has been viewed 177,692 times.
