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Lawsuit: Panera 'Charged Lemonade' blamed for Ivy League student's death
The legal complaint was submitted Monday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of the parents of former University of Pennsylvania student Sarah Katz.
Video of a mother sparring with a Panera drive-thru worker over not taking her order due to her child "screaming" in the background has resurfaced online in recent days, stirring up a social media debate on whether she was in the right to complain about the worker or whether he was right to deny her at the stop.
Many TikTok users actually sided with the worker she took to the app to complain about.
Uploaded to TikTok in 2022 and receiving more than 1.5 million views since then, the clip depicted a mother recording herself speaking at a Panera drive-thru and asking the worker if he is really going to deny her order because of her child’s screaming coming from the backseat of her vehicle.
A woman filmed herself arguing with a Panera drive-thru worker who refused taking her order because her child was "screaming" in the backseat. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
"So you are gonna refuse to take my order because my child is screaming?" she asked the man on the other end of the speaker.
He replied, saying, "Yes I have the right to do that. You’re more than welcome to come inside or you can place an order online and we’ll make it for you."
Not satisfied with having to get out of her car, the mother replied, "Really? Like, you’re gonna not take my order?" Her child could be heard in the background.
"Yes ma’am, that’s what I’m saying," he shot back.
"Alright, well, I do have this on video and I will be emailing corporate because that’s just like completely rude," she replied, adding, "I cannot come inside because my daughter doesn’t have shoes on."
Keeping his composure, the drive-thru worker offered another avenue for the woman to order. "I understand but you’re also more than welcome to order online as well," he said.
She wasn’t having it and complained, "So you want me to take an extra 20 minutes and order online? That’s not convenient to me. It’s your job to take orders and stuff, and this is ridiculous."
She asked him once more to take the order from the drive-thru and after a long pause, the employee relented. "OK, I’d be happy to take your order as long as your daughter doesn’t scream, all right?" he said.
The mother then said, "I think that’s a pretty good decision on your part," to which the employee replied, "OK, I don’t need this attitude" before the video cut.
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The sign outside of a Panera bread restaurant. (Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images)
On TikTok, the mother captioned her video with the question, "What child doesn’t make noise?"
However, a glance at the clip’s comments revealed that quite a few users, particularly moms, were on the drive-thru worker’s side.
One of the first comments stated, "I actually think he's very polite and professional. If your child is screaming he may not be able to hear you properly and may misunderstand the order."
Another user took the drive-thru employee’s side, though she admitted she was a mother of four kids. She wrote, "I actually think he's very polite and professional. if your child is screaming he may not be able to hear you properly and may misunderstand the order."
Another mom said she was "team Panera guy," adding, "Yeah as a mom of 3, I'm with the Panera guy."
And still another mom echoed this point, commenting, "As a mom and a DT worker, I’m with Panera guy. We can’t hear ANYTHING other than background noise, and if we get the order wrong y’all FLIP!"
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