Hair, unwanted condiments and a random onion ring or two can sometimes pop up in peoples’ fast food orders, but a New York woman’s lunchtime trip to Burger King led to a nightmarish discovery inside her to-go bag: Blood.
“There was blood all over the hamburger, all over the wrapper, and when I looked in the bag, there was a couple of drops on the french fries,” Tiffany Floyd told USA TODAY on Thursday.
It gets worse.
Floyd, 29, said that she and her 4-year-old daughter Matayla went to the drive-thru at the Burger King in Getzville, New York just after noon on July 26 and both got hamburger meals. After driving for about five minutes, Floyd handed Matayla the bag of food but shortly after her daughter said: “I didn’t want ketchup.”
Floyd took the bag from Matayla, initially thinking Burger King had just messed up the order, and that’s when she saw blood on the food. Floyd instantly told her daughter to spit out whatever she had in her mouth.
“I pulled over because I could not believe what was going on,” Floyd said.
Floyd learns a Burger King worker had a finger wound
After pulling over, Floyd called the Burger King and told her what she had found.
She says a manager then told her a worker had cut his hand right before cooking and bagging her food. The manager then offered Floyd a refund if she came back with the food, but she says she declined and hung up the phone.
Floyd took to TikTok to share in the experience and warn others in a video that now has over 9 million views and counting.
‘We were deeply upset and concerned’
In a statement to USA TODAY on Thursday, Burger King said that the company was “deeply upset and concerned to learn of this incident.”
“We have been in contact with the guest and are working with her to resolve this incident,” the company said. “This incident was the result of a team member in the restaurant who injured his finger, and upon noticing immediately stepped away.”
The fast-food chain says it closed the restaurant over the weekend “to retrain all the team members and hired an external company to complete a deep cleaning.”
The location reopened on Monday and “all team members were fully paid for any lost shifts during this temporary shutdown,” the company said.
Floyd files health department complaint
Floyd filed a complaint with her local health department and scheduled an appointment with Matayla’s pediatrician because she took a bite out of the bloody hamburger.
Floyd said she also went on Burger King’s website and filled out a form telling the company about her experience. Burger King contacted her on July 27 about her situation and explained that it took a day to respond because they were trying to make sure her, the manager’s and the worker’s stories lined up, Floyd said.
“She apologized for this ever happening,” Floyd recalled about the conversation.
Floyd said that Burger King did not offer her anything aside from the initial refund and that she’s “seeking legal counsel.”
‘I am emotionally just stressed”
Since the incident, Floyd said Matayla has been to a pediatrician twice, she’s scheduled to go see a psychiatrist and she is sleeping in her and her husband’s bed.
“I am emotionally just stressed about it,” she said, adding how she is also “worn out” and her “anxiety is terrible.”
Floyd said her worries primarily stem from concerns about Matayla’s health because her daughter will have to get her blood tested every month for up to a year to rule out any possible diseases.
She says she did ask Burger King to identify the worker so she could find out if he had any diseases or anything that could harm Matayla, but the company declined due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA is a federal rule passed in 1996 that protects patients’ health information.
“I’m trying to think of other ways to save my daughter from the physical pain because obviously who wants to get their blood done every month?” Floyd said, adding how Matayla is not mentally OK and it is apparent that “something traumatic happened to her.”
Floyd said Matayla also will not eat anything because “she thinks everything has blood in it.”
This article was originally published by a www.usatoday.com . Read the Original article here. .