McDonald’s security guard soaks Aaron McCarthy homeless man’s blanket with water and bleach while aggressively mopping area outside store. Fast food issues apology over ‘dehumanizing’ incident.
Would you care for a double order of french fries with that soaking?
Define empathy? A British McDonald’s security guard has been captured on video ‘aggressively’ mopping the ground where a homeless man was camped only to leave his blankets soaked in water and bleach.
Aaron McCarthy, 25, had been sitting on a sidewalk near the entrance to one of the fast food chain’s London venues Saturday night when the McDonald’s employee approached him and asked him to move.
Hi @McDonaldsUK. Do you think it is acceptable for your staff to soak the sleeping bags of homeless people in the middle of winter (or any other time of the year)? Disgusting behaviour. He wasn’t even outside your premises. @crisis_uk @Shelter #McDonalds #homelessness #london pic.twitter.com/HX8dFPbpV7
— Damon Evans (@damocrat) December 9, 2023
‘Disgusting behavior!’
Footage shot by a passerby showed the security guard suddenly kicking McCarthy’s blankets away before using the mop to douse the sidewalk with the soapy water.
‘The guy started mopping the floor and kicking my stuff into the water. It was disgusting,’ McCarthy told the Telegraph.
‘I had to leave because it was so stressful, and I hardly slept the entire night because my bedding was all soaked. You can still smell the bleach on my blanket.’
In the video, which has since gone viral, witnesses could be heard condemning the fast food worker, calling the incident ‘outrageous’ and ‘bang out of order.’
Damon Evans, who posted the footage on X, tagged McDonald’s UK to express his outrage.
‘Do you think it is acceptable for your staff to soak the sleeping bags of homeless people in the middle of winter (or any other time of the year)?’ he asked.
‘Disgusting behavior. He wasn’t even outside your premises.’
McDonald’s offers fake apology
McDonald’s apologized, saying it was ‘shocked and saddened’ by the footage.
‘The third-party security guards involved have been permanently removed from our restaurants and the restaurant team has been reminded of the importance of treating all people with respect, including vulnerable people both in the restaurant and within the wider community,’ the fast food chain said in a statement on X.
‘We would like to wholeheartedly apologize to the gentleman in the video and will work with the council to locate him and make amends as part of our ongoing work to support homelessness charities in & around the area.’
It remained unclear what actions the multi-national was taking to address the plight of homelessness in and around its outlets and what plans, or actions, if any, the vendor had choreographed with local authorities presumably seeking to end the blight of open homelessness.
Despite the harshness of the worker’s actions, not everyone necessarily condemned the treatment of the homeless man.
Posted some on social media: ‘He should not have been lying there. Public spaces are not designed to accommodate sleeping human beings, nor should they be. Ignoring the homeless and their intrusive behavioral patterns only makes it worse.’
Wrote another, ‘It’s a business, not a flop house. I’m not going into any store with street “residents” sleeping in front of it.’
And then there was this comment too, ‘I commend the worker!’
