Boston McDonald’s worker punched repeatedly by customer touching his lid and the ongoing dilemma of unrelenting violence at fast food outlets.
‘I’m Lovin’ It…’ A McDonald’s worker in Boston, Massachusetts, was punched repeatedly by an agitated customer after the employee touching the lid of his drink, according to police.
The unnamed customer, identified only as a 34-year-old man, punched the fast food worker ‘several times’ with his ‘fists’ on Saturday at around 7 p.m., Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police wrote on X.
The suspect was arrested and transported to MBTA police headquarters for booking.
2/24 7PM #MBTA South Station TPD Offs arrested a 34y/o male after he attacked a McDonald’s employee striking him several times w/fists & register. The SP became upset when the employee touched the lid of his drink. SP transported to TPDHQ for booking. V treated on scene.
— MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD) February 25, 2024
Why is violence so pernicious at fast food restaurants?
MBTA police said the victim was treated for injuries at the scene.
No additional details of the incident were made immediately available by police.
McDonald’s requires employees to wear gloves and wash their hands at least once every hour if they work in the food preparation area, although it is unclear if there are rules about touching food service containers.
The incident follows an episode in December in Tulsa, Oklahoma when a group of McDonald’s customers (no less than 5) running into a drive thru restaurant and attacking workers after becoming upset with the service. Investigators say someone threw a drink at an employee working the drive-thru window, and the situation escalated from there.
Attacks on workers at fast food restaurants, including that of McDonald’s and other venues are increasingly common and often make tabloid headlines. It remains unclear why attacks at fast food outlets remain pernicious, whether because of the type of client, income bracket that such vendors attract or whether the experience of fast food invites and elicits permissive attitudes associated with the fleeting and impersonal serving of one’s food. Never mind the lack of security at such establishments despite the often transient nature of such clientele.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 229 workers at ‘limited-service’ restaurants were killed on the job between 1997 and 2010, versus 173 workers—32 percent fewer—at “full-service” sit-down restaurants.
Noted a report via Vice: ‘Ironically, the very characteristics that make fast food restaurants convenient also make them more easily accessible to criminals, as it is with convenience stores and gas stations. “Most of the high crime restaurants are in urban areas with a fairly dense population, operate 24 hours a day, and are on usually major thoroughfares, or adjacent to highway and freeway exits. It makes them highly desirable for highway robberies,” he says, since assailants can be in a completely different area within minutes.’
Added the report, ‘Ultimately, it’s the staff of fast food restaurants who are left to contend with sometimes brutal and unpredictable violence, and it takes a lot more to fix economic issues than just flicking on some Bach tunes.
