McDonald’s Employees Brawl Over Apple Pie Prep [Viral Video]

Two female McDonald’s employees allegedly got into a brawl over who had to bake apple pies, and the encounter was captured on cell phone video that has since gone viral.

The incident occurred Wednesday night at a McDonald’s restaurant in Chester, South Carolina. See footage embedded below.

According to various media accounts, the fast-food fracas occurred when one of the employees, age 30, asked a younger co-worker to bake a fresh batch of McDonald’s apple pies. That worker refused to do the task, and a disagreement ensued, ABC Charlotte affiliate WSOC reported.

“Chester police said the two women were arguing over pies when one of the women told the other to leave and she would get her shift covered, according to a police report. The employee refused to leave and police were called, the report said. The report said that even the woman’s brother, who is also an employee, tried to get her to leave, but she refused. The woman who refused to leave ended up striking the other woman in the face knocking her glasses off. The two then began fighting, the report states.”

“That’s when things went all Maury and the brawl busted out. It was like dinner and a show for everyone on-line waiting for a 6-pack of McNuggets,” GuySpeed quipped about what it described as a pies fight that morphed into a prize fight.

Other employees broke up the brawl, and the younger woman apparently left the fast-food eatery before cops arrived.

Police later charged the 25-year-old McDonald’s worker with assault and battery in the third degree, according to Fox46 in Charlotte. No one appeared to have been injured in the scuffle, fortunately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-8AyBshD8&spfreload=5

In initially posting the cell phone footage to his Facebook page, McDonald’s customer Noah Smith wrote that “I’m glad I had the forethought to get my camera ready.”

Smith told NBC affiliate WCNC-TV that “I’m thinking, oh man something’s about to really happen right now…She runs back over there and does this like flying punch and hits the lady. And that’s when it all went down.”

About a year ago, some speculation emerged that McDonald’s was considering dropping apple pies from its customer offerings in favor of more healthy items, but it obviously is still on the menu.

Yesterday, a McDonald’s corporate exec released a statement about the brawl at its Chester, South Carolina, restaurant, the Daily Mail reported.

“We take the care and safety of our employees very seriously and have zero tolerance for violence. At this time, we are cooperating fully with the police during their investigation into this matter.”

Back in December, a brawl broke out in the restaurant parking lot between two female McDonald’s employees in Georgia, with the fight captured on cell phone video by a customer sitting in a car. Once on the ground, they appeared to begin punching, hair pulling, and kicking each other before they were separated by other workers.

Earlier this month, the former president and CEO of McDonald’s USA insisted in a Forbes guest editorial that the $15 minimum wage will kill thousands of entry-level fast-food jobs when employers implement self-service touchscreen kiosks to reduce headcount and payroll. The fast-food industry generally is looking to technology and robotics to speed up food preparation, the Washington Post noted, which could result in many jobs being eliminated.

McDonald’s is said to be the world’s largest burger chain serving approximately 70 million customers daily in 119 countries at its 36,000 franchise restaurants. McDonald’s is reportedly experiencing an uptick in market share and profits after two years of decline as a result of implementing its all-day breakfast and other menu enhancements.

[Photo by Gene J. Puskar/AP]