A furious mother has accused McDonald’s of “fat-shaming” her chubby teenage daughter – for ordering SIX cheeseburgers.
Mum-of-four Sabrina Hopkinson sent 16–year-old Corrina to her local Maccy D’s to buy food for the family.
But Corrina says when she asked for the meals a girl behind the counter shouted to the kitchen: ‘Six cheeseburgers. I’m not joking this time. This fat woman wants six burgers’.
The embarrassed tubby youngster says she was left in tears as other staff members laughed at her.
Sabrina said Corinna went with brother Jack, ten, to order six cheeseburgers and four fries for them and sisters Ashley-Jade, 14, and Jessica-Abbigale, eight.
Livid Sabrina, 37, – who used to work in MacDonald’s – said: “Normally we have home-cooked meals, but once in a while I let them have a treat.
“I have a problem getting Jack, to eat so when he says he wants something, I let him have it because of the way he is with food.
“He got given five pounds from his grandma for Christmas so I said he could go to McDonald’s.
“I gave my daughter some money and said they could go down and get a few burgers because it was the holidays.
“I don’t think six burgers for four people is over the top, but the girl behind the counter shouted back, ‘six cheeseburgers. I’m not joking this time. This fat woman wants six burgers’.
“My daughter said, ‘they’re not just for me. They’re for my brother and sisters’, but some of the other staff, who were just standing around, started laughing.”
After Corinna came home and told her mum the story, a furious Sabrina says she then marched back into the McDonald’s and confronted the manager.
She said: “My daughter gets embarrassed and upset and doesn’t speak up for herself, so being a protective mother, I went down there and let rip.
“The manager kept apologising but she wouldn’t let me speak to the girl who had said it, even though I knew she was hiding around the back.”
Stay-at-home mum Sabrina alleges that when her partner went into the restaurant later the same day, the manager called the police.
The former McDonald’s worker said: “My partner went in there because he wanted something done about it. He couldn’t believe it. The manager just called the police.
“It was nothing. My partner ended up shaking hands with the policeman.
“In this day and age, you wouldn’t expect it. I used to work in McDonald’s when I was young and I would never have dreamed of speaking to a customer like that.
“I would’ve been sacked straight away.”
A spokesperson from Sussex Police confirmed that they had been called to the restaurant but said that it was not a police matter and simply a civil dispute which did not require the police.
The spokesperson added that there was no “record of any form of abuse”.
After reviewing their CCTV system, which is understood not to record sound, McDonald’s have denied the incident took place.
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “This allegation is entirely false. We took this claim very seriously and our investigation shows that this did not take place.
“We have reviewed the restaurant CCTV footage and engaged the local police following the threats made against our employees connected to the incident.”
