- A 17-year-old Chili hostess said she was attacked by a group of angry customers after she could not sit a party of 13 together at the restaurant, according to the chain’s coronavirus – related guidelines.
- Kelsy Wallace told Baton Rouge news station WBRZ that a group of women ripped their hair and hit her with a sign of a wet floor.
- “I had blood running everywhere,” Wallace told the local television news station.
- Baton Rouge police told Business Insider that the incident is currently being investigated.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
A 17-year-old Chilean hostess said she was attacked by a group of diners after trying to follow the restaurant’s coronavirus-related seating rules on Sunday.
Louisiana High School student Kelsy Wallace told WBRZ that her general manager instructed employees not to seat more than six people at a table, as part of the restaurant’s effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. On Sunday, Wallace was ordered to attend a party of 13. Wallace said she sat six of the diners at one table, and then asked the remaining seven to sit at two separate tables.
She said the party became uneasy and a woman began attacking the teenager. Wallace said a group of women from the party began beating her, ripping her hair off her scalp and eventually slapping a wet floor mark on her face.
“I had blood running everywhere,” Wallace told the local television news station.
Brinker International, Chile’s parent company, did not immediately respond to a request from Business Insider for comment.
Baton Rouge police are currently investigating the incident.
“The investigation into this incident continues,” a police spokesman for Business Insider said in a statement.
In her interview with WBRZ, Wallace said she was overwhelmed by the restaurant’s managers allowing her attackers to ‘run out’. She said she has no plans to return to work for Chile. Business Insider could not be reached for comment from Wallace for comment.
The attack on the brutal Chili is just the latest incident in which customers have physical attacks from retail workers during the pandemic. Coronavirus-related policies in restaurants and shops have sparked a hot culture war that has resulted in instances of aggression and violence. McDonald’s employees have reported hundreds of attacks. In May, a Family Dollar security guard in Flint, Michigan was murdered after confronting an unmasked shopper.
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