A woman made a surprising discovery at a North Carolina McDonald's last week when she ordered what she thought would be a perfectly ordinary chicken sandwich. Instead, she got a swastika with her chicken. A butter swastika, to be more exact.
Turns out a McDonald's employee wanted to play a not so funny joke by burning butter into the shape of a swastika on the inside bun of a woman's chicken sandwich order. It seems likely the employee who drew the symbol didn't expect anybody to notice (because really, who inspects their fast food?) and that the woman would simply eat her Nazi themed sandwich and be none the wiser.
But customer Charleigh Matice needed some mayonnaise on her sandwich, and that is exactly when she made the discovery. And complained. She walked right back into the fast-food restaurant to find answers and was told that the employee who made her sandwich drew the symbol because "he was bored."
"I felt so sick," Matice said. "Did somebody think this was a joke?"
Needless to say, the employee who drew the symbol is now out of a job. Dulcy Purcell, the owner of the McDonald's franchise where the buttering occurred, issued this statement to ABC News:
"We are very sorry for the service that our customers received, and to be clear we have terminated the employee who was involved. We do not tolerate that kind of behavior at McDonald's, and it's not what we stand for personally as owners," the statement said. "It is about providing the best level of service and care to our customers, and anything less than that is unacceptable to us."
Matice for her part says she feels bad the employee was fired, but didn't have too much sympathy.
"But in this tough economy, where so many people can't get jobs, you should have professionalism," she says.
Matice goes on to say that she isn't mad at the restaurant and will return. By complaining she just wanted to raise awareness and make sure people understand that drawing a swastika on a chicken sandwich isn't okay. No doubt there are many fast-food employees in America struggling with this very question and who have now been shown the light.
"I know that the sign was used for many good things before the Holocaust," Matice said. "But people are not ready for that sign to come back yet. I think we still need to have a lot of conversation about this."
Consider the butter swastika conversation officially started.
Photo: Flickr/David Schott
