What came between a woman and her 2 Chalupas Supreme Combo #6 order at Taco Bell was a language barrier.
A verbal confrontation between a woman attempting to order and a Taco Bell employee caught on video has gone viral.
The video posted on Facebook on Wednesday begins as the issue was underway. A woman in her car is parked outside of the drive-thru window at the Taco Bell located at 785 East 9th St. in Hialeah.
"Nobody here speaks English? Nobody in the back speaks English? So you can't take my order," the woman in the video, identified on Facebook as Alexandria Montgomery, said.
In Spanish, the Taco Bell employee told her that there's no one who can speak English at the location, adding that there are numerous cars behind hers in the drive-thru lane.
The employee then suggested to the would-be customer that she seek business at a Taco Bell elsewhere.
The video is more than three minutes long. It is not clear how long the dispute lasted.
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Entrenched in their positions, the situation remained unchanged. Voices were raised. The employee asked the woman to move and warned that she would call the police.
The woman in the vehicle beckoned the threat.
"Call the police! I didn't do nothing! I'm trying to order food!" the woman said.
"It's not my problem. It's Hialeah," the employee said in Spanish.
"That doesn't mean nothing!" the woman replied. "'Cuz this is Hialeah.' This is America. Y'all don't take over the whole population."
Another Taco Bell employee became involved and inquired about the communication breakdown.
"She doesn't want to help me because she don't speak English. But you know the menu. You work here, so you would know what I'm talking about if I say I want number six on the menu. You understand what I'm saying? Like, you just don't completely shut me out cuz you don't speak English, that's not fair," the woman said.
Apparently seeing no resolution, the woman eventually asked for the employee's name – who said her name was Luisa – and she drove away.
"I'll be here tomorrow, Luisa," the woman said.
In the Facebook post, Montgomery wrote that the Taco Bell in Hialeah is racist, adding that the "lady understood what I was saying but didn’t want to take my order talking bout she doesn’t speak English."
Census data shows 89 percent of Hialeah residents speak Spanish as their first or second language.
"I understand everyone in Miami doesn't speak English, and that's fine, but if she was willing to work with me, I think the outcome would've been different," Montgomery later told NBC 6.
In an update on her post, Montgomery said that the employee was fired.
"Luisa isn’t even her real name lol. She was the general manager on that time," Montgomery wrote.
Montgomery told NBC 6 Taco Bell reached out to her and offered a $100 gift card.
"A gift card is not gonna just solve the problem, it's not gonna give me justice," she said. "Don't try to like sweep it under the rug."
In a statement, Taco Bell said that the incident "does not meet our customer experience expectations."
"We have worked quickly to resolve with the customer to ensure this doesn’t happen again," Taco Bell wrote.
