Angry customer hurls ‘scalding’ soup at teen worker, North Carolina cops say
An angry customer threw “scalding” soup at a teen worker, causing first-degree burns, according to deputies and the North Carolina girl’s mom.
“I began to watch the video, and my initial reaction was rage,” mother Denise White Tayson told McClatchy News in a Jan. 26 phone interview. “I saw a woman attacking my 17-year-old daughter.”
A video she shared on Facebook shows her daughter, Annie, was working behind the counter at Mayflower Seafood Restaurant while a customer picked up an order on Jan. 24. But when the woman’s prepaid card declined, she became “feisty,” co-owner Maria Hodges told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
Officials said the woman later grabbed hot soup and hurled it toward the teen worker. Now, the customer accused of throwing the soup is facing an assault charge, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were called at about 6:30 p.m. to the restaurant in Rural Hall, roughly 10 miles northwest of downtown Winston-Salem. Hodges said the seafood business has a family-oriented atmosphere.
“Everybody knows everybody,” Hodges told McClatchy News. “So, it was just kind of a shock. It’s kind of like she hurt one of your own.”
Tayson said her daughter, a Mayflower worker for almost two years, suffered painful burns to the left side of her body.
“Everyone loves Annie,” the girl’s mom said. “So, no one would have thought that would have happened to her nor inside the restaurant. They have a very safe environment.”
Deputies said the customer was identified as a 50-year-old woman from the nearby town of King. She turned herself in and was charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
This story was originally published January 27, 2023 at 5:14 AM with the headline "Angry customer hurls ‘scalding’ soup at teen worker, North Carolina cops say."
