By James Cirrone for Dailymail.Com
16:42 01 Jul 2024, updated 21:12 01 Jul 2024
A 17-year-old ice cream stand manager in Willis, Texas, confronted a female customer who called her “ab*tch.”
The confrontation between the middle-aged woman and two young female employees at Keke’s Snow Balls was captured on security cameras and later posted to TikTok, where it has been viewed more than 15 million times.
When the ‘Karen’, a company that sells ice cream, came in, a young girl was complaining at the cash register. She had paid $6 in advance so that her daughter could come by later to get ice cream.
The woman, dressed in a floral blouse and sunglasses, said her daughter did not get the shaved ice even though her mother had already paid for it.
Despite the initial confusion, the customer got her $6 back. But then she decides to go back and yell at one of the employees.
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The caption of the TikTok video claims that there was a shift change, meaning the two girls working at the stall were unaware of the appointment the woman had made when the daughter came over.
Kyle Ewald, the owner of Keke’s Snow Balls, told DailyMail.com that he posted the video to promote the narrative that customers “should treat teenagers working in these types of businesses with… respect no matter what.”
When the girl at the cash register questioned her story by asking if the woman had given her customer number, the icy ‘Karen’ let out an irritated sigh and walked to the order counter.
“I came here by myself and paid for an ice cream cone with snow, plus an extra six dollars, so if she wanted an ice cream cone, she could come here and get it,” she said.
“You didn’t give her the ice cream.”
At that point, the older, teenage manager — who has been listening to the tense interaction while running errands in the background — gently pushes the younger girl aside, grabs the cash register and hands the woman the $6.
The girl closes the window, causing a plate to fall over.
It is unclear whether the customer saw this as an invitation for further conflict, but a few seconds later the younger girl sees the woman returning.
“Oh no,” she said.
When the teenager opens the window again to turn the plate upright, the customer, who has six dollars left, decides to knock the plate over again.
“Bitch,” the woman calls her.
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But she does not take the unjust insult lightly, reacts immediately and seems much more mature than the woman who is many years older than her.
“Ma’am, please don’t do that, you’re a grown woman!” she screams.
We hear the customer shout something back, but the teenager intervenes.
‘I’m 17, get out of here! Don’t come back. Don’t come back. We don’t need your company.
Perhaps the best part of the video is when the young girl grins as she watches the defeated customer walk away.
One of the most popular reactions to the viral TikTok video was that the company should promote the brave young manager.
Another wrote: ‘The way she listened to the entire conversation while multitasking in the back. Great leader.’
Most of the people who responded were impressed with how mature the teenager acted and loved how she stood up for her younger colleague.
“When she came back and the little girl said ‘oh no’ and took a step back… the poor child was scared,” one person noted.
Ewald, who opened Keke’s Snow Balls last year and named the restaurant after his daughter, said he understands that the woman in the video “may have been having a bad day,” but that doesn’t excuse what she did.
“The message we wanted to get across is that there is no reason why grown-ups should berate their employees,” Ewald wrote in an email.
Ewald also praised his two employees who appeared in the viral video, saying they had done a “great job.”