A Panera Bread employee was fired after she recorded herself preparing a frozen mac-and-cheese for a customer and shared it to TikTok—a social media app.
Brianna Ramirez also made a post on Twitter with the video, announcing her employment status with the food chain.
“LOL I lost my job for this video,” she wrote.
The Twitter post contained a video embedded from TikTok revealing how mac-and-cheese is prepared in the store. Around 11.6 million people had viewed it at the time of publication.
The video begins with Ramirez walking over to a box and taking out a plastic packet containing frozen mac-and-cheese.
Then she puts it in the boiler, cuts the top off the packet, pours the pasta onto a plate, and puts the plate on a tray.
The audio seems to be a man laughing hysterically, which was probably taken from another video.
Ramirez clarified in a later Twitter post that she was fired for a reason unrelated to revealing the preparation of the food.
“There was no wrongful termination,” she wrote. “Having such long nails and my phone out is a risk to food safety and health regulations.”
Instead of seeing this as an unfair decision, she regarded it as a learning opportunity.
“Everything was completely justified. I made a mistake and I’ve learned from it. I will always love Panera and their food,” she said.
There was no wrongful termination. Having such long nails and my phone out is a risk to food safety and health regulations. Everything was completely justified. I made a mistake and i’ve learned from it. I will always love panera and their food.
— Bri (@BriiRamirezz) October 14, 2019
Some Twitter users were skeptical of how she responded to the firing.
“Did they make you type this?” one user said.
“No, I just want it to be known that I respect Panera and what the situation is. It was a mistake on my part and there really isn’t a way to take back the video,” Ramirez replied.
Did they make u type this
— T (@SassmastatT) October 14, 2019
Others praised her for her positive attitude over the experience.
One wrote: “Great attitude of a positive person who has increased odds of being very successful, cuz you have the skill of learning from mistakes. We’ve all made impulsive decisions that weren’t great choices when we were young. Keep that spirit, because you’re a winner.”
Another said: “How you are handling the situation is very impressive, and I know your next employer will be lucky to have someone who is willing to learn, grow, and act maturely. Wishing you the very best (and now to get some mac and cheese!)”
