Burger King Employee and Mom of 3 Forced to Work 12-Hour Shift Alone After No One Shows Up to Work
A 25-year-old mother of three went viral after a TikTok user filmed her running a Burger King restaurant entirely by herself after a co-worker quit mid-shift and no backup arrived.
Nykia Hamilton was left scrambling between the fryer, the register, and the drive-thru window at the Columbia, South Carolina, location earlier this month as a one-woman crew feeding a steady flow of customers.
In a viral video of the shift the TikToker, a customer, called on locals to come down and help her out: “Y’all need to get her some help up in here because she busted her behind she’s doing everything she needs to do to make sure everybody is OK up in here.”
Speaking to Fox57, Hamilton explained the situation: “One of my employees just quit on me and they didn’t have nobody else to come in. So I had to work by myself, had to close by myself. I had to do the dishes, do the floor, do front counters, drive thru.”
“We just ain’t got no employees, nobody wanna work no more,” she added.
Asked why she had continued to work, Hamilton thanked her manager: “Shout out to my general manager, Rhonda. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have no job, because I do have a record, and it’s hard to find a job with a record. And by grace of God, she gave me a job. So that’s the only reason why I stayed for her. Because if I knew it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have a job.”
But while social media users commenting on the video condemned the lack of staffing and corporate oversight, Hamilton tearfully pointed to her bigger struggle of providing for her kids while working exhausting 12-hour shifts.
“I be missing out on my kids’ lives when I work so much,” she said, holding back tears. “I have to provide for them, but I really don’t have time to spend with them, and it hurts me a lot.”
Burger King corporate has since responded in a statement to the New York Post, saying Hamilton’s situation violated company policy.
“It is our policy that all company and franchise-owned restaurants require more than one Team Member to be working per shift,” a spokesperson said, adding that they are working with the franchisee to investigate.
Hamilton thanked the internet users who’d shown such support, growing emotional as she reflected on the kind words of strangers: “I thank everybody for the support. I thank you for coming out and looking up my story and everything, it just really touched me.”
Watch above via Fox57.
