A video shows a Burger King manager — who also owns the franchise — ordering an irate female customer to leave after she tried to get an employee disciplined for allegedly misgendering her, despite the fact that she had repeatedly misgendered the worker first.
It’s unclear when the video was recorded, but it has been circulating widely in recent days.
The video, filmed from the customer’s point of view, opens with her at a Kansas Burger King demanding to speak with the manager. A male employee goes to get the manager, prompting the customer to demand the manager’s full name. The employee tells her he doesn’t know the manager’s last name.
While waiting, the female customer turns to another employee — wearing glasses, a ponytail, and a transgender Pride flag pin — and demands to know her name.
“What is your name, sir?” the customer asks.
“My name is Lily,” the worker replies.
The customer confronts Lily, accusing her of calling her “sir,” to which Lily responds that she did so because the customer called her “young man,” reminding the customer that “I politely corrected you multiple times.”
“You don’t get to correct me!” the customer snaps. “I will address you as what I see!”
It’s unclear whether Lily is transgender or cisgender, but the video makes it obvious that the customer is deliberately misgendering her because she believes Lily looks masculine.
The customer insists she has no obligation to affirm Lily’s gender identity, only for Lily to cut in and note she has no such obligation either. The customer then argues that Lily does have to use female honorifics for her and threatens to get Lily in trouble with the manager.
The manager approaches and tells the customer she isn’t allowed to film inside the restaurant. The customer fires back that she’s a “First Amendment lawyer” and has the right to record to exercise her free speech. (The First Amendment restricts the government, not private businesses.)
The customer tells the manager she wants to file a formal complaint against Lily. Claiming to be a longtime Burger King patron, she recounts that an item in her order was missing, prompting her to return. She says she thanked Lily by saying “thank you, young man,” and that Lily allegedly “became very angry” and told her she is not a young man.
“I said, ‘Sir, I call you what I see,’ and he said, ‘In that case, thank you, sir,’ and shut the window,” the customer claims. “Now, I am clearly a woman, and I have no obligation, as you know, ma’am, to call him whatever he thinks he’s supposed to be called.”
The customer also claims Lily “yelled at” her and questions whether Burger King allows employees to speak to customers rudely or deliberately misgender them in retaliation.
“I will have a conversation with Miss Lily, who was the young lady in the drive-thru,” the manager says, before the customer cuts in to insist the manager can believe whatever she wants but that she doesn’t have to affirm Lily.
The manager continues: “And I will address her, because we do not condone being rude to our guests. So you’re right. So that was inappropriate. Her retaliation because she was upset was inappropriate and I will address that.
“Our policy is not to insult [our customers]. But we just hope our guests don’t insult our team members, either.”
The customer begins to argue, and the manager responds, “I’m going to ask you to leave because we do — This is private property. I do have the right to ask you to leave.”
The customer asks for the name of the manager’s supervisor, prompting the manager to reveal she is the owner. She shares her name and title, wishes the customer a good day, and walks away just before the video ends.
It’s unclear how the situation was ultimately resolved or whether Lily faced any discipline. But the video has drawn praise from pro-transgender advocates, who noted that the owner not only affirmed Lily’s gender identity but also indirectly reprimanded the customer for disrespecting her employee.
“First amendment lawyer arguing about the employee’s first amendment rights,” wrote one Redditer, pointing to the irony of the customer demanding her own pronouns be respected.
“And this person thinks she ‘won’ somehow,” another Reddit commenter wrote.
“She wanted Lily to get in trouble and for the manager to agree with her and say ‘Yes ma’am you’re correct! Lily is a man!’ and immediately go up to her and reprimand her. I used to work in retail for a long time, and these type of people run rampant,” a third Redditer wrote, reflecting on their own experience.
Even some users who don’t support transgender rights appeared to side with the owner. One person wrote on X: “I don’t agree with this trans ideology but treating another human like that is narcissistic af. Everyone deserves respect, even the people you disagree with. Props to the manager.”
Replying to that post, another user — who describes themselves as “America First” in their profile — wrote: “Boom. You don’t have to co-sign someone’s worldview to treat them like a human being. The lack of basic decency is the real red flag. The owner handled it like a pro.”
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