Taco Bell employee demands customer place order in Spanish

MIAMI — A video of an argument with a Taco Bell employee in Hialeah, Fla., has unleashed a wave of indignation on social media.

The incident happened Wednesday night, when Alexandria Montgomery tried to place an order — in English — at a drive-thru window on Ninth Street. The employee refused to take her order because it wasn’t in Spanish.

In the video, Montgomery asked the woman, “Do you have a manager here?”

“She is in her house sleeping,” the employee said in Spanish in a dismissive tone. And no one else could take the order, the employee claimed.

“Honey, I have a car behind you,” the employee says in Spanish and closes the window.

“Can you move, please? I have an order behind you. There is no one who speaks English,” the woman says and threatens to call the police.

“This is Hialeah, I’m sorry,” she said in Spanish.

Two other Taco Bell workers approached the drive-thru window, but apparently didn’t try to help.

“No more, papi,” the clerk said in Spanish to a man in the car with Montgomery and was trying to argue they were in the United States.

“This incident happened Wednesday night around 10:30 p.m. I contacted the manager and after explaining to her what happened all she did was apologize and say thank you and the call was disconnected,” Montgomery told El Nuevo Herald.

Taco Bell Corp. said “this does not meet our customer service expectations.”

“We have worked quickly to resolve with the customer to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” a spokesperson said.

Montgomery said hours later that “Luisa,” as the Taco Bell employee identified herself, had been fired and that it was not even her real name.