A Georgia sheriff’s deputy posted a video, which demonstrates anxiety being felt by cops and their families due to the increased toxicity being shown toward law enforcement officers.
However, the video was misconstrued by some as it went viral on social media for worrying that McDonald’s employees tampered with her food because of the allegedly long wait time for the meal. She has now spoken out again to address the incident as the fast food chain did nothing to tamper with her order.
The deputy said that critics misconstrued her message, arguing that she simply wanted to share the anxieties she experiences while working in law enforcement in the current anti-police climate occurring nationwide, Fox News reported.
Deputy Stacy Talbert took to Facebook Live early on Monday morning to voice her woes that the breakfast she had mobile-ordered from a Richmond Hill McDonald’s had been tampered with because of her profession. Talbert’s emotional address has since been viewed 11 million times, and widely circulated on several social media platforms.
“It doesn’t matter how many hours I’ve been up, it doesn’t matter what I’ve done for anyone, right now I’m too nervous to take a meal from McDonald’s because I can’t see it being made,” Talbert said during an emotional plea. “I don’t know what’s going on with people nowadays, but please, just give us a break!
“I don’t know how much more I can take. I’ve been in this for 15 years and I’ve never had such anxiety about waiting for McDonald’s drive-thru food,” she continued. “If you see an officer say ‘thank you’ because I don’t hear ‘thank you’ enough anymore.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson confirmed with Fox News that Tablert’s meal was not tampered with and the delay in receiving her order “was not intentional nor due to the fact that she is a police officer.“
The franchisees of the local McDonald’s that Talbert visited also apologized for the long wait, and said that they have since spoken with her about the incident.
The McIntosh County deputy explained that while she was frustrated with what transpired on Monday morning out of concern for her safety, she wasn’t angry at McDonald’s. Talbert has reportedly visited that Richmond Hill branch “more than 100 times” and has “always been treated well” there, NBC News reported.
Nevertheless, Talbert says that most critics have completely misconstrued what she was trying to say.
“Everybody lost the whole point of the video,” she told NBC News on Wednesday. “I’m just so sick of people being mean.”
Talbert has been tagged with nicknames like “Cop Karen” and “Molly McMuffin.” Nevertheless, she’s taking the jokes in stride.
“It’s actually kind of funny,” she said. As a law enforcement official, she continued, “you take everything you have and tuck it away so you can be unbiased and deal with other people’s problems.”
Of course, Talbert said, some detractors cannot understand her intentions in sharing the video.
“I just wanted to share that I hurt, too.”
