Mom Is Getting Dragged Online for How She Reacted to Finding a Roach in Daughter's McDonald's Happy Meal
Dec. 5 2023, Published 12:10 p.m. ET
In 2021, a Popeyes in Washington D.C. made headlines after a TikTok filmed in its kitchen showed numerous rats running amuck. The video caused a huge uproar online and prompted the health department to shut the restaurant down.
But what the’s protocol if a restaurant has roaches? And what if one of these roaches becomes part of a customer’s meal? This became the reality for one mom after she found a roach in her daughter’s Happy Meal at McDonald’s. She shared a video confronting the staff about it, but not everyone who viewed it seemed to have sympathy for her. In fact, many started taking jabs at her as a parent.
A mom finds a roach in her young daughter's McDonald's Happy Meal.
One mom took to TikTok after discovering there was a roach inside her two-year-old daughter's Happy Meal container from McDonald's. "Oh my goodness," @hopelife525 says repeatedly at the beginning of the video as she films inside her car, lifting up a napkin at the bottom of her daughter's meal to reveal a live roach.
Being that she had just gotten the food from the drive-through, the worried mom parked and walked into the store with her daughter to talk to the employees about the gross discovery she had just made.
She handed an employee the box and asked her to lift the napkin, revealing the roach. The employee then shows it to her manager. "I gave it to my baby. I'm shaking. She ate a nugget already," @hopelife525 says as the manager apologizes in an emotionless tone.
"I'm so scared," @hopelife525 continues while seemingly breaking into tears. The manager gives her a refund. @hopelife525 tells him she is calling the health department and then leaves.
In her caption, she confirms this occurred at an Albuquerque, N.M. McDonald's restaurant located at 5324 4th St NW.
TikTok users started mom-shaming her for how she reacted, some even claiming she planted the roach in the McDonald's meal.
While @hopelife525 likely shared this video on TikTok to raise awareness of a potential roach problem at that McDonald's location, it seems most folks who commented on the video seemed to miss that.
The comment section didn't seem to have much sympathy for her and her daughter whatsoever. "Girl stop with the theatrics. Every restaurant has roaches," wrote one user.
Another user defended the chain, writing: "The restaurant chain has the cleanest kitchens. I worked there for seven years."
A third user wrote: "Why are you overreacting? Roaches are harmless."
The negative comments continued to pile up with many beginning to mom-shame her.
Some claimed that the roach was actually from @hopelife525's car, suggesting it could have been cleaner. Others went as far as to suggest she planted the roach for clout. Not to mention, many shunned her for feeding her daughter "garbage food" from McDonald's.
In response to all this madness, @hopelife525 shared several videos detailing what she usually feeds her daughter as well as showing viewers inside her house so they could rate the cleanliness.
Still, the hateful comments didn't seem to stop.
Fortunately, some folks were rallying for @hopelife525, not understanding why her video sparked so much vitriol. "These comments have so many idiots. It's momma's job to keep the baby safe, so of course she's scared that there was something in there. You did good," wrote one user.
