MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shaun Mhoon says she’d barely taken the orders of the customers sitting at her first table of Thursday’s shift when things took a turn.
“He’s like, ‘B**ch, you are not going to get shrimp parmesan from me.’ He’s 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, so he’s huge,” she said.
Mhoon claims that’s what the cook in the back told her when she walked back to relay the order to him at the Applebee’s in West Memphis.
‘He just kept going on and on calling me b****es and wh**es.”
She says when she tried to stand up for herself the insults only got worse. And then, she says the unthinkable happened.
“He pushed my head back to where I fell over on a girl,” Mhoon said. “The people standing back there, rather than trying to break it up, they were all laughing about it.”
On top of that the police report she filed says customers saw it all.
“Everyone heard it, and it’s not good because I’ve never worked in a place where anyone put their hands on me.”
Now this mother is afraid she could lose her job that she can’t do without since she relies on tips to get by. “I have a special needs daughter and a son who is graduating this year,” Mhoon said.
The restaurant says they are handling the allegation internally. We talked to a manager who didn’t want to comment but says she was here the night Mhoon claims she was attacked.
Johannah Estep, the Vice President of Operations with Apple Investor Group Franchise, released a statement to WREG saying:
“The safety of our team members and guests is our top priority. When we first found out that this incident had occurred we immediately took action to understand the details. We are currently conducting an internal investigation into this matter.”
Since the clash, Mhoon says she’s been back at work, but she hasn’t seen the cook.
As for what she want, she says it’s simple.
“I want to feel safe at work and be able to go in and do my job.”
Aside from the police report Mhoon has filed, she also plans on reaching out to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to let them know about the incident.