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‘That’s so weird’: Chick-fil-A customer orders Frosted Coffee with whipped cream. Then a worker steps in

‘It’s store by store unfortunately.’

Photo of P.J. West

P.J. West

Exterior photo of a Chick-fil-a next to a photo of a woman holding a frozen coffee with the caption ''is there a reason for no whip allowed on my frozen coffee? haha so confused'.
@annamarie.nicolee/Tiktok (Licensed)

It seemed like a simple order: A spritz of whipped cream on top of a frosted coffee. But, for one Chick-fil-A customer, it turned out to be a gateway to nastiness.

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The video documenting the offputting customer service came from creator Annamarie Nicole (@annamarie.nicolee). Her TikTok got more than 407,000 views after originally putting it up just four days before Christmas. This means this incident happened in the thick of the Christmas season.

She begins by setting up the scene in the drive-thru line. She says, “I just ordered a frosted coffee, and then I was in line, and I said, ‘Can I add whipped cream to it? Just no cherry.’ She said, ‘Yeah. No problem.’”

What seemed like a normal interaction changed when she got to the window. She got the frosted coffee with no whipped cream. Confused, Annamarie asked if she could get the whipped cream added.

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“I pull up to the front,” she recounts, “The manager, she had a look—I don’t know if she was a manager … [or] another worker. She had a look on her face. And I was like, ‘Oh, Lord. I thought maybe they were like out, I don’t know, on a Saturday.’”

If they were indeed out, she did not learn this. All she learned, from the second worker, was, “We actually can’t do whip on frosted coffees.”

The first employee Annamarie encountered, who she labels “the nice one,” was apologetic.

This isn’t like Chick-fil-A, right?

It was a puzzling encounter, given Chick-fil-A’s reputation for stellar customer service. In fact, 91% of people in a Statista-shared survey from September 2023 called them friendly (compared to 9% neutral and 0% not friendly). McDonald’s, by contrast, was dubbed friendly by only 64%, with 3% registering as not friendly.

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An article in Effective Retail Leader, boasting of Chick-fil-A’s corporate culture, noted, “Associates at Chick-fil-A are taught to say ‘my pleasure’ instead of ‘you’re welcome’ or not problem.’ It is a differentiator and oddly, one that very few other retailers have been able to replicate. Chick-fil-A makes it more than a statement that associates are required to say, it is a culture they are immersed in from the time they start.”

The article went into the investment of individual franchise owners and how that makes a difference, but also said that reputation has a lot to do with who chooses to work there.

“You see a lot more pride and positive comments from Chick-fil-A employees on forums and Reddit entries than most other fast food places (and retailers in general),” the article remarked. “People, especially those in the 18-25 age range, want to work at Chick-fil-A over other similar job opportunities.”

It then added, “The interview process does not appear to be any more or less rigorous than other similar places, but the expectations and criteria for selection is, in many cases, higher. Making it through to the second round of interviews with the owner narrows means that they have already narrowed the crowd down. Then the owner can make the final selection based on the best fit for the culture they are creating in their restaurant.”

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Viewers weigh in

Commenters aimed to explain the behavior to the creator.

“It’s because whipped cream is the most expensive product in cfa inventory so they sometimes have a rule only on milkshakes depending on owner,” one said.

“It’s store by store unfortunately,” another said. “Every operator/owner is allowed to have their own rules and regulations with reason, sounds like theirs is annoyingly strict.”

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@annamarie.nicolee

♬ original sound – Annamarie Nicole

“I worked there for 6 yrs and was upper level management,” another shared. “Best guess is they don’t have a way to charge for it. It’s the most expensive item per [ounce] in the whole store.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Chick-fil-A via email.


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