One Panera customer is putting the bakery chain on blast after she said a restaurant employee pocketed her debit card.
In a recent TikTok video, viewed more than 3 million times, user Gabbie Egan (@bbyegan_) shared how during a recent visit to Panera Bread she noticed she left her debit card and receipt at the location’s drive-thru.
“I called the police on Panera Bread today, I’m not even fucking with you, because people have me so severely fucked up nowadays,” Egan said in the video. “I cannot even.”
@bbyegan_ ♬ original sound – Gabbie Egan
Egan said she opted for the drive-thru because her daughter, Zelma, had a cough. When she noticed she didn’t receive her debit card back, she said she went in the restaurant to get it back. She said employees claimed they didn’t have it.
Eventually, Egan said a worker said they found the card and retrieved it from another employee’s pocket. Egan said she’s worked in food service before and dealt with lost cards and knows the usual protocol is to let higher-ups know and store the card in a safe place.
“You definitely don’t put it in your pocket and then when the person comes in looking for their debit card and not say anything until it’s a whole fucking ordeal,” Egan said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Egan via Instagram direct message and Panera Bread via email.
Egan said after the whole ordeal she called the police on the Panera Bread location but wasn’t sure they’d be able to do anything. For now, however, she said she would be canceling her card and would only be purchasing food from the restaurant with cash.
“Anyways I was just trying to get tomato soup, but I will not be getting tomato soup from Panera Bread anymore unless I have cash,” Egan said. “Honestly I should start paying cash everywhere.”
Commenters on Egan’s video sympathized with Egan over her experience.
“As a Panera employee they be hiring ANYONE,” a commenter said.
People from outside of the U.S. said it’s usual practice in their respective countries for employees not to touch a customer’s card during purchases.
“I live in Canada and we [didn’t] give our bank cards to cashiers ever, they hand us the machines,” another person said.
