Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in Lakeland

Looks like google took this down 🙄

Only rating 5-stars to get this message out. Also because there’s no such thing as a no-star rating.

DEFINITELY not the chick-fil-a to stop at if you’re poc, lgbt+, or on the heavier side.

I have never once felt unsafe at a chick-fil-a until last night (6/30/22 about a quarter to close). I’m not from Lakeland but there’s something going on over there. I walk in the same time as a black man and an employee immediately goes “You know you can’t be here right?” Instant red flag from me. I go to use their “clean bathroom”- almost slipped and fell btw since there was a lack of wet floor sign. I can hear a female employee talking about me being in there, making a mess, etc.. I literally just had to pee because we were coming from Orlando and this restaurant was convenient. I come out of the bathroom, some employees still talking badly. I go up to a male employee and nicely order my food. He tells me my food will come out at a table SEPARATE to my white friend. I say that’s okay, and go sit with her anyway. While waiting for my food, I can hear all the employees making fun of me and my friend. They were being quite frankly: openly racist, openly homophobic, and openly fatphobic. All the white employees look like they treat the POC’s badly as well. Especially since they had to get a POC employee to bring my food/get another one to deliver it. Once I got my food, I told my friend we’re leaving and I couldn’t even bare to eat the food I had ordered.

Never have I ever seen a chickfila more disheveled and trying to push people out; just because they were trying to close. As a retail worker, you aren’t closed or clocked out until every single person is taken care of, and out of your store.

I hope this place gets investigated and a discrimination lawsuit is enacted. No person should be treated less than another. This place was definitely a culture shock to someone who’s adopted by white parents.

If ANY of the poc/hardworking good employees are reading this, y’all are amazing. Remember your rights. Do your research. Do not let them win. I love you. And I hope you’re safe.

TLDR: if you’re poc, lbgt+, or on the heavier side… go somewhere...

Update: so mad 😡 my daughter went because she was hungry and no one would even take her order. She's been there for over 30 minutes. Just keep walking around ignoring the fact she wants to place an order. Bye! You lost out again. She's had a really bad day and you put the rotten cherry on top. I still will not even go to this location because of what happened to me the last time I went. Jeez people get it together. Not everyone there is bad but some has a screw loose. The boss needs to help tighten it with proper training.

Update: We went through the drive through. I was told to go in front of the person next to me. The person next to me was told the same thing, tried taking me out and was no mad that they pulled a knife on me. It was really bad. Even the older lady working the drive through made it worse. I was telling them what I was told. The girl that helped me tried to correct them all to be pushed aside. Communication is key people. I've never had my life threatened like that before. If I didn't roll my window up the knife would of cut me. The glass is scratched but idc I'm ok. My PTSD flared bad and the trauma from this has made it hard for me to come back. I sent the law enforcement everything and pictures of the guy and his vehicle. They told me not to worry they had everything to press charges. Chick-fil-A did nothing to protect me.

Great food and very friendly fast service. Side note of you're allergic to peanuts do not eat here. They now use peanut oil...

If you're really craving some good chicken come here. You have to be willing to wait in a long line if you want to go through the drive-thru. I went because me and my husband really like their chicken sandwiches. My daughter loves their waffle fries. We were going to go through the drive-through until we saw the massive line of hungry people in their car's that wrapped around the entire building. It was raining and we were hungry so I got out of the car and searched for the entrance. I walked all the way around the facility because the first door that I came to said "exit only go to the double doors". Even though everyone was using the entrance as an exit door I was not going to follow the crowd. So I followed the sogn and kept on searching for the entrance. Once I found the double doors and I was inside I read a sign that said "take a seat and use the app to order or wait on a server". I didn't have them app so I sat down for awhile then I got impatient and went to the cashier. She told me to sit down... so I did and saw one of the managers taking their mask down to speak to an associate. I also saw associates standing less than 6 feet from each other and they were hugging one another. Some one did come to take my order and i got my food very quickly. I just would like the associates to follow Social Distancing guidelines if the customers are...