‘Who is this diva in the ponytail?’: McDonald’s employee yelled at for closing up early, so her heroic co-worker steps in to defend her

Karens are, unfortunately, an unnecessary evil that customer service workers are forced to deal with daily. Truly — practically every day, we see clips on TikTok of people dealing with entitled customers.

As one can imagine, though, the people who have to deal with these insufferable Karens are often just workers trying to do their jobs and finish their shifts on time — like the two McDonald’s employees whose video recently went viral on TikTok. Despite not being the ones who shared the footage, which was instead posted by GhettoGarageBuilds, the clip has already amassed over 8 million views in just two days — and it’s easy to see why.

In this video, we see two Karens arguing with two undoubtedly underpaid McDonald’s workers after the kitchen closed half an hour before the restaurant’s alleged closing time. “Why did you close down at 7:30 p.m. when it says 8 p.m.?” asked one of the customers. The employee at the window, struggling to understand what the woman had said due to a language barrier, innocently shows her watch to indicate that it was indeed 7:30. And this is when we first meet the heroic co-worker who stole the internet’s heart: ponytail girl.

This “ponytail girl,” as netizens have affectionately dubbed her, steps in to support her coworker, calmly instructing her to “shut the door and lock it,” reassuring her that “it’s okay” to close the window between them and the irate customers. But upon hearing this, the customer insists, “It’s not okay,” and, of course, demands “the number of the corporate officer.” Classic Karen.

The wordy altercation continues until ponytail girl finally closes the window door after defending her manager, and then proceeds to make a… less-than-family-friendly gesture toward the customers — and at this point, we can’t really blame her. Especially because — despite everything — these women don’t leave. They stay put and once again call over the worker with the language barrier, demanding the name of ponytail girl and threatening to “get her fired.”

Unfortunately, if you were hoping for an update on whether this employee actually lost her job at McDonald’s — we can’t say for sure. Her identity is never revealed in the video, and honestly, it might be for the best that she remains simply known as “ponytail girl” for now. But one thing’s certain: she’s an online icon, with netizens rallying behind her words and actions.

“Trying to get someone less than half your age fired from a fast food job (especially in this economy) after you, an adult in your 40s, acted like a toddler in the drive-thru is not the move….” one user on X commented. “Imagine sitting in a car and complaining at workers trapped in a s—– McDonald’s for 8-12 hours,” said another.

However, many others argued that they understood where the customers were coming from. “Ok, but I used to hateeee getting off late and trying to grab dinner, only for the place to close early as hell. Like, why?” one user on X complained. Thankfully, plenty of people also recognize that restaurants — including McDonald’s — may close early for a variety of reasons.

Ok, but I used to hateeee getting off late and trying to get dinner, and the place closed early as hell. Like Why?😭

— Teca. (@Tee_kuhh) January 28, 2025

Whether due to being understaffed or other reasons, it’s not uncommon for kitchens to close earlier than expected without warning. Maybe these customers should remember that, just like them, McDonald’s workers also deserve to leave on time.