Restaurant Owner Defends Video of Employee Barefoot in Ice Machine

A Texas restaurant owner is defending his employees after footage was released of a female worker barefoot inside the ice machine went viral. According to News West 9, Tommy Sandlin, the owner of the Monahans Bush's Chicken where the incident took place, says the video is just a "misunderstanding."

Sandlin explains that the employee in the (four-month-old) video was cleaning the machines after hours, something the restaurant does twice a year. Apparently getting into the machine is "protocol" recommended by the manufactures. Employees climb in to get rid of "stale ice and anything that may have gotten past the filters." After the employee climbs out, the ice machine is sanitized.

So why is the fourth month old video just coming to light? Sandlin believes that it was released by an "angry former employee" who was recently fired and somehow got their hands on the footage: "They were terminated and in retaliation they put the video up. If they felt there was something wrong with it, they should have done it four months ago. They threatened me about wanting their job back and we don't do that." In the long run, explaining why a barefoot employee was caught inside the ice machine is way better than an employee licking all of the food and posting it to Facebook. Go, watch the local news story.

KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com |