Former Panera employee says 'no excuse' for writing insult on customer's receipt

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A woman who was fired from a local restaurant for writing an insult about a customer is sharing her side of the story.

Toriana, who only wants to go by her first name, was fired from her job at the Panera Bread on North Druid Hills after a customer received a receipt with an insult printed on it.

She admits she was unprofessional when she wrote: "Add watermelon for this stupid b----" on the customer's receipt.

"My mind got uncontrollable and that's why I acted the way that I did," Toriana said.

The 20-year-old said she lost her cool Thursday when the customer started repeatedly degrading her after some confusion on how to ring up the order.

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"She said, 'Do you understand? Are you stupid?' At that point, I felt like, OK I'm not stupid. I'm not incompetent," Toriana said. "I'm new and I didn't know how to provide her the things she wanted and the way she wanted them."

The former worker said she let her emotions get the best of her and typed the comment on the receipt, not knowing that it would cost her her job.

"If you could take it back, would you take it back?" Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez asked.

"Yes, because I do not want to represent Panera that way. That is not the way they trained me. I'm not that way," Toriana said. "There is no excuse to write that on a ticket."

Jaquez contacted the customer, who said she never degraded the worker, but is happy that she was fired.

Cox Media Group