A Missouri man says he waited 42 minutes for his Taco Bell order, then saw a teen working the whole building alone and asked for one thing
“I would probably have walked out and just left the place open.”
“She’s the only one working here, and look at this,” Brad Bartow says of a Missouri Taco Bell where he waited 42 minutes for his meal. According to BroBible, the teenage worker he filmed hesitated over his Cash App request, and he later started a GoFundMe for her after sharing the story in a TikTok.
Bartow says only one employee was working the location. The report describes the teen handling every task herself as the drive-thru line grew and men waited indoors. “I waited 42 minutes, and she’s in there all alone,” Bartow states in the clip. The report describes her as seemingly smiling through the rush. The outlet reached out to Bartow in a TikTok message, left a comment on the post and emailed Taco Bell.
In the fundraiser’s description, Bartow writes that the drive-thru line circled the building while the lobby was crowded. He calls the worker polite to every customer. When drive-thru customers reached the window, he adds, she never mentioned being alone and apologized for the long wait instead. He describes her as working by herself past midnight.
Bartow asked for her Cash App
Bartow recalls feeling sympathy and asking whether he could get her Cash App details before leaving. She hesitated, unsure whether sharing it was permitted. “I have to call my boss,” he recalls her telling him. He agreed the manager needed a call, but his aim was to get her more help.
His Cash App quickly reached its $1,000 limit after he posted about her, Bartow writes, so he also set up the GoFundMe to “make this difficult night worthwhile” for her. The page lists $15,275 from 775 donations toward an $18,000 goal, up from the $13,500 the report cited. In an update, he says he is talking with her family and that she plans to put the money toward a vehicle.
“That gal’s in there just working her tail off. The fellas that were acting all wild in there tried to help her. She didn’t want them to come back there because she didn’t want to get in trouble with her boss,” he continues. Imagining himself in her place, Bartow states, “I would probably have walked out and just left the place open.”
Missouri’s hour limits for teen workers depend on age. The U.S. Department of Labor’s state child labor table lists a 7 p.m. cutoff for workers under 16, moving to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day, and shows no hour limits for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Lone-worker moments have drawn attention before, as when a Wisconsin worker refused an order because she was by herself, according to a TikToker’s video. Workers have also told their own side on TikTok, as when a McDonald’s worker spoke out after a customer filmed her refusing him coffee.
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