‘I was fat-shamed going through a drive-thru with my kids – it was heartbreaking’

A woman says she and her children were fat-shamed by a member of staff while grabbing takeaway food at a local drive-thru, an incident which she says left her on ‘the verge of tears’

A mum has opened up about being fat-shamed at a drive-thru while her kids were in the back seat. She explained that her family rarely gets takeaways, but she decided to treat her children to some fast food for their Friday night dinner. Her husband had been away with work all week and, exhausted and hungry by the time, she just couldn’t face cooking.

She bought each of her three children a kid’s meal plus an ice cream dessert as a special reward for being on their best behaviour all week, before getting herself a burger meal. As she sat in the car behind another vehicle, she overheard the voice of the young female employee who had just taken her order, making cruel fat-shaming comments.

Speaking anonymously with Kidspot, the hurt mother recalled: “At first, I thought she was talking to me but then as I listened to what she was saying I realised she had inadvertently left her microphone on and was talking to a colleague.

“‘I can’t believe how many parents feed their kids this crap’, she said. ‘I bet you they’re all fat too’, she added, sniggering.”

Much to her relief, her children hadn’t been paying attention, being far too preoccupied with a game to overhear the drive-thru worker’s body-shaming comments. She was however quite upset by the harsh judgment, and became increasingly distressed as she approached the window, knowing she would soon be face-to-face with the employee.

As the mum drove up to the window, the girl looked at her, ‘smiling the sweetest most innocent smile as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth’

She continued: “She then asked me how my day was and told me the total amount to pay as if she had never said such a horrible thing only a minute before.

“Just as I was convinced that perhaps her comments were referring to someone else or that I had misunderstood what she meant, I saw her look into my back seat and at each of my children sitting there as if checking to see whether her assessment that they’d be fat was correct.”

By this point, the unsettled mother was on the brink of tears and chose not to say anything, as she knew she would just end up crying in front of the girl.

No longer in the mood for her food, the mum found herself merely picking away at her burger after they pulled up at a local park. She was however pleased to see her kids enjoy their meals without a care in the world before heading off to play, blissfully unaware of what had been said about them.

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