Golden Corral altercation of manager, employee goes viral; manager fired

A Golden Corral manager has been fired after an altercation with an employee went viral Friday.

The video of a physical altercation between an employee and a manager at the Cape Girardeau Golden Corral has been shared 12,000 times and viewed more than 362,000 times as of Friday afternoon.

The video has no audio. Shortly after the video begins, it shows a woman with blond hair and wearing a pink shirt engaged in a conversation with another woman in a uniform. About a minute into the video, the employee took off her apron and tossed it at the manager. Soon after, a third person in the video, a man in a green shirt, tried to step between the two women, but the manager refused to be separated and pushed the employee several times and at one point put her hands on the employee�s face. The employee tried backing away several times, but the manager continued pursuing the employee, even as she tried to leave, pushing her into a corner. The manager also threw a hat at the employee at the end of the video.

The employee did not retaliate with any physical response.

A spokesperson sent a statement to the Southeast Missourian on Friday on behalf of RFR Inc., a Golden Corral Franchisee, saying: �We pride ourselves on the high standards we set for customer and employee care. After investigating the matter, it is clear that the event outside our restaurant in Cape Girardeau, Mo., depicted in the video was not in keeping with those standards. The manager in question is no longer associated with our company at this time, and we are working on training protocols to ensure nothing like this happens again.�

The Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the video Friday, posting to its Facebook page that �We are aware of a video circulating on Facebook of an incident that took place at Golden Corral in Cape Girardeau between an employee and a manager. Cape Girardeau officers responded to the incident when it occurred and the case was forwarded to the city attorney�s office. Since the video surfaced, a supplemental report has been completed and additional paperwork has been forwarded to the city attorney�s office for review and disposition.�

The video originally was posted by Facebook user Chelsi Rhea, who wrote she was sent the video and asked to post it by someone from inside. Rhea called the woman the owner, as did several other commenters on the video post, but the statement provided by the spokesperson only listed the woman as �the manager in question.� The Southeast Missourian could not independently verify whether the woman in the video was an owner. According to city records and previous reporting in the newspaper, the franchisee owner is Harold Robbins. The video appears to have been taken on a cellphone from a security monitor placed inside the building.

The video is available at https://www.facebook.com/chelsirhea/videos/10211481614938135/.

Pertinent address:

130 Vantage Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.