Many have heard claims of retaliatory restaurant workers spitting in customers’ food, and hope it’s just a gross, urban legend.
But in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, a former Arby’s manager is charged with felony poisoning—accused of spitting in a woman’s food and, as a result, giving her herpes.
“I love Arby’s—not anymore,” said Jennica Church.
After a long night of bartending, Church stopped at an Arby’s in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.
“It was taking a little bit of time,” Church recalled. “I thought they were mad at me because it was about to close.”
Church said she had a little history with Amanda Hendricks, the manager at the time, but nothing major. She went home, ate, and shared sandwiches with her father-in-law and grandmother-in-law.
Church lives in a home with her husband, kids, and paternal grandparents. After that night, Church’s mouth flared up, and that had never happened.
A doctor later diagnosed her with herpes.
Because Broken Bow is a small town, word travels fast. Church says Hendrix had been bragging about spitting in Church’s sandwiches, and Church’s daughter heard about it.
According to the affidavit, Broken Bow police officers say they pulled cameras from Arby’s and saw Hendricks spit in the food. Hendricks is charged with felony poisoning with intent to injure.
A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Church and her family filed a lawsuit against Hendricks, Arby’s and their affiliated restaurant groups, claiming the incident has caused extreme anxiety, emotional distress and fear of infection. Church fears it will impact her work in the service industry.
“If I go out to each and see someone with a big thing on their face, I don’t want them serving me food,” she said.
The fallout is tough for Church’s mother-in-law, Patricia Dollarhite, to discuss.
“My son was sitting at my table, eating breakfast and he wanted a kiss, and he could not get one, so you bet I’m angry,” said Dollarhite. “I see what it’s doing to my grandchildren, my son, my husband. I don’t want to kiss my husband. He ate the food! Because he hasn’t had an outbreak, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have it.”
The family attorney, Will Blocker, says he is floored that it appears to be acceptable behavior. He said no other employees who witnessed the spitting did anything to stop it.
“They let it go all the way out the door and my client now has a communicable disease,” he said. “That has to be a culture deeper than Arby’s in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Maybe it’s Flynn Restaurant Group and all 300 stores they own. I don’t know, but we are going to find out.”
We reached out to Arby’s for comment and have not heard back yet.
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