"Officer Karen" McMuffin Meltdown

About

"Officer Karen" McMuffin Meltdown refers to a viral video of a police officer telling a story about how she had to wait for a McDonald's order after a shift. Over the course of the video, it appears that the officer, known as "Stacy," believes that the delay in her order is a deliberate disrespect from the McDonald's staff because she is a police officer, and she begins to cry. The video was widely mocked online, as people felt the officer's reaction to her delayed order was overblown.

Origin

On June 15th, 2020, Stacy Talbert of the McIntosh Police department posted a video of herself talking about her experience at McDonald's to Facebook, gaining over 136,000 likes and reactions, as well as 188,000 shares (mirror below).^[5]

On June 16th, 2020, Twitter user @tkag2020_ann reposted the video, captioning it, "Stacey who has been a cop for 15 yrs went to @McDonalds She paid for it in advance and this is how she gets treated for being a cop😢😡 Come on America. We are better than this." In the video, the officer talks about pre-ordering a McDonald's meal, but when she arrives, the order isn't ready. After waiting in the parking lot, an employee brought her a coffee, and she says she told the employee to forget the order. She then begins to cry as she bemoans the disrespect police officers face during the George Floyd protests. As of June 17th, the video has over 3.8 million views.

Spread

The video was quickly mocked online for what many felt was an overreaction on the officer's part. Twitter user @PlatanosFrito^[1] wrote, "It’s 2020 bro, imagine still eating at McDonalds & expecting grade A service. The meal was ordered in advance, they didn’t know you were a cop. They just have shitty service. Don’t play the victim. This lady is crying over a McGriddle & nervous about how she’s being treated. FOH." Twitter user @ghoulrunnings^[2] wrote "hmmm i feel like someone who gets this emotional at their mcgriddle taking long probably shouldnt be wielding a deadly weapon in high stress situations" (shown below, right).

Others made memes based on the video. User @mannyfidel made a Ladies and Gentlemen, We Got Him video joking about cops ordering fast food, gaining over 2,500 retweets and 9,300 likes (shown below, top). User @karlmorx^[3] tweeted a Steamed Hams joke about the video, gaining over 150 retweets and 700 likes (shown below, bottom). The video and its reactions were covered by the Daily Dot.^[4]