A Burger King Customer's Terrifying Reaction To A Drink Mixup

We're all human. We make mistakes. Sometimes, fast food drive-thru employees get an order wrong, even when it's a mobile order — believed to reduce the possibility of miscommunication between customer and employee (via Field Agent). Sometimes, when we pull up to the drive-thru and find our order is wrong, we overreact. Again we're human, not perfect. Sometimes we yell or ask to talk to the manager, which can make an employee fear for their job. Every once in a while, someone makes an even bigger mistake and causes a fast food worker to fear for their life.

At least that's what sheriffs say happened the morning of August 30 at a Burger King in South Carolina, just across the state line from Charlotte, North Carolina (via The Charlotte Observer). If what law enforcement says is true — if 46-year-old Sonya Melissa Stinson pointed a gun at a Burger King employee and threatened to blow her head off for getting her drink order wrong — then it seems safe to say that whatever the suspect was angry about, it probably wasn't beverages.

An employee at a Burger King near Fort Mill, South Carolina called 911 around 9:15 a.m. on August 30 to report a drive-thru customer had pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her, according to the York County Sheriff's Office (via The Charlotte Observer). According to a sheriff's report, "Burger King employee stated the customer got upset about a mix up between coffee and orange juice and made the threat several times and then exited the vehicle in attempt to come after the employee."

It probably didn't take long for law enforcement to come up with a suspect. Sheriffs say the fateful drink order came to the Burger King location via mobile ordering, and maybe they could trace its source. Or maybe they captured a license plate number on a security camera. In any case, York County sheriffs posted to Facebook and Twitter on September 1, saying they were looking for a certain Ms. Stinson. The suspect turned herself in the next day, the sheriff's office said.

Comments under the sheriffs' Facebook post were a mixed bag of "lock her up" and sympathy from people who know what it feels like when a fast food place messes up their order. "Maybe Sonya had a rough night and just wanted what she ordered. Just sayin," one commenter said.