A viral photo taken at Domino’s Pizza in San Antonio, Texas, is providing a glimpse of the chaos and stress faced by food workers as icy weather and power outages hit the state earlier this week.
The photo, taken by official July DeLuna, was shared on Facebook on February 17. Since then, it has been shared hundreds of times.
“That’s how it looks when we work hard,” wrote DeLuna in the photo caption. “It’s us. Dominos. Working hard. Serving you during this crisis.”
DeLuna, who was unable to speak to TODAY Food, noted in the caption that other restaurants and pizzerias were closed and, although the establishment was open for a brief period of time, they served far more food than they normally would.
“We were open for four hours,” wrote DeLuna. “… And what (was) a weekend in food to serve ended at that time.”
DeLuna said in her post that she and her colleagues served “countless” meals, but were often scolded by customers.
Video: Texas residents wait hours at the water distribution center
Related: Local organizations and restaurants are working to help provide hot meals to needy Texans during record cold weather and dangerous power outages.
“Countless people shouting at us. Over and over we try to say ‘Sorry’, ”she wrote. “It’s us when we run out of food and we can’t serve anymore. We don’t even have food to serve ourselves.”
While DeLuna’s post attracted mostly positive reactions, some commentators responded with the same vitriol she was calling attention to.
“Hahahaha please. This is a joke, right?” asked a Facebook user.
“Oh no. Four full hours! 4 hours of work must be very stressful, ”added another.
But many in the comments defended DeLuna and his co-workers.
“Although I am not a fan of some pizzerias, I am less a fan of those who abuse the people who serve them, when their waiters did so much to get there, bear the abuse, WITH A SMILE, invite them to come back, as they almost passed out from exhaustion “wrote a Facebook user. “… Good job going further!”
Another commentator called those who responded negatively, for not being able to “resist an opportunity to scold someone for their efforts”.
Related: “There are many people who are struggling, so we just pay in advance,” said the owner.
“We are very proud of the staff members at our store who are working hard to serve hot food to local communities,” said a Domino’s TODAY representative via email. “It is a very fluid situation now in Texas and stores are navigating the various obstacles as best they can.”
In his post, DeLuna asked those who eat in restaurants or other establishments to remember that servers often deal with their own difficulties.
“We give up our rewards for serving you. We gave up our safety to drive here, ”she wrote. “We gave up our time to be here. We risked everything to be here to serve everyone. Please understand that we work hard not because we need to, but because we want to help and care. Thank you.”
EDITOR’S NOTE (February 19, 2021, 17:17 EST): This story has been updated with a statement from Domino’s.