Photo of Domino's workers in Texas goes viral: 'Serving you during this crisis'
A viral photo taken at a Domino's Pizza in San Antonio, Texas, is providing a glimpse into the chaos and stress faced by food workers as icy weather and power outages slammed the state earlier this week.
The picture, taken by employee July DeLuna, was shared to Facebook on Feb. 17. Since then, it's been shared hundreds of times.
"This is what it looks like when we've worked our hardest," wrote DeLuna in the photo's caption. "This is us. Dominos. Working hard. Serving you during this crisis."
DeLuna, who was not able to speak to TODAY Food, noted in the caption that other restaurants and pizzerias were closed, and while the establishment was only open for a brief amount of time, they served far more food than they usually would.
"We were open for four hours," DeLuna wrote. " … And what (was) a weekend worth of food to serve gone within that time."
DeLuna said in her post that she and her coworkers served "countless" meals but were frequently berated by customers.
Video: Texas residents wait hours at water distribution center
"Countless people yelling at us. Countless times we tried to say 'We're sorry,'" she wrote. "This is us when we ran out of food and couldn't serve no more. We didn't even have food to serve ourselves."
While DeLuna's post mostly drew positive reactions, some commentators responded with the same vitriol that she was drawing attention to.
"Hahahaha please. This is a joke right?" asked one Facebook user.
"Oh no. A whole four hours! 4 hours of work must be very stressful," added another.
But many in the comments defended DeLuna and her coworkers.
"While I am not a fan of some pizza places, I am less fan of those who abuse people serving them, when their servers did so much to get there, take the abuse, WITH A SMILE, invite them back as they nearly collapse in exhaustion," wrote one Facebook user. " … Good job by going above and beyond!"
Another commenter called out those responding negatively as not being able to "resist an opportunity to berate someone for their efforts."
Related: "There are a lot of people that are struggling, so we just paid it forward," the owner said.
"We are so proud of our store team members who are working hard to serve hot food to their local communities," a representative for Domino's told TODAY in an email. "It is a very fluid situation right now in Texas and stores are navigating the various obstacles the best they can."
In her post, DeLuna asked that those eating at restaurants or other establishments remember that servers are often dealing with their own difficulties.
"We gave up our rewards to serve you. We gave up our safety to drive here," she wrote. "We gave up our time to be here. We risked it all to be here to serve y'all. Please understand we work hard not because we have to but because we want to help and we care. Thank you."
EDITOR'S NOTE (Feb. 19, 2021, 5:17 p.m. EST): This story has been updated with a statement from Domino's.
