Last week, as part of the backlash against Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy’s denunciation of same-sex marriage, Adam Smith videotaped himself berating a young cashier working at one of the fast food chain’s Arizona locations.
Since then, the so-called bully has lost his job and has released an apology video. In her first appearance on television, Smith’s victim, asking to be identified as “Rachel,” said Tuesday that she accepted Smith’s apology.
In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Rachel said she had initially declined Smith’s efforts to apologize because she had been in shock when he returned to her workplace for another chat.
“I was still in shock from the fact that the video he took was going viral on the Internet and I really just didn’t know how to react when he came by the next morning,” she said.
In response to his apology, she said she had forgiven Smith and regretted the situation.
“I do forgive Adam Smith,” she said. “I think he realizes how bad of a decision it was to make that tape. And I feel really sorry for him and his family and everything that has happened to him since Wednesday.”
Rachel said she had dealt with difficult situations before, but that Smith was the only customer to videotape his poor behavior.
“I was glad that he came forward and made a statement because what happened was — when he came to the drive-thru — wasn’t so much about Chick-fil-A but about how one human being should treat another and being in the hospitality industry you deal with difficult customers on a daily basis. And he’s definitely not the first I’ve encountered, but the first that chose to video tape the interaction.”
She added that it was her training and upbringing that prepared her to calmly deal with Smith, and that it wasn’t in her personality to be impolite to obnoxious customers.
“I forgive you,” she said to Smith, adding: “I really hope that America will forgive you and treat you with the respect that I chose to treat you with that day.”