Fast food workers sound off about the rise of violence in the workplace

After several violent incidents at local fast food restaurants across Northeast Ohio, News 5 asked if employees are trained to handle those types of situations.

At a McDonalds in Sandusky, police say an employee was punched in the face by a man because he was upset about his order. The ex-employee, who quit after that terrifying night, told News 5 over the phone that she never been trained to handle being assaulted.

"They didn’t train us to do anything," she said. "I mean, literally they show you how to take an order, they show you how to cook and that's all they show you. And I’m 28, that’s one thing, I grew up in Buffalo so I know how to defend myself, there’s a lot of 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds and 18 year-olds where I work."

Last week confusion and chaos broke out at a Burger King in Rittman when a 17-year-old allegedly stabbed two young men.

"I got cut above the eye, and on the eyelid and my nose was cut almost off. We had to hold it together in the ambulance," said stabbing victim Cyres Jervis.

After the suspect allegedly stabbed a 14-year-old, police say he went outside and stabbed 13-year-old Cyres. Surveillance video shows Cyres yelling something to the suspect from a distance —then the 17-year-old sprints towards him and Cyres retreats with his hands up. The rest of the fight is mostly off camera, but police say that’s when he got stabbed several times in the face.

Rittman police say employees should have called them much sooner.

"It would have been great to get there in enough time had we known what was going on with the fight and maybe stop this from occurring," said Chief Ray Arcuri.

It was the same story from an employee at a Dunkin Donuts in South Euclid that was robbed at gunpoint just a few days back. He said overr the phone that as far as he knows there is no protocol for robberies or any unsafe situations, luckily he just handed over the money and did not get hurt.

Back in September of 2017, News 5 told you about several Cleveland Taco Bell employees that armed themselves and killed an intruder that forced them to the floor and held them at gunpoint.

News 5 reached out to both the corporate and local offices of McDonalds, Burger King and Dunkin Donuts about what safety measures they have put in place to keep their employees and customers safe, but they did not return our calls.