I used to work for Domino’s delivering pizzas. The operation was clean and professional, and of course, the service was quick, if I say so myself. But, a business is only as good as its worst employee. So it was that in 2009, Domino’s suffered a blow due to the actions two workers. The incident involved a series of five YouTube videos called “Disgusting Domino’s People.” In one video, a male employee places ingredients in his nose or near his buttocks and then puts them on sandwiches which he then spits on. A female employee announces in the background that the sandwiches will soon go out to customers.
The employees involved, Michael Setzer and Kristy Hammonds were at least honest. Their behavior was quite disgusting, but apparently also entertaining since the videos got more than a million views in a few days. Here are some of the acts shown in the videos. I am not certain of the timeline since I did not see the original videos and can only view clips shown in news reports.
Setzer sticks a piece of cheese in his nose saying “Michael’s special Italian sandwich.” He also places salami near his buttocks. He puts the ingredients on sandwiches and spits on them. Hammonds narrates “in about five minutes these will be sent out and somebody will be eating these — yes, eating these. And little do they know that the cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that ended up on their salami.” Another video shows Setzer rubbing a sponge on his butt and then wiping a pan with it.
At another time, Setzer sneezes on a sandwich and while Hammod says something about a booger on the sandwich before poking his finger in the melted cheese as if to embed hide the ‘booger’ among the cheese.
In one clip Setzer is shown pulling his pants up and doing up his belt. As well, according to the Consumerist blog, which posted about the videos a day after they were posted “Michael likes to put cheese and peppers up his nose.”
The public was able to identify the location as a Domino’s in Conover, North Carolina using Google Earth.
Domino’s quickly fired the employees who turned themselves into authorities. They were charged with the distribution of prohibited foods or based on some reports “food contamination.” Setzer and Hammonds claimed that none of the contaminated food was actually sent to customers and this was all a joke. Nevertheless, the health department shut down the Domino’s location for a few days to be sanitized and much of the food was thrown out.
The workers ultimately pleaded guilty to lesser charges and served short prison sentences and several months probation in addition to not being allowed to work at food service establishments.
According to local news reports, Kristy Lynn Thompson, aka Kristy Lynn Hammonds, had a lengthy rap sheet, including charges for communicating threats and making harassing phone calls. The charges were ultimately dismissed.
The videos were posted on April 12, 2009. Domino’s, upon learning of the videos, contacted YouTube to get them taken down, but YouTube could not do so without the permission of the uploader, the channel Whiteair2, who did not own the video. The video was taken down on April 15 after a copyright complaint from Kristy Hammonds. It does not seem that the duo ever intended to upload the videos anywhere, and Michael claims that they threw the videos away. They have expressed remorse for the effect the videos had on other workers and on the public’s perception of the company.
After the videos were made public, Domino’s reputation tanked badly and the company hesitated to make any public statements, thinking it would just call more attention to the videos. They did make a statement on April 15, the same day the videos were taken down including a statement on their website and a public apology via a video message by Domino’s USA president Patrick Doyle, saying,
Hello, I’m Patrick Doyle, President of Domino’s USA. Recently we discovered a video of two Domino’s team members who thought that their acts would be a funny YouTube hoax. We sincerely apologize for this incident. We thank members of the online community who quickly alerted us and allowed us to take immediate action.
Although the individuals in question claim it’s a hoax, we are taking this incredibly seriously. This was an isolated incident in Conover, North Carolina. The two team members have been dismissed and there are felony warrants out for their arrest. The store has been shut down and sanitized from top to bottom.
There is nothing more important or sacred to us than our customers’ trust. We’re re-examining all of our hiring practices to make sure that people like this don’t make it into our stores. We have auditors across the country in our stores every day of the week making sure that our stores are as clean as they can possibly be and that we’re delivering high-quality food to our customers day in and day out.
The independent owner of that store is reeling from the damage that this has caused. And it’s not a surprise that this has caused a lot of damage to our brand. It sickens me that the actions of two individuals could impact our great system where 125,000 men and women work for local business owners around the U.S. and more than 60 countries around the world.
We take tremendous pride in crafting delicious food that they deliver to you every day. There are so many people who have come forward with messages of support for us and we want to thank you for hanging in there with us as we work to regain your trust. Thank you.
Many claim that Domino’s took too long to respond which could cause long-term damage or even threaten the company’s survival. Domino’s seems to have beat the odds. We tend to overestimate the spread of something that is considered “viral.” Just because a million people viewed the videos and there was a lot of public outcry, plus a lot of media attention, both locally and nationally, does not mean that the majority of Domino’s customers were aware of it.
This is not the only time a Domino’s employee has gone viral displaying disgusting behaviors. Another incident occurred in Japan when a Domino’s employee filmed himself picking his nose and wiping his finger on pizza dough. The video is still available in several places.
