The customer said he paid. The doughnut lady said he owed a few bucks more. So in a display of temper more suited to a preschool playground than a Mantua doughnut shop, the customer chucked his scalding coffee at the doughnut lady as he stormed out, cursing at her and at a customer who dared to intervene.
And with that, a criminal case was born. Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying the bespectacled, mustachioed madman who left the doughnut lady with severe burns.
The incident occurred at 11:05 a.m. Tuesday at the Fresh Donuts store on the 3000 block of Lancaster Avenue, police said. A video with audio from the scene appears to show that the customer paid, but that a dispute arose over the amount, as the clerk appeared to say he was about $2.40 short. “I paid you for my sandwich, lady!” the increasingly agitated man shouted as a worker handed him a cup of coffee. The customer hurled it right back at her, eliciting a squeal from behind the counter and the concern of at least one other customer, who appeared to confront the coffee-chucker as he stomped out.
