In recent years, we’ve seen some passionate communities of pet owners fighting back against the negative way we tend to perceive rats. After all, not only can they be cuter than a lot of us would like to admit, but they can be outright lifesaving in certain circumstances.
That said, there are still some places in which we would never want to see rats. The last thing we want in our homes is an infestation and it’s certainly easy to stop seeing rats as cute if you end up falling into a pit of them.
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But above all else, the place we’d least like to see them is in our kitchens and especially the kitchens of any restaurants we visit.
And that’s why close to 2,000 people are happy to support one man after blowing the whistle on a particularly unsanitary kitchen appeared to cost him dearly.
Be advised that the video featured in this article contains explicit language.
On October 11, a Washington D.C. man named Ricardo Land uploaded a TikTok that began by asking, “Y’all want to see something?”
Land went on to explain that he delivers raw chicken to each Popeye’s location in the D.C. area and one caught his eye for a reason that will soon be obvious.
As we can see in his TikTok, that’s because its kitchen was crawling with large rats.
We can see them scurry along the floor and climb up a wire on the right side of the room after Land turns the lights on.
It’s unknown just how many rats were running amok in there, but Land estimated that he spotted at least 15.
As you might expect, this proved embarrassing for the franchise management and concerning for the D.C. city council.
In a tweet from October 30, Ward 6 council member Charles Allen announced that the city’s health department closed the location after conducting their own inspection.
But that wasn’t the end of the story for Land.
On November 2, he uploaded a follow-up video in which he claimed that his employer suspended him for filming the rats.
That day also saw him start a GoFundMe campaign, where he wrote , “I have a family of 5 and due to this incident my family will be hurt by my employer. I will not be able to afford rent food or any other necessities to keep my home.”
Incensed by the alleged retaliation after he revealed information that the public found important, well-wishers contributed in droves and vastly eclipsed his $10,000 goal.
At the time of this writing, Land has received $43,981 from over 1,900 backers and the donations remain ongoing.