Level 1 associate works at Los Angeles In-N-Out. A store manager shows her the spot with no cameras. Then he rubs her shoulders

Fast food jobs are often many people's first real taste of a workplace hierarchy. New hires answer to supervisors who've been there for years, all while learning where things are kept and how their workplace runs. That hierarchy is supposed to be about training and structure.

But one former In-N-Out employee said, in her case, it became something else entirely.

‘This place right here is the only place that has no cameras'

Content creator Paweenieee (@paweenieee) shared two experiences she allegedly had from her time working at In-N-Out. Both experiences unfolded with older, higher-ranked coworkers. Her video has since accumulated more than 40,000 views.

“I started as a level 1 associate,” Paweenieee said. “And the way that the rankings go is, you start as a level 1. You move your way up to a level 7, which is basically like a shift lead or a supervisor. And then you go into like a store manager.”

During her first week, Paweenieee said one of the store's managers gave her a tour of the location. She said that while she was 18 at the time, he was roughly 35 years old and married to a fellow In-N-Out worker. They had two kids together.

During the tour, things took a dark turn.

“We moved into this specific spot of the store, and he looks at me and looks around and says, ‘And this place right here is the only place that has no cameras,'” Paweenieee said. “And I was like, ‘Okay.' And he proceeds to rub my shoulders.”

Paweenieee said the manager continued flirting with her regularly until he transferred to a different location and she “never saw him again.” She said that if such an incident were to happen now that she's 29, she “would speak up about it.”

“But at the time I was so young,” Paweenieee said. “It was my first week. I didn't really know what I could or couldn't do, and I just let it slide.”

@paweenieee Finally speaking up about my time at in n out #fyp #weirdos #creepy ♬ original sound – paweenieee

‘You do not want to know what we did in my dream'

Paweenieee alleged a second incident occurred when she was approximately 20 years old and a Level 5 associate. She was finishing up an overnight shift with a Level 7 coworker who she said made a move on her.

“We're basically by ourselves, and he says, ‘So I had a dream about you,'” Paweenieee recalled. “I had a boyfriend at the time … so I was not engaging in this conversation … He's like, ‘Yeah, you do not want to know what we did in my dream.'”

She said he repeated that last line about four times, which made her “so irritated.” She decided to ignore him for the rest of the shift. Later, like the manager before him, this coworker kept flirting with her whenever they worked together until he switched locations.

“This is such a very weird thing that happens at In-N-Out that I've noticed,” Paweenieee said. “Is that the higher levels always end up flirting with the younger associates, which is so yucky … When you're for sure 18 to your early 20s, it kind of feels like you can't really say anything.”

Paweenieee said that when she was that young, she doubted anyone would believe her word over a senior employee's. But now, in her late twenties, she concluded her video by encouraging others to stand up for themselves.

“Women should definitely speak up for themselves, because that is not okay,” Paweenieee said. “This is your sign. If something weird is happening at your work, speak up about it.”

Is it illegal for managers to flirt with their employees?

“Flirting” can cross into illegal territory if it becomes “harassment.” According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), “harassment is a form of employment discrimination that violates” federal law.

“Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive,” the EEOC writes. “Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality.”

Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute also reports that unwelcome romantic advances can violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, these advances become violations when they're made to seem “either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment.”

“Both the victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim does not have to be of the opposite sex,” Cornell writes. “The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not in the same organizational unit, such as an employee in another office, a client or a customer.”

MyNewsLA reported in 2025 on a similar alleged incident at a Los Angeles In-N-Out. MyNewsLA said a female worker at the chain filed a lawsuit “because management scoffed when she complained about pervasive sexual harassment by two male co-workers who leered at her and made inappropriate remarks.” The judge ultimately ordered the plaintiff to shore up her case with stronger alleged facts.

Buzz News reached out to In-N-Out via email, as well as Paweenieee via TikTok comment.