UPDATE: A man in his 70s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs has died after contracting COVID-19, as Tuesday’s case numbers are announced.

TikTok video has captured the moment a woman got into an expletive-laden argument with staff at a food outlet in the middle of Sydney’s COVID lockdown.

Watch the shocking exchange in the video above

The video shows the woman standing with a young girl and her partner as staff at the Frango charcoal chicken restaurant in Smithfield refuse to let her in because she is not wearing a mask.

When the staffers tell the woman she will need to order food from outside, she becomes furious.

She begins to swear at the employees, telling them she has an exemption and that they are just on a “power trip”.

“You know what, you’re being f***ing b******,” she shouts.

“Today at the shops, the police saw my exemption, and I continued shopping without a f***ing mask.”

The staff members apologised but didn’t back down.

The woman’s partner, who is wearing a mask, eventually apologises and pays for the food.

The woman yells at staff at the Frango chicken shop in Smithfield.
The woman yells at staff at the Frango chicken shop in Smithfield. Credit: TikTok/planetartaurusnest

The unpleasant incident unfolded on Sunday as the city ended its second week in lockdown.

When the footage was posted to TikTok, most were appalled at the customer’s behaviour.

Many said the woman had no right to swear at the employees, regardless of the situation.

“Whether or not she has an exemption, she doesn’t have an exemption to treat workers like this,” one person wrote.

“How are they meant to know she can’t wear one?”

“Why do ppl think they’re always so special?” another wrote.

“They don’t need to follow the rules?”

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‘She doesn’t have an exemption to treat workers like this.’

“There’s absolutely no reason for her behaviour,” one person fumed.

“The business will suffer a fine if they do not implement the rules.

“She doesn’t need to be rude.”

“She obviously has an exemption for manners as well,” another joked.

‘Calm down, Karen’

One simply said: “Calm down, Karen!”

One TikTok user had a practical solution.

“Why doesn’t she stay home and let the partner shop? Easy peasy.”

But a few people came to the woman’s defence.

“If you have a medical exemption they have no right to refuse you service, embarrassing on their behalf,” one person said.

“She has an exemption, why does she need to convince anyone?”

Smithfield is in western Sydney, one of the worst-affected COVID areas in the current outbreak.

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