Auntie Anne's employee in Malaysia fired after going viral for kissing ...

An Auntie Anne’s outlet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was forced to close for deep cleaning, after an employee went viral online for posting photos of herself kissing the shop’s pretzel dough.

In a social media announcement, the pretzel chain revealed that it had fired the staff member, Alice Chang, and shut down the outlet at Mid Valley Megamall for “thorough disinfection and cleaning”.

The post stated: “Thank you to all who have shown concern and highlighted the recent incident involving Alice Chang. We would like to clarify that Alice Chang was previously employed by Auntie Anne's Malaysia but she was immediately terminated following this incident.

"At Auntie Anne's Malaysia, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of hygiene and safety for our customers and staff. We do not condone or tolerate any actions that compromise these standards.

"As part of our proactive measures, the outlet in question will be temporarily closed for thorough disinfection and cleaning. The outlet will reopen once the disinfection process is completed and all necessary safety protocols are confirmed.”

The incident made its rounds online after netizen Xiiao Liingzz posted a viral video and photos of Alice Chang, which was apparently from the latter’s own Xiaohongshu account.

In the video, Chang, sans gloves and with her face mask down, filmed herself grabbing a chunk of pretzel dough, which she tapped with a pizza cutter and knife before raising it to her lips and making a kissing expression.

Subsequent photos showed her smooching the dough while taking selfies. There was also a secretly taken shot of Alice Chang apparently being confronted by her colleagues after getting caught.

Netizens expressed their disgust in the comment section of the Facebook post, which garnered around 4,600 shares. “Auntie Anne’s Malaysia may I know which outlet? But nvm, goodbye Auntie Anne,” wrote one Facebook user.

The expose post also included screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation between Chang and her Auntie Anne’s supervisor, where she confirmed her employment terms and work schedule.

Her supervisor then suddenly texted her a photo of a notorious Malaysian troublemaker named Adeline Chang, who made the news after refusing to pay for her Grab rides. “Is this you?” the supervisor asked.

“No, she is my relatives [sic],” said Chang, who was later outed by netizens to be Adeline’s sister.

Adeline Chang herself has seized her notoriety to hop on a live-streaming career and created a Facebook page with around 18,000 followers, where she gleefully reposts media articles of her sister's pretzel-kissing scandal.

This story was originally published in 8Days.