“It is a lot cheaper to show respect than it is to lose out on a contract or an opportunity.”
That line from Shelita Jaclyn, a franchise owner of Chick-fil-A, has become the defining quote of a viral video in which she recounts dismissing a contractor who refused to recognize her as the business owner.
Jaclyn, who posts under @operatorinchief on TikTok, shared the story under the caption: “Is sexism as expensive as racism?”
In the video, she explains that while she owns the restaurant, her husband works for her handling facilities and maintenance. When the locks at the restaurant needed changing, her husband contacted a locksmith to arrange the job.
When the contractor arrived, Jaclyn said he asked to speak with the owner.
“I said, ‘Hi, I’m Shalita. Are you here to change the locks?’ He said, ‘Yes, but before I do, I need to get the okay from the owner,’” she recalled.
After informing him that she was the owner, Jaclyn said the locksmith insisted on confirming authorization with the man he had spoken to on the phone — her husband.
“I said, ‘That’s amazing and irrelevant. Two things can be true,’” she recounted.
According to Jaclyn, the contractor called her husband and said, “Sir, I am here at your restaurant. I just want to confirm with you that I can go ahead and get started.”
Her husband corrected him:
“Sir, that’s not my restaurant. That’s my wife’s restaurant. Her name is Shalita. Is she not there?”
Jaclyn described the shift in demeanor as immediate. “He went from confident contractor to Windows 95 error screen,” she said.
Even after the confirmation, she chose not to proceed with the service.
“You could [get the okay from me], but you won’t,” she said. “I will pay someone else to accomplish that task today.”
She framed the experience as a broader lesson about gender bias in business spaces.
“It is a lot cheaper to show respect than it is to lose out on a contract or an opportunity,” she said, adding encouragement for women across professions: “Don’t shrink yourself in a room that you helped build.”
The video has since drawn widespread engagement online, with many viewers praising her response and sharing similar experiences of being overlooked or second-guessed in leadership roles.
