ESPN reporter suspended after explicit rant caught on video

WATCH ABOVE: The case of the ESPN sports reporter who verbally attacked a tow truck attendant isn’t unique. As Sean O’Shea reports, customer service experts say it happens all the time.

TORONTO – ESPN sports reporter Britt McHenry has been suspended for one week after a video of an explicit rant went viral.

The video posted on the website Liveleak.com, shows the 28-year-old directing obscenities at a towing impound employee in Arlington, Virginia on April 5.

“I’m in the news, sweetheart, I will f***ing sue this place,” said McHenry in the security footage.

WATCH: ESPN reporter caught on camera verbally abusing towing impound clerk

The reporter goes on to criticize the employee’s appearance, weight and intelligence.

“That’s why I have a degree and you don’t,” she said. “Maybe if I was missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?”

According to news reports, McHenry posted a comment on Twitter calling the company “corrupt” a day following the incident. The comment has since been deleted.

After ESPN announced the suspension on Thursday, McHenry issued an apology calling the rant “intense and stressful” and that she let her emotions get the best of her.

“As frustrated as I was, I should always choose to be respectful and take the high road. I am so sorry for my actions and will learn from this mistake,” she stated on Twitter.

Jeff Mowatt, a customer service strategist based in Calgary, says one of the reasons incidents of employee abuse are happening is a decline in people’s social skills.

“We have a whole generation of people who are learning to communicate by texting to each other rather communicating with each other one on one,” said Mowatt. “Frankly our social skills are diminishing.”

Mowatt has some advice for employees who are dealing with abusive customers: get a manager.

LET US KNOW: Are you a customer service worker in Toronto and have been subjected to the same type of treatment before? Tell us your story.

*With a file from Sean O’Shea