The mistletoe drones deployed in TGI Friday’s restaurants are supposed to be flying ambassadors of happiness and love, not weapons of destruction. Yet that’s exactly what happened to a photographer who visited a restaurant with a reporter last week to capture the restaurant’s two drones in action. A smaller, 10-inch drone was supposed to land in the reporter’s hand, but instead flew into the photographer’s face, cutting her nose and chin.

Regular customers shouldn’t be in any danger: according to the company’s corporate headquarters, diners are not supposed to touch the drones, so the risk of them flying into another customer’s face is very low. No customers, employees, or journalists have been injured by drones at any of the company’s other mistletoe drone events.

“[T]his thing cut off skin on my nose, cut my chin, and got caught in my hair, spinning & spinning,” the photographer, Georgine Benvenuto, posted on Facebook. “Not a toy I would buy for a child this year or any year…”

Sounds more scary than cheery. The team from Brooklyn Daily and the photographer blame each other. The operator blames the reporter for flinching when the drone was about to land in her hand, which he says sent it careening into her colleagues face. The photographer, in turn, blames the drone operator for thinking it was a good idea to land a toy with whirling blades in someone’s hand to begin with.

Drone strike! Our photographer injured by TGI Friday’s mistletoe copter [Brooklyn Daily]

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