Black students from Youngstown State University in Ohio, were reportedly told to pay for their meals upfront or else they wouldn’t be served.
A Youngstown student by the name of Samora Savage, told Vindicator Newspaper she and a group of friends and classmates went to the Royal Grill Buffet in the suburb of Boardman and was asked to prepay for their meal. The issue began when students noticed other customers were paying after their meal.
Savage asked the manager why she and her friends were singled out, and the manager reportedly replied, “You people steal.”
She and her friends were astounded by his response and say they “couldn’t believe the way we were treated there.”
Jay Dong, the Royal Grill manager confessed that he does make some people pay beforehand and the majority of the customers that do are Black. However, he doesn’t believe his policies are racist.
“A lot of people steal from me. If I don’t know them, and they all pay together and they try to run, I can usually catch one person and make them pay the bill. But if they all pay separate and they run out, I can’t catch everyone”, he told the Vindicator.
