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Bahama Breeze Manager Who Called Police on Black Sorority Members Loses Job

Bahama Breeze

The manager told police the patrons were disrespectful and threatened to leave without paying their bill. (Image courtesy of Social Vixen)

A Bahama Breeze restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio has fired a manager who called the cops on a group of Black sorority sisters to make sure they paid their dinner bill.

The restaurant confirmed the manager’s termination in a tweet last week and acknowledged that its customer service “fell short.”

The incident unfolded June 19 after the employee dialed police claiming a group of about 40 guests were “worked up about their bill” and refused to pay, USA TODAY reported. The manager also alleged that some of the patrons, many of whom were members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. who were there celebrating a book signing, cursed at him and were disrespectful.

A non-member who was there with the sorority said that service was painfully slow that day and reportedly threatened to leave after waiting 25 minutes for the server to bring the bill. She stayed, however, and paid for her meal with rest of the group.

Customer Chante Spencer said she believes the group was racially profiled and painted as the type of people who would skip out on their meal without paying. She said the manager called the cops and had authorities wait as each member presented a receipt to prove they had paid.

“No one deserves to be treated that way. Nobody,” Spencer told local station WKYC-TV.

As previously reported, a police report from the incident stated that some of the sorority members threatened to dine-and-dash, used profanity toward the manager and caused a “disturbance” inside the eatery. Spencer denied this, however, calling the claims false.

“I am hoping that Bahama Breeze looks at this very carefully and alters policies and does some more training,” she told Cleveland.com. “You cannot make assumptions that people are going to commit a crime based on how they look.”

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