A man who visited a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Maryland said that management fell short in their response to an incident in which an employee allegedly typed a racial slur on his receipt.
Marquise Vanzego wrote a Facebook post about his customer experience at a Chick-fil-A in La Plata, Maryland.
Vanzego said that he visited the restaurant’s drive-thru on Aug. 23 and told a young, white team member taking his order that the name for the order was “Marquise.” But when Vanzego pulled around to receive his food, the word printed on the receipt was “Monkeys.”
Vanzego immediately reported the incident and recorded a conversation with a supervisor in the drive-thru lane who apologized and told him, “There’s no excuse” for the offense, then issued a refund for his order.
“This racist and derogatory labeling is not only deeply offensive but also humiliating as a 52-year-old African American adult male,” Vanzego wrote on Facebook. “The sheer hurt of seeing that word takes me back to a painful history, one where my ancestors endured the same dehumanizing racism that was meant to strip away their dignity. The fact that such a vile slur was used so casually in this day and age is a stark reminder that the trauma of those times is still very much alive.”
Another video Vanzego posted shows him going inside the restaurant to attempt to speak with the employee who wrote the slur on the receipt. The manager tells him he can’t speak with the worker but hands him a card with the name and contact information of the general manager for that location.
In a follow-up conversation with the general manager, Vanzego says he was told that management would speak to the employee responsible for the receipt and was “begged…to not let this incident go viral.”
“I have not heard back from (the general manager), and that type of response does little to address the pain and embarrassment I have suffered because of this incident,” Vanzego said.
Vanzego said he also spoke with the store owner, who apologized but showed “no compassion” and cultural sensitivity in response to the incident. The owner reportedly told Vanzego that the staff member responsible for the receipt made a mistake in taking the name and that he would not be fired.
“When I asked (the store owner) if the team member that took my order will be terminated, his response was, ‘No, I spoke with him. He’s 17 years old and told me that he put down the name he thought he heard you say, so I stand with him and will not terminate him,'” Vanzego said.
Vanzego stated that he frequently patronizes Chick-fil-A several times a week, and the incident caused him “significant mental anguish and trauma.”
“The situation is profoundly disheartening, and it’s unacceptable that anyone should have to endure such an experience, especially from a business they support,” Vanzego wrote.
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson told Atlanta Black Star that the restaurant is “independently franchised and operated. The franchisee of this restaurant has apologized to the guest. However, this experience does not meet our expectations and is unacceptable.”
