Customer Criticizes Chick-fil-A Worker After He Typed A 'Racial Slur' On His Receipt — But People Believe The Worker Is Not At Fault
"Just when you think you're healing from a situation, someone opens that wound back up."
Summer_Wind | Shutterstock A Chick-fil-A customer was upset after noticing that a “racial slur” had been typed on his receipt.
While the frustrated man believes that the employee deserves to lose his job, others are coming to the worker’s defense, claiming that it was an innocent mistake.
A customer was horrified to see that the word ‘Monkeys’ had been typed on his receipt instead of his name.
On August 23, Marquise Vanzego pulled up to a Maryland Chick-fil-A and ordered chicken strips, fries, and an iced tea/lemonade drink.
However, when he received his food, he noticed that the name for the order read “Monkeys” instead of Marquise.
Vanzego, who is Black, believed that the misprint was an act of racism.
“I told him [the worker] ‘Marquise.’ That’s not even close to Marquise,” Vanzego told the Chick-fil-A manager in a since-deleted video on social media. “I’m going to write a letter to corporate about this, this is very offensive.”
The manager apologized and offered a refund for his order, but the customer claimed that the incident sparked feelings of hurt and anger.
"It was devastating. It just set me back years. As a black male, we've gone through a lot, and it's a constant reminder,” he told News4.
"Just when you think you're healing from a situation, someone opens that wound back up."
Now, Vanzego wants the employee to learn that his actions have consequences. However, the owner of the Chick-fil-A told him that he would not fire the worker since he is a minor and reported that he had simply misheard the name.
"This Chick-fil-A 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,” Chick-fil-A claimed in a statement.
Even though it appears that the employee was racially profiling the customer, many people came to the worker’s defense.
Some defenders claimed to be former drive-thru workers who noted just how difficult it can be to hear customers over the microphone.
“As someone who takes orders over the phone, sometimes it’s impossible to tell what some people are saying,” one TikTok user commented.
“I worked in fast food service, and people would give wild names like that, and I’d just go with it and not ask questions too, and they do sound phonetically similar,” another user shared.
“Marquise does sound similar to that word over a loud drive-thru. I sure hope it was an honest mistake and he apologizes for ruining that young man’s employment,” another added.
The customer noted that he placed the order face-to-face with the employee, not through a microphone, since the employee was standing outside.
Vanzego also reported that he was a regular customer at the specific Chick-fil-A but has no plans to return anytime soon.
"I won't be going back to the Chick-fil-A any longer. Racism is still alive,” Vanzego said.
He has already hired an attorney and is considering filing a federal lawsuit against Chick-fil-A for discrimination.
Jim Lambert | Shutterstock
For now, he hopes that the teenage employee has learned a valuable lesson.
“I believe that he should be held accountable for what he’s done,” he told TODAY.
“I understand, he’s a young man, he’s 17, he’s still learning. But he also needs to know that there are consequences when you do things like that.”
Whether it was an accident or not, the employee’s actions deeply hurt a customer, which resulted in the restaurant's loss of business.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.