A Black Chick-fil-A customer was left horrified after he was handed a ticket for his order – only to find a racial slur listed as the “Guest’s Name”.
As reported by the New York Post, Marquise Vanzego – from Maryland – was visiting his local LaPlata Chick-fil-A branch on August 23 when he ordered some chicken strips, fries and an iced tea/lemonade drink.
However, after waiting for his to-go order, he was left disgusted when an worker called out his name as “Monkeys”.
When he received the order and checked his ticket, he saw that an employee had written the hurtful racial slur where the guests’ names are usually located.
Speaking to TODAY, he initially thought there was no way the order could have been his when he first hurt the call – but when the employee confirmed it was Vanzego’s order and it was for a man in a white van, he was left hurt.
“Your heart has that little sting in it,” Vanzego told the outlet. “That’s what it felt like.”
The customer continued: “You start to think about all the other incidents that may have occurred that you heard about on the news with racial profiling.”
Sharing his story on his Instagram page, Vanzego revealed in a comment that he gave his order face-to-face, and not over an intercom system.
In a video showing the moment he spoke to a manager about the hurtful ticket, Vanzego explained that he clearly gave his name as “Marquise” – adding that it was “not even close” to the slur on the ticket.
In a letter to the company, 52-year-old Vanzego said he was left with “outrage and disgust” over the incident, adding that the ticket was “not only deeply offensive but also humiliating” for him.
Vanzego added in his letter that he spoke to the store’s owner, who informed him that the employee who took his order was 17 years old and thought he had heard the customer say “Monkey”. To which, Vanzego questioned him over if he had ever “heard of a human being [named] ‘Monkey’.”
The owner added that the teenage employee – who Vanzego says was a “young white male” – would not be terminated.
Vanzego also shared a video of the moment he entered the store to confront the teenager, but was denied the opportunity to speak with them by the manager.
Although the marketing director for the LaPlata Chick-fil-A branch declined TODAY’s opportunity to comment on the incident, the corporate office did reply with the following statement.
“This Chick-fil-A is independently franchised and operated,” it read. “The franchisee of this restaurant has apologized to the guest. However, this experience does not meet our expectations and is unacceptable.”
Vanzego says he wants the teenger to “be held accountable for what he’s done”.
“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,” he told TODAY.
After sharing his story on Instagram, Vanzego has received a mixed response from other social media users. While many argued that the situation was a simple case of miscommunication, others agreed with his point that nobody is called ‘Monkey’ and that the company should treat the situation more seriously.
