A pizza restaurant in Michigan is under fire after a customer allegedly received a receipt with the words “Trash, White” in reference to the derogatory term, “white trash.”
Jason Charboneau ordered from Jet’s Pizza in Hamtramck this week when he saw the name the restaurant allegedly gave him.
“The gal that took the order had an interesting name for us,” he wrote on Facebook. “Yea, corporate will hear about this.”
Rob Rutz also said on Facebook to the chain: “Wow. I don’t know who ‘Beth’ is, but you need to look into this.”
Wow. I don't know who "Beth" is, but you need to look into this. 1) Never assume that name-calling or bullying won't…
由 Rob Rutz 发布于 2018年12月17日周一
The man also wrote: “Never assume that name-calling or bullying won’t be called out, especially in the digital age. 2) It’s certainly best not insult any customers, much less the office of a world-renowned musician who happens to live in Wayne County and orders food from you often. Not cool.”
According to the man, the musician’s “global social media following has latched onto this … and now you’re getting famous for all of the wrong reasons. Greetings from the East Coast.”
The restaurant issued an apology about the incident.
“Regarding the incident from last night, as soon as we found out about this situation, we contacted the customer to let her know, that the behavior she experienced is unacceptable and a clear violation of our service standards,” the company said.
“We apologized and assured her that we, as a company, do not tolerate this type of behavior, in our stores. We have since made suggestions to managers of this franchise, location, on how to deal with the employee, who caused this regrettable situation,” the statement read.
WXYZ reported that Jet’s refunded Charboneau’s money and offered him store credit.
Charboneau also issued a statement on Facebook, saying “the intent was never to make it this big. The masses made it big. Let me put a couple cents more into this. I never want any negativity in anybody’s life.”
Charboneau later said he wants to “stop with the hate” in a follow-up Facebook statement. “My response was to tell everybody to stop with the hate and do your job. I know from my work history it’s not always the easiest to be nice. Try anyway,” he wrote.
He added: “So during this holiday season, spread love not hate. Don’t pre-judge. Let others be themselves so they don’t misdirect hatred on others.”
After Charboneau called out the firm, a number of people criticized the chain.
“I’m sorry this happened. And Jet’s Pizza lost another customer tonight,” one person said. “Wait… WHAAAAT??? I have no words. NO ONE deserves labels like this. Making matters worse, if this server had any clue as to the world-class professional you are. Geez,” another wrote. “Fail from everyone in Jets party involved,” one commented, Fox News reported.
The first known use of the term “white trash” in print happened in 1821 and became popular in the 1850s. In 1833, Fanny Kemble, an English actress who visited the state of Georgia, noted in her journal: “The slaves themselves entertain the very highest contempt for white servants, whom they designate as ‘poor white trash.'”
