Chinese restaurant apologizes for writing the n-word on a customer's takeout order
A Chinese restaurant employee wrote the n-word on a takeout receipt, alleging he misheard the customer’s name.
Brandon Hart, a regular patron of Eddie’s Carry Out in Washington, D.C. went to pick up his May 24th order of Singapore noodles and beef fried rice, and saw the racial slur rather than his name, on the $19.89 receipt.
“Just flabbergasted that you can actually write that on a ticket or receipt or any piece of paper,” Hart told Fox 5. “How can you write that word unintentionally and then print it?”
The television station showed the receipt to customers outside the restaurant. “I don’t think I’ll be eating there,” said a man. “I’ve switched my diet up anyways.”
“For real?” said another man. “I think I’m going to leave.”
Owner Yung Lan would not agree to an interview. “We speak Chinese and our English is limited, so we ask customers to spell their names on the phone,” an Eddie’s server tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We typed the name he spelled.”
The restaurant was busy that night, she says, and although the receipt suggests that a server named “Yong” took Hart’s order, the staff cannot recall who answered the phone. “I don’t think anyone would do that intentionally,” the worker says. “We don’t have bad intentions.”
The person who answered the phone may have believed that Hart said “Nigel,” confusing him for another regular, she says, although “Brandon” sounds nothing like the name. “Maybe it was a prank call to make us look bad,” suggests the employee.
Lan told Fox 5 the customer spelled out his name and the restaurant copied it down. But Hart told the station he did not say the slur, only his first name.
The employee tells Yahoo Lifestyle that Hart didn’t say anything about the receipt when he picked up his food. People have been calling Eddie’s to make death threats, although Lan made an apology to Fox 5.
“People need to be more educated,” Hart told Fox 5. “Not just white people and black people. Just people in general.”
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