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Papa John's Rings Up Asian Customer As "Lady Chinky Eyes"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 7, 2012
Modified Jan 7, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 7, 2012
Modified Jan 7, 2012
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It seems that some fast food cashiers still haven't learned that it's always a bad idea to put potentially racist "jokes" in their receipts. Minhee Cho tweeted her receipt from a Harlem Papa John's last night, writing, "Hey @PapaJohns just FYI my name isn't 'lady chinky eyes.'" An assistant manager at the store told us that it was a joke-gone-wrong: "I didn't think [the cashier] was trying to offend the lady in any type of way, but she did. It wasn't meant to harm her in any way. But I apologize on behalf of my staff for that."
The assistant manager at the store at 142nd Street told us that the cashier wasn't trying to make any racist comments: "We're all of different races here in this store. So she didn't mean any harm, didn't mean to stereotype against her, to discriminate against her, but that's how she took it." A similar incident took place in December when a Californian Chick-fil-A cashier rang up two Asian customers as "Ching" and "Chong."
Ronald Johnson, a Papa Johns operating partner who runs five stores in Manhattan including the one where the incident took place, told us it was "really disappointing and outrageous." He said the female cashier was a "16-year-old urban youth who listens to this nonsense all day on TV and radio"—he said the incident reflected a larger disconnect in modern youth culture. "It's really really unfortunate, it's a bad bad thing," he said. "When I googled the phrase, all these songs came up. These kids bring their baggage into the store with them. I dont know if I should fire her." Johnson said it's normal practice for cashiers to identify customers with phrases like "lady with blue shirt" or "man with Yankees cap."
He reasoned that the cashier, a high schooler who works for minimum wage, could benefit more if she got sensitivity training, and if he took the time to help her understand what was offensive about what she wrote: "I bet I'll talk to her and she wont know why this is offensive. She needs to know, and she will know. If I fire her, two years from now, she won't even remember why she got fired. If I sit her down and talk to her, I can help her. You still need a certain decorum and level of professionalism [at minimum wage jobs], and that may help her more in the long run."
Tagged
Asian
harlem
lady chinky eyes
manhattan
papa john's
racism
receipt
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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