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On Saturday, an Olive Garden customer in Indiana loudly demanded that a server who is not black serve her table.
The manager complied, leading to him no longer being employed by the company.
A hostess at the Olive Garden restaurant who is black, Amira Donahue, said that the customer in question was a white woman who came in during the Saturday dinner rush.
Donahue, 16, said the customer was with a few other people, including two children, when the incident happened. The hostess sat the family at a table, and a black female server came to take care of them. That’s when the woman became upset.
The woman complained to the manager about Donahue and her waitress.
“She made comments about me to my co-workers concerning my race and saying that I should work at a strip club instead,” Donahue said to NBC News. “She asked if I’m even black and if I am from here.”
That’s when the customer started screaming for the manager to provide a server who wasn’t black. And apparently, the manager acquiesced.
The incident upset Donahue so much that she started crying, which another customer, Maxwell Robbins, witnessed.
22-year-old Maxwell Robbins told NBC News that he documented the entire ordeal in a Facebook post because he was so disturbed by what took place. He also complained to Olive Garden by phone.
“The young lady was in tears and had no one to support her. So I felt if I didn’t write this post, nothing would have happened and she would continue to go to work for a place that feels uncomfortable and unwanted at.”
More than 2,400 people have shared the Facebook post since Thursday morning. It reads:
“I’m never going back to the Olive Garden in Evansville. A few white people come in a says that they refuse service from a “colored” server and asks to speak with the manager. The manager without hesitation ensures that they will not receive service from a person of color.
That couple should’ve been refused service for even asking something like that!! It’s disgusting that olive gardens manager would allow that especially with a very diverse staff.
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Robbins later Updated the post, adding:
“Update: The manager in question has been terminated. It seems like Olive Garden made a massive effort to ensure that this will not happen again and one of the girls I have spoken to seems to be in good spirits with the company.
We got done what needed to be done and it shows that we will not stand for any racism around here! I love all of y’all and I just want to say she is the sweetest host I’ve ever met at any restaurant, I’m glad Olive Garden took care of her. I haven’t heard much about the server unfortunately, I hope she is doing much better.”
A spokesperson for Olive Garden, Meagan Bernstein, said that the manager’s decision placed more importance on the customer than two of his employees. She also stressed that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination.
“As a result of our investigation we made the decision to separate with the manager involved,” said Bernstein of the man who is no longer on the payroll. Companies would be wise take note of this incident to ensure similar situations don’t take place.
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