Cornerstone Cafe in New York City has fired one of their employees after she wrote the racial slur “ching chong” on the receipt of an Asian customer, reports the International Business Times.
Ziggy Chau, a friend of the Asian woman, posted a picture of the receipt on Facebook, asking people to boycott the restaurant until a public apology was made.
“Hate to get political but in light of what is happening here in the USA and our current president seem to make it OK to come out and be blatantly racist,” wrote Chau in the original post. Chau proceeded to call the restaurant to let the manager know what had happened and to ask for a public apology.
The restaurant’s manager, who identified himself as Rocco, released a public apology on the restaurant’s Facebook page Wednesday evening after the post by Chau had garnered tons of attention.
“As manager I still take full responsibility and I humbly asks for forgiveness to all who got offended, but most of all to the person who’s heart was broke and made sad today,” wrote Rocco. “This deeply grieves me. Anyone who knows me and the staff knows that our main role everyday is to see people enjoy themselves and to leave Cornerstone happy. And that we are not racist to anyone. I really love everybody.”
Things like this aren’t new. In 2011, the receipt of students at UC Irvine listed their guest IDS as “Ching” and “Chong.” In 2012, two Korean customers at a Starbucks found their drinks labeled with “chinky eyes” rather than their names.This happened in an Atlanta suburb with a heavily Asian American population.
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