Today, Minhee Cho went to a New York City Papa John’s for lunch. When the cashier gave her the receipt for her order, she noticed that it included much more than just the cost of her meal. In the area where the customer’s name is entered, the cashier had entered her name as “Lady Chinky Eyes”. Outraged, Cho took a photo of the receipt and posted it to Twitter. In short order, her tweet was picked up and re-tweeted thousands of times. By 3pm, less than three hours after sending out the tweet, her photo of the “lady chinky eyes” receipt was viewed over 25,000 times.
As of yet, despite the growing social media outrage, Papa John’s has yet to issue any sort of statement regarding the “lady chinky eyes” receipt. The Huffington Post was able to reach the Papa John’s restaurant in question and spoke to an assistant manager by the name of Marjani. When asked about the incident, or why the cashier had given a customer a receipt with a racial slur in the name field, here’s what she had to say…
“I apologize. I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm but some people will take it offensive.”
Yeah, I can totally see how someone could type the name “lady chinky eyes” on an Asian-American customer’s receipt and not “mean any harm” by it. Whoever did this knew, or should have known, that the Ms. Cho was going to be getting a copy of the receipt and would see it. Otherwise, why take the time to put it into the system in the first place. This is obviously, without question, blatant racism. It’s also a safe bet that a media shit-storm is about to slam into Papa John’s. And considering that the “lady chinky eyes” receipt has now gone viral all across social media, the company had better be prepared to treat this as a full on public relations disaster.
My guess is the moron who “meant no harm” by typing “lady chinky eyes” onto a customer’s food receipt is already unemployed. Which will do almost nothing to satisfy everyone who’s been offended by the racial slur. Be sure to keep an eye on Papa John’s official Twitter (@PapaJohns) and Facebook page for any sort of official statement. This incident just serves to illustrate the power of social media and how the actions of one, probably minimum wage, employee can have absolutely devastating consequences for a company. If you listen closely, you can hear the chants for a Papa John’s boycott from all corners of the Internet. Best guess? This is going to cost Papa John’s millions in damage control and lost revenue. Not good, Papa John. Not good at all.
Last updated by on .
Who eats lunch at 8:10 PM?