Taco Bell receipt calls Asian American student ‘Steve Chink’

After ordering his food at a Taco Bell in Philadelphia, an Asian-American student was shocked to read his receipt, and see himself referred to by a racial slur.

In a Facebook post, University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. student In Young Lee writes that he had given the Taco Bell cashier the name “Steve,” in order to spare him the confusion and inconvenience of spelling out his real name. However, when Lee looked at the receipt, he found that the cashier had added on a last name to the order: “Steve Chink.”

Lee says that he immediately confronted the cashier about the racial epithet, who explained himself by claiming that since there were three Steves in the restaurant, he needed a way to differentiate them.

Infuriated by this reasoning, Lee says that he lashed at the cashier for using the derogatory slur. “He eventually apologized, and although I was still very upset I decided to let the case go,” Lee writes.

However, while waiting for his food, Lee says that he heard the cashier telling his coworkers about the incident, cracking jokes and continuing to use the word “chink.”

Once again, Lee stormed up to the counter and began yelling, causing the restaurant’s manager to get involved. Lee says while the manager admitted that what the cashier had done was wrong, he also tried to blame Lee for being disrespectful when he snatched his food from the cashier.

According to Lee, other customers in the restaurant soon came to his defense, causing the manager and cashier to back down and apologize again.

“ I thought incidents like this only happen in the news and never expected it to happen to me but I guess it really does happen in the real world. Normally I would let things like this go but under the current political climate I find it very important to address such issues and voice them loudly and clearly,” Lee writes, adding the hashtags: #putanendtoracism and #iamnotachink.

In an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian, a Taco Bell public relations representatives said that the franchise “does not tolerate this behavior” and is looking into the matter.

The incident occurred last Friday night, at about the same time that Chinese netizens began bombarding the Twitter and Instagram accounts of Philadelphia 76er JJ Redick for a video in which he appeared to call Chinese NBA fans “chinks.”

Redick later issued a full apology, explaining that he had got “tongue-tied,” adding that the slur was not even in his vocabulary.

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