HOUSTON, TEXAS - JULY 05: A Chick-fil-A restaurant is seen on July 05, 2022 in Houston, Texas. According to an annual survey produced by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Chick-fil-A has maintained its position as America's favorite restaurant for the eighth straight year in a row. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
A Black woman is accusing a North Carolina Chick-Fil-A employee of writing a racist slur on her receipt, and snapped a now-viral picture to prove it.
Nyiashia Jackson, 19, entered the drive-thru in Charlotte last week, where she says the incident occurred.
When Jackson received her order, she found her name was replaced with a racial slur – the N-word – with the slur in question misspelled with only one G, according to WCCB Charlotte.
“I was just in shock. I literally parked right there, I couldn’t eat the food,” Jackson told the news outlet.
She said she gave the first worker her name before pulling up to the drive-thru window, where another employee who handed her the order tipped her off to the racist slur, WSOC reports.
“He was like, ‘You might want to look what they put your name as,’” Jackson told the outlet. “I was just in shock. I literally parked right there. I couldn’t eat the food, I was just in shock.”
Jackson’s mother, April, added “a young lady who took her order asked her name. She told them her name was Nyiashia and she put on her ticket (N-word).”
She went on to say that she wants the employee in question to be fired.
Chick-Fil-A released a statement to WCCB stating the company’s “expectation that guests at all Chick-fil-A restaurants are treated with honor, dignity, and respect,” and that the location has tried to connect with Jackson to apologize directly.
“The Operator/Owner of Chick-fil-A Mountain Island has thoroughly investigated and tried to connect with the customer to better understand her experience and apologize for the situation,” it said.
The fast food chain’s statement attempted to explain away the slur, stating “we understand this to be a misspelling of the customer’s name,” and that “the operator has started additional training… to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Though we understand this to be a misspelling of the customer’s name, that does not negate the impact or experience had by our guests. The Operator has started additional training at his restaurant to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We sincerely apologize for the harm caused by this incident,” the company added.
Jackson’s infuriated mother derided the thought of training, and that she wants the employee fired, not trained “to not call someone a n*****.
“You shouldn’t have to be trained to not call someone a n—. I’m just being as honest as I can be, I want the employee fired,” she told WSOC.
April Jackson did confirm that Chick-Fil-A has reached out to the family, but added she couldn’t speak on the matter as they are currently in the process of filing a lawsuit against the fast food company.
This is hardly the first time Chick-Fil-A has been accused of racism or other discriminatory incidents. In September, a tone-deaf tweet about serving the Black community caught the attention of social media, who excoriated the company, according to NBC News.
And in 2019, CEO Dan Cathy’s public comments opposing gay marriage led to widespread backlash, protests and boycotts of the brand, CNBC reported at the time.
