Olive Garden Manager Fired After Complying With Customer’s Racist Request
Good o’l reliable Olive Garden, your favorite first date option as a broke highschooler, is getting the heat this week. After news broke that an occurrence of racism occurred at one of its Indiana establishments, patrons of the Italian-inspired franchise have tons of questions.
A manager at an Olive Garden in Evansville, Indiana complied to a racist request by a couple over the weekend, leaving a Black waitress in shock.
When a white couple chose to dine at the Olive Garden in Evansville, Indiana over the weekend, they requested they be served by a white person only. Instead of standing up for his employees and asking for the pair to leave, the manager complied with the request leaving a hostess and another customer to complain on Instagram.
Now the manager is out of a job.
The incident went viral after being shared by customer Maxwell Robbins on Facebook.
According to Robbins the white guests refused service from a “colored” server and asked to speak to a 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,” Robbins complained.
Soon after sharing his post, 16-year-old Amira Donahue, a black hostess who had been berated by the white couple also posted a complaint.
According to Newsweek, when one of the white customers asked for hot water and Amira brought it to the table, the customer requested “a server who wasn’t black. The couple then proceeded to talk about her to co-workers and claimed that she was not “family-friendly.” Amira went onto express her disappointment and hurt of not being backed by the restaurants management staff.
In response to the incident, Olive Garden conducted an investigation and issues a statement.
“We have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind, and the manager involved no longer works for our company,” an Olive Garden spokesperson told TODAY in a statement.