A video that has been going viral on social media this week shows a Spanish-speaking Taco Bell employee in Florida refusing to serve an English-speaking customer. As a result, the fast food chain has decided to terminate the employee's employment.
According to the Miami Herald, the video shows the employee at the restaurant's Hialeah branch appearing to become upset when the client, Alexandria Montgomery, tried to place her order in English.
After her attempts to resolve the issue failed, Montgomery requested to speak with a management.
The worker, who introduces herself in the video as Luisa, gives a curt response in Spanish, saying, "She is in her house sleeping," before saying, "Honey, I have a car behind you," and then closing the window.
After that, she makes a threat to call the authorities.
"Would you be able to kindly move? "I have an order behind you," she tells me. "Please wait." There is not a single person who can communicate in English. I'm sorry to bother you, but this is Hialeah.
Montgomery stated in an interview with USA TODAY that she was in the process of placing an order for a quesadilla when the incident took place. She made a post on social media in which she stated that she believes the employee could understand her but that they still refused to serve her.
In the video that was uploaded on Wednesday, Montgomery can be seen having a heated exchange with a worker who is primarily using Spanish.
"Is it just me, or does anyone here speak English?" When asked, Montgomery says.
The worker expresses her disagreement by shaking her head and saying, "No."
The business is referred to be "racist" in the video description provided by Montgomery. "Even though this woman understood what I was saying, she refused to take my order because she claimed that she did not know English."
In response to the controversy, Taco Bell has made the following statement through email: "This does not fulfill our objectives for providing a positive experience for our customers." We have moved immediately to rectify this issue with the client in order to be certain that it will not occur again. That particular person is no longer employed by the company."
According to an estimate from the 2016 United States Census, more than 90 percent of Hialeah's residents are fluent in Spanish.
In a written note that she sent to USA TODAY, Montgomery stated that Taco Bell had apologized to her and gave a gift card for the amount of $100. According to her, she did not take the gift card with her.
According to a translation that was provided in the Miami Herald, the employee can be heard telling Montgomery that she couldn't take her order and that Montgomery should walk on so that the employee could service other customers during the course of the video.
According to the publication, the worker said something along the lines of "Honey, I have a car behind you." "Would you kindly move from here? I have an order that comes after you. There is not a single person who can communicate in English.
According to the Herald, the worker threatened to report the incident to the authorities.