Cazuelas Mexican Restaurant & Cantina saw its usual Sunday crowd come through while its server Ricardo strove to complete his service during normal working hours in Columbus.
The popular Columbus restaurant Cazuelas Mexican Restaurant & Cantina faced controversy when a boundary-crossing incident happened this weekend.
Staff member Ricardo runs two jobs and works Sundays as the guests’ favorite server.
Regular customers at the restaurant choose Ricardo for his friendly personality and great service as he has become part of the restaurant’s daily operation.
On Sunday Ricardo provided standard service to a single middle-aged woman when serving her at the restaurant.
She finished eating her meal and paid $87.84 before departing just like any regular customer.
While he checked the receipt after work that night a disturbing message on the tip line caught his attention first.
A photo of the receipt, later uploaded to social media by a coworker, showed the tip line filled with the words: “ZERO, YOU SUCK.”
That, however, was not the end of the note — the bottom of the receipt bore a more hateful message: “I HOPE TRUMP DEPORTS YOU!!!”
Social media users responded with intense anger when they saw the post which made many media outlets take notice and led them to search for the restaurant’s perpetrator.
Through their shared effort the online community determined that the recipient worked from age 49 as a real estate professional in Blacklick Ohio.
Century 21 Leadership discovered that the woman wrote for this real estate company on social media.
The woman’s internet profiles disappeared right away and her company no longer showed in her voicemail.
Public reaction to her and her spouse who shares an electrical business proved unsuccessful in getting a response.
The venomous message troubled the restaurant employees so much that Cazuelas had to release an official statement about the case.
“We were deeply disappointed by the offensive message left on a recent receipt,” the restaurant said. “There is no place for hate in our restaurant.”
People in the community reacted strongly to the act of discrimination and offered their support immediately.
A GoFundMe campaign titled “Tip Ricardo: Because Hate Has No Place Here” was launched to support the server.
The initial objective of $1000 donation skyrocketed beyond $9500 when individuals across America decided to help.
Although she tried to blame card theft staff testimony confirmed she was the woman who committed the act.
People tried to guess who the woman was until Century 21 publicly revealed her name.
“Hate has no place within the CENTURY 21 brand,” a spokesperson said. “We can confirm that this agent is no longer affiliated with the brand.”
Credit: (Facebook)
Stephanie Lovins lost her job role at Century 21 following her official termination.
A writing-on-a-receipt act of hate triggered a national awareness moment as the woman’s job role in the industry came to an end.
Feature Image Credit: (Facebook)