HOUSTON (KTRK/CNN) – After his son couldn’t secure a free hamburger, a Houston fast food customer allegedly made a racially-charged insult against a Hispanic employee.
A female witness to the Saturday incident at a Houston Jack in the Box says it all started with a man’s son trying to get a free burger as part of a promotional deal, and it appears he was denied.
His father then walked into the restaurant. He was allegedly irritated and began complaining about the worker, who is Hispanic, telling her she would be fired and accusing her of lying.
"Buy a bus ticket back to wherever you came from. I want you fired out of here. We came to order here. She told my son ‘no,’” said the man in the video.
The witness, who was at the restaurant with her 9-year-old daughter, recorded the incident because, she says, she was appalled.
"I'm Hispanic, so that was very offensive. That was uncalled for,” the woman said. "To me, that was just a show of racism. It just felt as if he was saying it to me. I didn't speak out to him in a verbal altercation because my daughter was there."
The woman says she talked to her daughter about what happened, and the little girl had some big insight.
"It was inappropriate language, and it’s not acceptable for children that are there because there were more families than us that have children,” the girl said.
The witness says she posted the video online because she wants to put an end to racism.
"I hope that we just accept each other for who we are and understand that this country is made up of so many cultures and so many people,” she said.
Jack in the Box has not returned requests for comment.
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