What to Know
- Cornerstone Cafe in the East Village apologized for a slur printed on an Asian customer's receipt
- The restaurant said it was a mistake by one employee, who has since been fired
- The person who posted the receipt on Facebook has called for calm after the apology
A restaurant in Manhattan's East Village has apologized publicly and fired an employee after a customer was called an offensive term for Asian people on a receipt.
Cornerstone Cafe on Avenue B acknowledged late Wednesday that a server referred to a customer as "Ching Chong" on the slip for a to-go order of steak and eggs.
"This situation leaves me no choice than to terminate this employee for this unjustified act. It definitely does not reflect the way the Cornerstone staff or I think because of one individuals stupidity," the restaurant's manager, who identified himself only as Rocco, said in a post on Cornerstone's verified Facebook page.
The controversy blew up Wednesday after a Facebook user who goes by the name Ziggy Chau posted a photo of the receipt.
"This just happened to my friend's mother...right here in NYC!!" Chau said.
Local
Later in the evening, after Cornerstone issued its apology, Chau also tried to calm people calling for a boycott or protest of the restaurant. (More than 40 people left the restaurant one-star reviews on Yelp, mentioning the receipt.)
"Everyone, let's be civilized now. There are many people that are employed by the restaurant whose livelihoods depend on their jobs there and should not suffer because ONE IGNORANT employee thought it was ok to make a racist remark," Chau said.
The incident was just the latest episode of restaurants allegedly using slurs to refer to customers on receipts in recent years.
