From USA Today:
"Spanish-speaking Taco Bell worker who turned away English-speaker has lost her job"
A Spanish-speaking Taco Bell employee has lost her job after a video circulated online allegedly showing her denying service to an English-speaking customer in Florida Alexandria Montgomery shot the video in the mostly Spanish-speaking city of Hialeah. In it, the employee argues with Montgomery and says no one at the location speaks English. The video has been viewed more than 100,000 times. Montgomery told USA TODAY that she wanted to order a quesadilla when the encounter occurred. She posted to social media that she believes the employee could understand her but refused to serve her anyway The video posted Wednesday shows Montgomery arguing with an employee who is speaking mostly in Spanish "Nobody here speaks English?" Montgomery asks The employee shakes her head: "No," she says Montgomery's video description calls the store "racist": "This lady understood what I was saying but didn’t want to take my order talking bout she don’t speak English." Taco Bell issued an emailed statement on the matter: “This does not meet our customer experience expectations. We have worked quickly to resolve with the customer to ensure this doesn’t happen again. The individual no longer works for the brand.” More than 90 percent of Hialeah residents speak Spanish, according to a 2016 U.S. Census estimate Montgomery told USA TODAY in a written message that Taco Bell apologized to her and offered a $100 gift card. She says that she did not take the gift card During the video, the employee told Montgomery that she couldn't take her order and that Montgomery should move on so she could help other customers, according to a translation published in the Miami Herald “Honey, I have a car behind you,” the publication quotes the employee as saying. “Can you move please? I have an order behind you. There is no one who speaks English." The employee threatened to call the police, according to the Herald.
^ It is very clear that the now former employee at this Taco Bell was being racist and discriminating against the customer because she was speaking English -and I believe the employee could understand English. If people around the US are going to be called racist for telling others to speak English then people around the US who tell people to speak Spanish should also be called racist. The US does not have an official Federal Language although 36 states (including Florida where this happened) have English as an official state language. I believe that English should be an official language at the Federal level (but am not sure if it should be the sole official language.) Puerto Rico (a US territory) has English and Spanish as their official territorial languages yet Spanish is the dominant language used. English may not be an official Federal language in the US, but it is the dominant language used (it is also the sole International Language.) People will say that what the employee at this Taco Bell did is reverse racism, but I believe it is simply racism - there's nothing "reverse" about it. Hopefully Taco Bell will take this seriously and make sure none of its employees do anything like this again - whether to an English-speaking person, a Spanish-speaking person or any other language. ^
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