Woman harassed after receiving racial slur on receipt delivered by Domino Pizza

[HipChick]

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7625414

A Wake County woman says she's receiving harassing phone calls after reporting finding the N-word on a pizza receipt.

The sheriff's department is investigating calls the Apex woman says she's gotten since talking with ABC11 Eyewitness News Friday about an order she placed at the Dominos off of Ten Ten Road and 401 in Raleigh.

The general manager of the store told ABC11 Eyewitness News that they took the complaint very seriously and did some digging and the delivery driver who put the racial slur on the receipt was fired.

Carla Robinson says the man who allegedly wrote the N-word followed by "don't tip" on her receipt called her phone after he got fired and used the N-word again.

Robinson says she went to the Wake County Sheriff's Department to report the harassing phone calls she has received since Friday.


Robinson played several of the voicemails for ABC11 on Monday. Some of the recordings were just noise, while others were people using fake accents and talking about the pizza delivery and the racial slur.

One call she says she answered, but didn't record, was the delivery man complaining that she got him fired and called her the N-word. But the former Domino's delivery driver contacted Eyewitness News to say he didn't make that call.

He says he wrote the note in anger after not receiving tips from African American customers including Robinson, but says he realizes now it was a mistake and is sorry for his actions.

He also says sheriff's investigators are welcome to review his cell phone records, so he can prove he didn't make the calls to Robinson.

Meanwhile, Robinson says she met with a sheriff's investigator, but the sheriff's department will not comment on an investigation that's underway.

[Booster]

1. Wow. What the Hell has happened to this country.

[HipChick]

2. RW spewing is encouraging this crap...I am ashamed of this country sometimes

[Booster]

3. At least Domino's fired the guy. Now they should give the lady

free pizzas for a month.

[jobycom]

6. She couldn't take them.

I used to deliver pizzas. One of our drivers went off on a customer once--not about race or anything. We fired the driver and they made up a free order for the customer, and picked me to deliver it because I was just that guy who always got the "handle the angry customer" calls. So I went to her house, had to talk her into even opening the door, then told her how sorry we were, and all that. She finally accepted the apology, but not the pizza, because she couldn't trust what they might have done to it.

No way that customer can trust anything from that place now. For that matter, now that it's public, she probably can't even eat out for a while.

[Lance_Boyle]

27. If she really doesn't tip she ought not to eat out at the same place twice.

Ever.

[jgraz]

34. Only if the pizzas came from someplace other than Domino's

:puke:

[arcane1]

4. "Happened"??

This certainly is nothing new

[valerief]

7. Republicans. nt

[Selatius]

23. I've grown up in the South. This is no different than what it was years ago. nt

[MajorChode]

24. The difference is the guy was fired

Years ago he would have been promoted. Had this not turned into a publicity nightmare for Domino's, he probably wouldn't have been fired today.

[Selatius]

38. True, but I was talking more about the mere existence of bigotry, not the outcome itself.

Lots of people still walk around with the idea that "Black people do not tip." The biggest reason for the existence of such a loaded idea is probably because poverty has stricken disproportionately this group of people more than any other group.

[jobycom]

5. It would be good to believe the driver is sorry and realizes it was a mistake.

Just based on generalities, he's probably a young man still forming his views of the world, so who knows? Maybe he is sorry, maybe he just for the first time had to face the reality of his beliefs in the form of a real person, rather than just the encouragements of friends. Maybe he did grow up over it. It does happen, especially in the South where a kid starts becoming an adult and outgrowing the narrow views he was reared on. Most of us--well, me anyway--blush at some of the attitudes we held in our early 20s.

On the other hand, if he's the one calling her, then maybe he hasn't learned. Who knows? It's such a sad world, sometimes, that people have to face hatred just for existing. I can see others calling her and claiming to be him, for whatever reasons. I can also see him calling her from someone else's phone and feeling really smug about it. I hope they can prove who it was, either way.

Meh. Just rambling. The story brings back memories of delivering pizzas in the South and being taught things by society that I had to unlearn, fortunately at a much younger age, and watching others who didn't have the wonderful parents I had who never unlearned them or were never even encouraged to.

[mike r]

8. I'm sure he knew it was a hurtful thing to say in N.C.

certainly a fighting word in whatever school he attended. But I agree that racism is a learned behavior - which can be unlearned.

[jobycom]

10. I'm sure he did, too. That's not what I meant, really.

You learn to think of anyone not raised in your circle as not just outsiders, but subhuman. Liberal, atheist, Muslim, immigrant... We aren't fully human because they were raised to believe we aren't. I see that attitude around here sometimes towards Southerners, so it's not always one way.

At some point, though, people, if they are the ones who change, shift that perspective, and see the outsider as human, even as equal. They know the word is an insult, and a lot worse than an insult, but they suddenly see the object of the attack, and it changes them.

Maybe he was forced to understand it. Maybe he's just saying what he can to stay out of trouble. I was just hoping for the former, I guess.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jobycom]

16. I win. nt

[NoNothing]

12. Not to excuse him in the slightest

But really she is an asshole too for not tipping. What's up with that?

[jobycom]

15. It wasn't clear that she was the non-tipper.

The article seems to say that he was saying that because she was black (insert N word for full effect) she was unlikely to tip. It wasn't clear she was the one not tipping, as I read it.

I delivered pizzas for a long time in high school and early college, so I lived off tips, and I got to tell you, the real problem are the owners who don't pay drivers. They want to pretend they have lower prices, so they give you a cheap price, don't pay the driver enough, and let the customer pay the driver if they want. They should raise their prices to realistic levels and stop trying to balance their P and L sheet on the drivers' head.

I've recently heard that you are expected to tip 20% now. WTF? Percentages shouldn't go up, prices should go up so the tip gets larger. Owners are trying to pretend you can get three pizzas for 15 bucks, and people who are taking advantage of that price don't want to pay another three bucks on top of that--that's why they are calling for the special in the first place. So the person who gets shafted is the driver, and the owner gets the money.

Owners should raise their prices and their wages and stop screwing their drivers.

[NoNothing]

18. I thought it was clear that she did not

"He says he wrote the note in anger after not receiving tips from African American customers including Robinson"

[jobycom]

20. Great. Not only is my eyesight going, but so is my ability to read all the way to the period.

:) My bad.

[Raineyb]

33. Says the scumbag driver. I'm not taking that asshole's word on who the asshole in this

situation is.

And if he came up to the houses of black people with a nasty ass attitude it's not a surprise that he didn't get tipped.

[CBGLuthier]

37. who gives a shit whether she tipped or not. NO EXCUSE

Making excuses for racists. AM I Really on DU???

[Mimosa]

21. ^ I agree ^

In this economy there are people who aren't going to tip much. The drivers are taking real risks and have to pay for their gas, etc. So the pizzas need to cost more and drivers need to be paid well. All workers need to be paid a living wage. Of course they will deflect their anger and frustration at people who don't tip.

[Selatius]

22. I agree. If you can't tip, don't even bother ordering out or eating out.

Even a dollar is much appreciated. I know...I'm in a tip-earning position currently. If you are too poor that you have trouble including gratuity, you probably shouldn't even place the order to begin with for your wallet's sake. If you are simply miserly, you are simply a thoughtless asshole.

[jobycom]

26. I'm a big tipper and have worked for tips, but I disagree with that.

Tips are voluntary. An employee shouldn't be expected to rely on tips to make up for being underpaid, while the boss collects the same amount either way. Tell your boss to quit considering tips as part of your salary, or make them a mandatory part of the price.

People should tip or not based on whether the server earns it, and based on whether they can afford it. It should go back to being a gratuity. Owners offer tremendously low prices on their product to lure people in, then underpay the employees to make up the difference, then expect the customer who came in for the low prices to pay the server what the owner won't, so either the customer or the employee pays, and the owner still gets the profits. That's a ridiculous system. Tips have gone from 10% to 15% to 18% and now I've heard people are supposed to tip 20%. That's fucking stupid. A percentage shouldn't go up, that's the whole point of a percentage--the tip size goes up when the prices do.

I've always been a big tipper, 20$ or more. I paid my way through earlier college on tips. But I'm on the verge of never tipping again until owners start paying what they should.

You say someone who can't afford a tip shouldn't eat out. I think an owner who can't afford to pay employees should close down. Raise prices or cut profit, either way, quit making employees wages rely on a voluntary system while you reap the same profits regardless.

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Except that to withhold tips to punish the owners really punishes the workers, who in this economy

might hold on to an extraordinarily crappy job out of fear of being unable to find other work.

But yeah, I agree that the owners need to step up.

[jobycom]

31. And to demand paying 20% punishes the customer. Something's gotta give.

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. I know I can't afford 20%, much as I would like to give it. As we said before it's got to be the

owner. I don't see any other way.

[dkf]

39. What is the difference if the owner raises the price?

If he does he gets the extra not the waiter. I understand that the waiters can get paid below minimum wage and they are surviving on my tip. Since we bring messy kids around with us we've been tipping even more. Generally 25-30%.

Hotels are $3 a day, each day. We are not rich but both my brother and sister went through college by waiting tables and we learned from them to tip well.

[LostinVA]

40. Unless the weather outside is horrible, 20% for a delivered pizza is nuts

And, I am a good tipper when I eat out.

[newspeak]

28. delivery is usually higher price

so maybe some of the customers think they are paying extra for delivery so they don't have to tip.

[seabeyond]

9. feed the bigotry, sexism, homophobia and it grows.... nt

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

:thumbsup:

[EC]

13. Was it Domino's that was sued for discrimination

already? I can't recall for sure...

Oh Yeah, here: WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a racial discrimination case next week involving Domino's Pizza, Inc. that will decide whether a Las ...


Dec 8, 2005 ... The U.S. Supreme Court considers whether an African-American businessman can sue Domino's Pizza for racial discrimination. ...

[LanternWaste]

17. Most people will apologize... after they're caught.

Most people will "apologize"... after they're caught. yet the sincere contrition can be found in those who apologize with little to no prompt other than from their own soul.

Double-dumb plus on pizza dude's part. Once for his initial transgression, and another for his classy follow-up.

Dumb AND mean. Guy has a bright future as a Tea Bagger.

[MajorChode]

25. He could be the next Joe the pizza guy

The wingnuts could cash in big on the racism angle.

[Vehl]

19. is it only me or is the country as a whole slipping back to the Segregation era? nt

[myrna minx]

30. K&R n/t

:-(

[Angry Dragon]

35. Fear ... Anger ... Hate ... Violence

This country is getting a lot closer to the last one

[mmonk]

36. What's up with Apex lately?