A Mexican restaurant in Denver is under fire after a customer says she got a receipt with an explicit and racist message.
Beatriz Castorena told local news station KUSA that she and her husband went to dinner at El Valle Mexican Restaurant on Friday, and when they got the bill, they noticed the receipt included the words “you fucking mexicans.”
Castorena says she was even more disturbed when she showed the waitress, and the woman responded, “Oh, how funny.”
“I was like, ‘That’s not funny. That’s not funny at all,’” Castorena told KUSA.
Oscar Rivera, restaurant manager and co-owner, said that one waitress -- who is Mexican herself -- had written the message on a receipt as a joke directed at a cook, but a different server mistakenly picked it up and dropped it on Castorena’s table.
The cook, Chu Rodriguez, corroborated the story to station KDVR.
“That message was directed at me because that’s how we act amongst each other,” Rodriguez said.
Rivera pointed out that the restaurant’s owners and employees are all Mexican themselves.
Castorena, who got a refund for her meal, says it still may be a while before she returns.
At least one local fan of El Valle has already taken to Yelp to express his support for the business.
Contact the author of this article at Hilary.Hanson@huffingtonpost.com