Six African-Americans were left fuming on New Year's Eve after a waiter at Texas' Shatila Lebanese Grill presented them with their check and added a personal "N word" on the receipt, National Ledger reported.
The New Year's Eve revelers' celebrations were dampened "after a group of six asked their server at Shatila Lebanese Grill and Hookah for separate checks, and the server used the word 'N-----' to address their names on the receipts at an Arlington restaurant," according to a report from WFAA.
"All capital letters, just right there," said customer Justyce Hill. "I just did a double take. I was like, 'Wow.' It was just a shock to me.'"
When the waiter, identified as Ragheed on the receipt, was initially questioned "politely about the receipt" by the customers, he tried to excuse his remark with a simple, "my bad."
However after the management was alerted, Ragheed was summoned again and asked about the racist inclusion of the N-word on the checks of his patrons. He claimed that he "didn't mean anything by it."
The restaurant immediately fired the waiter for the inappropriate behavior, according to KHOU. The 18-year-old of Syrian descent had reportedly been hired only for a week.
"I'm just sorry man ... I'm just sorry," said owner Mike Salame. "It's very improper. There is [sic] no exceptions at all. That's why when I found out, on the spot, I terminated him ... on the spot."
According to the group of friends, their request for separate checks allegedly brought on the waiter's wrath since it amounted to additional work, according to Eater, which also labeled the restaurant worker "The World's Worst Waiter."
"At the end it kinda ruined it for us," Ta'les Russell told KHOU. "We're being labeled. This is what they identified us as, and not the three girls and three guys."
"I went to sleep thinking about it; went to sleep upset about it and woke up upset about it," said Jasmine Tucker.
"We handled ourselves the way we were taught how to handle ourselves," Justyce Hill added. "I would forgive him."
