Another day, another crazed bigot is caught on video spouting racist, hateful nonsense in response to the most minor of daily tribulations. Today’s deplorable xenophobe is an unnamed white-haired white guy in Houston, Texas, who got Very Angry last Saturday when, according to witnesses, a cashier at Jack in the Box took a moment to validate his coupon for a free hamburger.
The video, posted to Facebook, was taken by Lupita Rangel, who was dining at the burger chain with her nine-year-old daughter:
According to Rangel, an unidentified white-haired man in an inside-out blue polo shirt came into the restaurant after his son, who appears to lurk nearby, unsuccessfuly attempted to redeem a coupon for free grub. As the video begins, the man is already berating a cashier, known only as “Maria.”
A female witness to the Saturday incident at a Houston Jack in the Box says it all started with a man’s son trying to get a free burger as part of a promotional deal, and it appears he was denied.
His father then walked into the restaurant. He was allegedly irritated and began complaining about the worker, who is Hispanic, telling her she would be fired and accusing her of lying.
"Buy a bus ticket back to wherever you came from. I want to get you fired out of here.”
A male employee, who is black, then appears from the back and attempts to diffuse the situation, promising the food is coming, but the man will not be soothed.
MALE EMPLOYEE: “What happened, what happened? What’s wrong?”
RACIST CUSTOMER: “We came here to order here. She told my son ‘no.’ She lied her ass off, and she thought she can get away with it.”
MALE EMPLOYEE: ”Okay, she’s going to give you the order, I checked. She’s gonna give you the order, that’s it, that’s it.”
Rather than wait for the promised food, the blue-shirted bigot continues to rant and threaten Maria before storming out, with the young man who appears to be his son trailing silently behind him.
"You're going to get fired — what's your name?" the man asks as he turns around to leave.
“Maria, her name is Maria,” says the male employee.
"OK, goodbye, Maria, buy you a ticket back to Mexico."
The woman who recorded the video, Lupita Rangel, explained both why she posted it and why she didn’t speak up.
"I'm Hispanic, so that was very offensive. That was uncalled for,” the woman said. "To me, that was just a show of racism. It just felt as if he was saying it to me. I didn't speak out to him in a verbal altercation because my daughter was there."
The woman says she talked to her daughter about what happened, and the little girl had some big insight.
"It was inappropriate language, and it’s not acceptable for children that are there because there were more families than us that have children,” the girl said.
The witness says she posted the video online because she wants to put an end to racism.
"I hope that we just accept each other for who we are and understand that this country is made up of so many cultures and so many people,” she said.
Jack in the Box has not responded to multiple requests for comment, and the shrieking xenophobe has yet to be identified.