Black U.S. Army veteran Ernest Walker recorded a video of his confrontation with a Chilli’s manager who refused to honor the company’s Veteran’s Day meal deal.
The confrontation happened after a white customer accused him of lying about his service.
Ernest shared the video on Facebook, along with the caption:
I was approached by an old white guy, maybe in his 70s, with a Trump Shirt, at Chili’s on Veteran’s Day yesterday. He asked if I was in the 24th unit, and I said “no the 25th”. TRICK QUESTION. He said he was in Germany, and that they did not let Blacks serve over there. He left to the back, and came back and rubbed my dog Barack, who is a service dog. I was seated and eating my food. The waitress packed the rest of my food in a to go box because I had to go pick up my wife. I got my food and tipped the waitress. Then the Manager, MR. Wesley Patrick, comes from the same area in the back, walked up, and rudly informs me that a guest said that I was not a real soldier because I had my hat on indoors. Other guests heard him. He asked for my military ID, I was calm, and provided it to him. I also provided him with my DD214 which is my discharge paperwork. At that point he should have just said “I am sorry Sir, thank you for your service’ Instead he followed up with “the guest also said your dog is not a service dog.” Barack had his Red Service Vest on, and his Certified Service Tags. I was sitting for 35 minutes prior with Barack beforehand. At this point I was grossly offended embarrassed dehumanized and started Recording…Mr. Wesley snatched my food away, made body contact
Watch his video of the confrontation below.
Ernest elaborated on the incident in a follow-up post:
I was approached by an old white guy, maybe in his 70s, with a Trump Shirt, at Chili’s on Veteran’s Day yesterday. He asked if I was in the 24th unit, and I said “no the 25th”. TRICK QUESTION. He said he was in Germany, and that they did not let Blacks serve over there. He left to the back, and came back and rubbed my dog Barack, who is a service dog. I was seated and eating my food. The waitress packed the rest of my food in a to go box because I had to go pick up my wife. I got my food and tipped the waitress. Then the Manager, MR. Wesley Patrick, comes from the same area in the back, walked up, and rudly informs me that a guest said that I was not a real soldier because I had my hat on indoors. Other guests heard him. He asked for my military ID, I was calm, and provided it to him. I also provided him with my DD214 which is my discharge paperwork. At that point he should have just said “I am sorry Sir, thank you for your service’ Instead he followed up with “the guest also said your dog is not a service dog.” Barack had his Red Service Vest on, and his Certified Service Tags. I was sitting for 35 minutes prior with Barack beforehand. At this point I was grossly offended embarrassed dehumanized and started Recording…Mr. Wesley snatched my food away, made body contact
On his Facebook page, Ernest posted Chili’s basic reply, which was issued sometime after the video went viral.
Chili’s has since apologized in a public statement and a meeting is planned with Ernest and his attorney. A company spokesperson released this statement:
“Our goal is to make every guest feel special and, unfortunately, we fell short on a day where we serve free meals as a small token to honor our Veterans…We are taking this very seriously and the leaders in our company are actively involved with the goal of making it right.”
They have a LOT of making right to do. Go ahead and file that lawsuit, Ernest.
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