A story about a Korean American resident of New York state who allegedly experienced 'subtle racism' at a local McDonald's has sparked public outrage among netizens both domestically and abroad. Mr./Ms. A, who moved from Seattle to a small town in New York state with a low Asian population, stated that this was the second similar experience they'd had, and has revealed the incident on social media, announcing plans to file a formal complaint with McDonald's headquarters.
The 70-Minute 'Wait' and 'Mockery'
According to the video and text posted by Mr./Ms. A on Instagram, they did not receive their hamburger order for over 40 minutes at the McDonald's restaurant, which was relatively quiet around 4 PM on a weekday. The problem was that all the other customers who ordered after Mr./Ms. A were served their food normally.
Mr./Ms. A claims that they asked the staff about the status of their order five times during the hour-long wait, but the employees only smiled and repeatedly answered, "It'll be out soon." Ultimately, Mr./Ms. A was forced to leave the store without receiving any food after waiting for 70 minutes.
Mr./Ms. A recounted hearing a mocking voice, presumably from the kitchen staff, as they left the store, saying, "Those guys probably won't order McDonald's again." They confessed to feeling deeply frustrated and wronged, even shedding tears upon further reflection. This incident is interpreted as a non-explicit yet malicious form of discrimination: accepting the order but deliberately delaying the service to force the customer to give up the order themselves.
Netizen Outrage and Past Cases
As Mr./Ms. A's story spread, netizens expressed their anger with comments such as, "You must report this to headquarters and receive compensation for mental and material damages," and "This is not just a claim; it's grounds for a police report." Some brought up the recent controversy involving Blackpink's Rosé and alleged racism, pointing out that anti-Asian discrimination is widespread.
In response to some criticism asking, "Why didn't you protest more strongly at the scene?" Mr./Ms. A refuted, stating, "I was flustered at the time and couldn't film everything, but I did protest for 40 minutes," and emphasized, "Asking the victim 'why didn't you argue more forcefully' distracts from the core issue."
In fact, past incidents of alleged anti-Korean racism have occurred multiple times at McDonald's stores in the United States. In 2014, a Korean American man in his 60s at a New York McDonald's filed a large lawsuit after allegedly being assaulted by an employee while protesting an order delay. In 2015, another incident occurred where Korean American seniors in their 70s were allegedly assaulted.
In the U.S., there have also been class-action lawsuits filed by Black franchisees alleging discrimination, such as being assigned lower-profitability stores compared to white franchisees, leading to continuous criticism that McDonald's is not free from racial discrimination issues. Mr./Ms. A stated that they hope to file a formal complaint about this incident and see such subtle discrimination eradicated.
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