Lauri Apple | Gawker
On September 11, a Muslim man going by the name “Tarek G.” on Yelp ordered a burger from the Houston restaurant Petrol Station and received it in a “Happy September 11” box complete with an airplane crashing into one of the Twin Towers. Now that‘s personalized customer service.
Tarek G. also got a free dessert, so to speak:
Today is September 11th – and personally I don’t think it’s a nice way to honor the nearly 3,000 people who died that day 10 years ago. I said as much to the bartender, and asked him to please take the burger away and give me a refund. He sort of scoffed and proceeded to speak with his manager, and within earshot, called my friend and I “assholes” for complaining about what he clearly thought was funny. To be fair, the manager came over and provided me with a refund, but no apology or explanation.
And a memorable send-off as well:
As I walked out, I heard from behind the bar “Allahu Akbar…” repeated several times.
News of Tarek G.’s bigot-burger experience reached Petrol Station owner Ben Fullilove, who was utterly mortified by the whole affair. “I understand the damage that gets done to your business, but I have to know for myself that we’re ok with that guy,” Fullilove told Eater Houston. “I got a chance to shake his hand and apologize to him and that means a lot more to me than the damage to my business.” Not that he’s concerned about negative Yelp reviews or anything!
Fullilove also fired the employee-artiste for his “really, really retarded” acts. Uh-oh! Might have averted a protest from the Houston Muslim community, but word’s still out on the disability rights advocates. Send in the sensitivity trainers, quick.
[Houston Eater, Yelp. Image via @OKGhalayini]
The original version of the story appears here: http://gawker.com/5840063/muslim-mans-burger-comes-with-911-terror-drawing
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