RACIST Nebraska business!!!!!
I was so saddened and disappointed to encounter racism at this business. I am an African-American who experienced racism and utter disrespect from a Juice Stop employee, Jay DuPont, a teenager of Lincoln, Nebraska, at the business near the Phillips 66 Juice Stop on October 23rd, 2012. I kindly asked three times to remove the sticker and stem of the apples and carrots before putting it in the juicer and the employee responded with "No." I come from a family with a strong science background and am extremely careful about what bacteria I put in my system. It literally takes just a few seconds to pull off a stem from a dirty apple or a carrot. I kindly asked again and he said, "No, I'm not going to do that." I was confused. I know if I were white, this wouldn't be his response nor would I be receiving this type of treatment. I asked again, and used the word "Please" for the third time, not understanding why I had to literally beg for this? "No, I'll take the sticker off but I won't take the stems and dirt off, I am not going to do that." My jaw dropped. What a jerk!!! Is it too much to ask to pull off a stem (which include dirt particles and chemicals that are unhealthy for your digestive system) of the apples and carrots before putting it in the juicer? What is crazy is that if I didn't ask him to take the stickers off of the apples, he would've kept them on! The day before they left all the stems and stickers on and threw it inside the juicer. I swallowed it down. But, today I decided to ask kindly to remove the stems and sticker labels on the fruit. Jay DuPont was a plain asshole! My entire family has been patronizing this business for years. I felt so shocked that this employee made such a big deal out of pulling off a stem. His terrible attitude and persistent negativity was proof that he was, indeed, for whatever reasons-- TRYING to make my life hell in those few minutes of interaction.
The underlying factor?
This is the sort of racism and microaggressions that go unreported in the daily lives of people of color, and I reported this to the owner, Larry Holtz, and he apologized. If I don't speak up about microaggressions, then who will? What in his right mind led him to think that he could treat me so disrespectfully and not lend me an apology for his actions? Racism. This young man was brought up to look down upon and bully people of color and I did not let his damning actions and misbehavior at one of my favorite venues go unreported. Larry Holtz (owner), you need to monitor the actions of your employees and ensure that all customers of diverse backgrounds have equal opportunity to healthy drinks and smoothies.
What is racism? What are microaggressions? FYI:
(1) http://www.olc.edu/~jolson/socialwork/OnlineLibrary/microaggression%20article.pdf
(2) http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/aacdr/suemar10.pdf
Thank you for reading my review. The fact that I had to fight for a healthy drink just saddens me and I will no longer be patronizing this store. Go to www.amazon.com and buy your own juicer online! Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=juicer
Good riddance. read more