African-American couple upset after labeled 'BLACK PPL' on restaurant receipt
AUSTIN, Texas - An African-American couple is upset after they say a racist label was written on their receipt at a breakfast restaurant.
Rolman Sparkman and his girlfriend Arainia Brown say they were given the receipt with the words, ‘BLACK PPL,’ written at the top after they ordered at a 24-hour IHOP in Austin.
What surprised them the most is that their waiter, Dwayne Williams, is also black.
"People being racist - and it's your own people being racist toward you for no reason," said Sparkman. Brown, who has experience working in restaurants, says race should never be used to identify customers. "We either put a number - a to-go - the color of their shirt, not their skin color," she said.
IHOP released a statement saying: "This was a poor choice made by our franchisee's team member, and is not in keeping with policies and procedures. We recognize that it could be offensive and sincerely apologize. Everyone is welcome in our restaurants and our franchisee is using this as a teachable moment for the entire team so that it will not reoccur."
On his Facebook page, Williams apologized and said it was a slip up to get orders out. He said he was sorry if he offended anyone.