Maryland Black man says Chick-fil-A workers put ‘monkeys’ on the name of his order

A Maryland man is speaking out about an alleged incident at his local Chick-fil-A, where he says he received his drive-through only to find they had labeled it with the name “Monkeys.”

While going through the drive-through at Chick-fil-A, workers will often ask a customer their name in order to ensure they get the correct order, especially when two drive-through lanes are open.

However, Marquise Vanzego told TODAY last week that when he received his order from the store in LaPlata on Aug. 2,  he didn’t see “Marquise” on the bag, but instead, he saw “monkeys.”

Vanzego, who is Black, shared that the moment left his heart with a “little sting” seeing what he is alleging was a racial attack.

“You start to think about all the other incidents that may have occurred that you heard about on the news with racial profiling,” Vanzego said.

After seeing the name, Vanzego parked and went into the restaurant, where he said he spoke with the manager, who apologized and offered a refund for his order.

“I’m going to write a letter to corporate about this. This is very offensive,” Vanzego told the manager in a video of the interaction he shared on Instagram .

In the video, Vanzego can also be heard trying to speak with the drive-through employee, though the manager denied him the chance.

While some have pondered on the video whether or not a faulty intercom system was to blame, Vanzego shared with TODAY that he placed his order with a “young white male” standing outside taking orders.

“I believe that he should be held accountable for what he’s done,” Vanzego said.

However, Vanzego said he was told by the store owner, John Flatley, that he was not going to fire the employee because they were under 18 and that the employee had only written down the name they heard.

“This Chick-fil-A is independently franchised and operated. The franchisee of this restaurant has apologized to the guest,” Chick-fil-A’s corporate marketing department told TODAY of the incident. “However, this experience does not meet our expectations and is unacceptable.”

Vanzego says that after all of this, he hopes the employee will become more “socially aware.”

“I understand, he’s a young man, he’s 17, he’s still learning. But he also needs to know that there are consequences when you do things like that,” Vanzego said.