Sometimes you just want to be able to use a coupon to save on a pizza deal, but if you’re a black man trying to use a coupon at a North Carolina Pizza Inn, you may be out of luck. Unless you have your handy-dandy “racism support human,” also known as a white friend, to run interference.
Link Alexander says he tried to use a coupon at a Rocky Mountain, N.C., Pizza Inn that advertised a free buffet, but he was immediately denied because the manager said he did not recognize the signature on the coupon. Hours later, Alexander’s white friend activated his ally powers like a good white friend should and was able to use the same exact coupon.
Alexander wrote about the incident on Facebook:
In an interview with WRAL-TV, Alexander explained that his roommate Rex Casey decided to test out the coupon and returned to the same location. A server immediately accepted the coupon and seated Casey. Casey wasn’t having it, and summoned the manager and asked if he was actually able to use the coupon, since he covered the signature.
“He was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s not a problem, etc., etc., and while he was agreeing to it, I took my hand off the coupon,” Casey said. “As soon as he saw it, he recognized it. He immediately jumped into the same thing he told Link: ‘The issue is, I can’t really read the signature. I can’t tell whose signature that is. I can’t make it out. I don’t think the owners would allow me to accept it.’”
In response to the racism allegations, Pizza Inn’s corporate office stated: “This particular restaurant did not recognize the coupon that was presented and did not accept it from either guest. Our employees were exercising caution, as customers have attempted to use fraudulent cards in the past.”
In addition, the franchise owner at the location tried to clarify the situation and apologized to Alexander and offered a free meal.
“We try to make our procedures clear on coupons but it does not always work,” Steve Stancil stated. “I take full responsibility in that all our managers should be on the same page and obviously they were not.”
Alexander is taking his appetite elsewhere.