At a QT station in North Druid Hills, Atlanta, a white man was caught on video stealing a Black woman’s prepaid gas and calling her a Black b*tch as he drove off, according to REVOLT. After the video went viral on social media, the internet did what it does best and tracked down the company the man worked for.
Per the video, the woman records the man shamelessly filling the tank of his vehicle which was parked right next to her car. When he walks back to return the nozzle, he threatens the woman saying, “Move your hand out of the way before I smash it.” Then as he goes back into his car he says, “talk about white privilege you little Black b*tch.”
The woman, though, took notice of both his uniform and the logo on his van. Soon after, Twitter users discovered his place of work, flooding the company phone with complaints about their “racist thief” of an employee.
More on the incident from REVOLT:
“Everyone who watches this, please call ENTEK at 770-449-1222. And report this racist. He needs to be fired. Who does this?” a tweet read. Another person said, “Yo, #ENTEK, deal with your gas-stealing, racist employee before your company becomes famous by association. Is this your company standard?”
Yesterday (Aug. 28), ENTEK’s President Pat Burrows released a statement on the company’s LinkedIn page. “We have received numerous calls and messages regarding one of our employees and a recent incident,” he began. Burrows continued, “We are currently investigating this important situation internally. We do NOT in any way condone acts of racism or disregard of others property and require all employees to treat everyone fairly with professionalism, dignity and respect.” He ended the statement announcing that the employee was placed on “unpaid leave.”
For some, this response wasn’t good enough. “Investigate what? Theft and racist abuse on film. I’m sure after careful consideration ENTEK HVAC of Burford, GA. 770-449-1222 will act responsibly in this matter and this employee will receive prompt disciplinary punishment. Right?” a user wrote.
I must agree with the internet: what is there to investigate? Even if the situation was a misunderstanding, it doesn’t seem the man would have reacted differently, given his ignorant behavior.
However, firing a racist doesn’t mean they’ll go to another company and suddenly become anti-racist. Most of them are set in their ways. But it is refreshing to see a group of random internet users come together and fight for the cause.