Jimmiecia Benit and her wife, Camry, alleged that they were refused seating at a St. Charles City Waffle House. Now, the Missouri couple is accusing the eatery of racial discrimination.
The two women had spent the day at Hollywood Casino and decided that they would grab a bite to eat at the restaurant known for inexpensive breakfast fare.
However, according to the couple, they encountered a less than welcoming atmosphere from the moment they entered the establishment.
“Before we can even get in the door, an employee goes, ‘you can only do to-go orders. We’re not taking dine-ins,'” Benit told KMOV 4. “We were dressed nice, came in properly, not loud, but as soon as we got to the door, no, only to-go orders.”
Initially, the couple did not question what they were told, thinking that it had to do with COVID-19 precautions that many restaurants were enforcing. But that soon changed after a white man entered and was seated while they waited for their to-go order.
But, it was not just one white man. Soon, a white couple came in and were allowed seating. That is when Benit began recording.
When the couple inquired about the interesting disparity, the server, who was described as “exasperated,” claimed that she was the only one working that shift and had her own reasons for telling Benit and her wife that they could only order to-go.
Waffle House, which operates about 2,100 locations in over twenty states, has a history of being accused of racial discrimination by its patrons. In 2005 alone, the company faced four separate lawsuits by Black patrons claiming discrimination in the forms of denial of service, unsanitary food and racial slurs from employees. In 2001, a gospel choir filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against them for being forced to give up their seats to white patrons.
In other words, Benit and her wife were right to presume that the server’s reasons for not seating them were racial.
Waffle House apologized to the couple after KMOV 4 spoke with them and claimed that their investigation uncovered that it was merely very poor customer service from an inexperienced waitress, but not discrimination.
Until the news station reached out to them, the couple claimed that the company had not been responsive.
Waffle House has offered the couple the opportunity to meet with the CEO about the incident and attempt to make things right.
Benit wants to make sure that nobody else has to experience a similar situation.
