2 Smoothie King workers fired for refusing to serve Erika Lindemyer and husband, Jake at Ann Arbor outlet, cause husband’s Trump hoodie made employees uncomfortable.
America politically polarized as ever … two Smoothie King employees in Michigan have been fired for refusing to serve a man wearing a President Donald Trump hoodie.
Erika Lindemyer and her husband, Jake, went to the smoothie’s Ann Arbor outlet and were denied service by two female workers who said they were ‘uncomfortable’ because of the Trump hoodie, according to a video Erika posted online on Sunday.
In the video, Erika tells one of the workers, ‘We were just wanting a smoothie, and you literally looked at us, and I asked you if everything was okay, you said we don’t feel comfortable serving you because of my husband’s hoodie. That is discrimination.’
At what cost political views?
‘Okay, well, have a great day,’ one of the two workers responds. Added the second employee, ‘Trump discriminates us.’ Both employees appeared to be people of color.
‘That has nothing to do with us wanting a smoothie,’ Erika responded. Jake then said, ‘Good luck maintaining your employment.’
When Jake told one of the employees that discrimination is a crime, the employee said, ‘We have the right to refuse service.’
‘Not due to political views, though,’ Jake replied.
Erika’s video got 4.5 million views on Facebook in two days and was shared across social media.
What if they had walked in wearing Kamala Harris hoodies?
Smoothie King responded to the incident on Monday, writing in a statement shared to social media, ‘As a brand, Smoothie King is committed to ensuring our stores are a place free of discrimination of any kind, where every guest and team member is treated with care and respect.
‘Following an investigation into an incident involving a guest who was refused service at a franchised location in Michigan yesterday, the franchise owner has taken immediate action, and the two employees involved are no longer with the business.’
Smoothie King said corporate, along with the franchise owner of the Michigan location, has reached out to the customer to apologize.
‘The local owner is also taking further action and enforcing mandatory retraining for all employees that outlines our guest experience standards,’ Smoothie King wrote.
In a separate video posted on TikTok by a girl claiming to be an employee, she said her co-worker told the woman that her husband’s Trump merchandise was making them ‘uncomfortable.’
‘I told them…I said, ‘We have the right to refuse service. Have a good day.’ They did not want to listen to that,’ the girl said.
She also posted another video showing her view of the incident, in which she tells the couple, ‘We’re not serving Trump supporters.’
Erika celebrated the news of the two employees’ firings by commenting on Smoothie King’s statement with a muscle emoji, heart emoji, fire emoji and an American flag emoji.
A GoFundMe account of one of the two women fired for refusing to serve a Trump supporter has been removed.
You may also be interested in: Hey it’s just only for you my cutie pie, your smile means a lot 💖✨
