Radio host calls out Buckhead restaurant over racial slur

ATLANTA - A trip to a Buckhead sandwich shop left one woman with a bad taste in her mouth.

Darlene McCoy Jackson says when she placed her order, the employee used a racial slur on the receipt, instead of her name. What’s more, she says the employee refused to apologize.

"Look at this. What does it say? Do you see ‘Darky’?" McCoy Jackson asked, referring to her receipt.

McCoy Jackson, who is a radio personality and singer, took to her Instagram page to address her 90,000 followers about the incident which happened Friday at Woody’s Cheesesteak in Buckhead.

"When they took the order, they asked my name, and I told them ‘Darlene’, and he typed in ‘Darky’. And I noticed it when I was paying for it because the name came up on the screen," McCoy Jackson said.

"I said, ‘Wait a minute, my name is Darlene.’ He says, ‘I heard you.’ I said, ‘But you have Darky. Could you change it?’ He says, ‘No.’ I say, ‘My name is Darlene, not Darky,’ and he says, ‘Don’t worry about it.’"

She says when she pointed out the issue; the employee was rude and dismissive and refused to offer a refund.

"I took the food, and I took the receipt. It’s clearly still on the receipt," McCoy Jackson said. "I said, ‘Sir, all I asked you was to be more sensitive about this. You can’t call Black people Darky.’ He says, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ And here we are now."

"First and foremost, I’m sorry to Darlene about the experience Darlene had today. It’s not what we’re about at Woody’s. We’re about inclusivity, diversity. We’re about respect for everybody," owner Steven Renner said.

Renner is apologizing, but also says his employee made a simple mistake.

"He uses abbreviations a lot…he was typing the name ‘Darly’. Unfortunately, the ‘K’ and the ‘L’ are next to each other. He simply hit the ‘K’ instead of the ‘L’," Renner said.

He also says the employee, who is Hispanic, may have had a language barrier in understanding

"I think he does the best he can taking drink orders, sandwich orders, but a lot of the rest was lost... there’s never been an experience like this before," Renner said.

Renner says he will work with the employee to better communicate with customers in the future. As for McCoy Jackson, she says the experience has left her disheartened.

"I felt so disrespected, and I don’t want my dollars to be disrespected like that or me as a person. I don’t want to see anyone go through that. In this establishment, you need to be a lot more cognizant of your customer, ‘cause you have no idea who you’re talking to and what you’re saying and what you’re doing is offensive. I was a first-time customer, now I’m a last time customer. I’ll never be back.

The owner also says he has made efforts to contact McCoy Jackson to make a personal apology, but he has not been able to reach her.