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Olive Garden fires manager that granted customer's request to replace black server

Posted at 8:44 AM, Mar 05, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-05 11:47:48-05

Olive Garden says they have fired a manager that granted a customer's request for a new server who wasn't black.

According to NBC News, 16-year-old Amira Donahue was working as a hostess at an Olive Garden in Evansville, Indiana, on Saturday when a customer complained to the manager about her and other black hostesses that were working.

Amira told NBC News that the customer, a white woman, told her that she should "work at a strip club instead," and asked if she is "from here."

Amira also told NBC News that the customer was seated at a table with a black server and became "irate." The manager then complied with the customer's request and replaced the black server with a different server.

According to WFIE-TV in Evansville, a fellow customer's Facebook post about the incident went viral. That Facebook post, authored by Maxwell Robbins, has been shared 2,500 times.

"That couple should've been refused service for even asking something like that!!" Robbins wrote. "It's disgusting that olive gardens manager would allow that especially with a very diverse staff."

In a statement to both NBC News and WFIE, the manager "no longer works" at Olive Garden.

"We have zero tolerance for an incident like this," a spokesperson for the restaurant told WFIE and NBC News.