Fast-food employee mocks deaf woman and refuses to take her order because she didn't use drive-thru speaker
CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA: A single mother-of-three who is deaf is planning to take legal action against a fast-food restaurant chain after she was allegedly discriminated and mocked by an employee who refused to take her order.
ReVae Arnaud-Jensen visited a Jack in the Box restaurant in Campbell with her son in the early morning of August 31 but found herself confronted by an aggressive employee who refused to take her order because she did not use the drive-thru speaker, according to WTAP.
Arnaud-Jensen has been deaf since birth and could not use the speaker, but since she can read lips, she drove up to the pickup window to place her order.
However, she said that the employee was belligerent and refused her service despite her explaining to him repeatedly that she was deaf. When he started yelling at her and mocking her, her son started recording the incident.
She posted the video of the encounter on Facebook, where it quickly went viral, garnering more than 3,000 shares.
"Employee of Jack in the Box refused to accept any orders from me," she wrote. "He yelled at me to leave and go drive back to the speaker to order. I repeatedly told him that I am Deaf. Towards the end of the video, once he realized he was being recorded, he changed faces and mockingly gestured at the video."
In the video, the worker can be seen ignoring her protests and ordering her to leave the drive-thru completely. "Can you move, please?" he says. "Can you move? Move, please! I say, 'Can I help you? Can I help you?' You, nothing."
He continues insulting her while telling her to move her car as Arnaud-Jensen explains, "I am deaf. You're discriminating against me... I can't hear you on the speaker."
She tells him that she is prepared to wait until she gets the order for which she visited the restaurant. "I refused to leave the window until I received an order. Sat there for two hours," she wrote in her post.
Speaking about the incident, she told WTAP, "I was just fed up, the constant, you know, telling us to go, when it should be equal access. This needs to stop. It's very common everywhere. It needs to stop. This is 2019. I fight for equal access. And I feel awful. I feel like it was my fault."
She said she spoke to a store manager and was informed that the employee in question had been fired. However, she said she's not satisfied and that she intends to pursue legal action against the franchise.
"Things done to us, not OK," she said. "I will stand and fight for that, for everyone in the community. It's for you guys, the community, not me but for them, so there will be no more suffering for the deaf community."
In a statement addressing the incident, Jack in the Box said, "We do not tolerate the mistreatment of any customers and expect employees to follow all training procedures, be respectful, courteous and accommodating to all guests."