Getting called n*gger” has to be a terrible experience. The waitress who posted to Facebook a receipt she got with the “n word” as her only tip has broken her silence. Toni Christina Jenkins, a nursing student who works part time at the Cool Spring, Tennessee Red Lobster told a local Nashville news station, “I love to serve.”
“My only desire is just to stand up for what’s right,” Jenkins told WSMV News:
A table of two, who racked up more than $40 over lunch, left a message on their bill. In the tip line, is the word “none,” and in the total, the N-word.
“It was like my heart kind of sank, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ I’m going through my mind. I’m like, ‘Was my service awful? Did I do something?’ I’ve never had to deal with that before,” Jenkins said.
She showed the slur to her manager, then showed a photo of the receipt to her parents later that night.
“I was just kind of like, ‘Are you kidding me?'” said her mother, Tina Jenkins-Wilson. “People need to know this is still happening. It’s ridiculous. It’s 2013. It’s unnecessary.”
Toni Jenkins took to Facebook, where the story quickly went viral.
Reaction ranges from support to suspicion, as some seem to wonder whether she faked it.
“I don’t know what I would gain from faking something like that. I mean, it hurt me, so why would I attempt to inflict pain on myself or put myself in this situation? I don’t like to be in confrontational situations at all,” Toni Jenkins said.
The Belmont University nursing student said she is speaking out now to raise awareness about racism – willing to forgive but not forget.
“My parents have always told me that hurting people want to hurt others,” she said. “I have no hatred towards them. I don’t want any disdain or anything to happen to them. I love them like I love anyone else.”
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