Denny’s waitress is fired over video of her ignoring two black cross-country truckers but serving white customers before calling cops on them for complaining

A Denny’s waitress was fired after she was accused by two black truck drivers of refusing to serve them while she continued to wait for other white customers seated around them.

Damon Whitfield and his cross-country riding partner Hector encountered the ordeal on August 13, when they made a pit stop for some food at a Denny’s on Interstate 29 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Whitfield said the regular food stop quickly escalated after the duo sat down and realized their waitress was ignoring them and serving others who came in after them and who were white.

“She just walked past us,” he said DakotaNewsNow. After they tried to order food again, the waitress accused them of “yelling” before saying, “You know what? I don’t serve you.’

The enraged waiter called the police to the restaurant, who quickly apologized when they heard the black truck drivers’ side of the story, while Denny fired the waitress for the tirade.

Whitfield spoke out to condemn the waitress’ actions, feeling he and Hector were victims of blatant racial profiling.

He described how he and his driving partner were initially seated and given menus as expected, and the waiter even handed him a glass of orange juice he had ordered.

But when Hector took a shower while waiting at the table, Whitfield said the situation dawned on him.

“She walked away and I didn’t hear from her. She served people who came in before us. People who came in after us. She was clearing tables. She just walked past us,” Whitfield said.

When his partner returned, he said Hector tried to get the server’s attention to order food, prompting an angry response.

“She immediately said, ‘I don’t appreciate you yelling at me,’” he said. After pointing out that “all he said was excuse me,” he claims she responded, “I don’t need you guys calling me to this table.”

“But I see you’re serving people who came in after us,” he said back, prompting the waitress to demand that they “leave now or I’ll call the police.”

‘Then she snatches the menus from our hands. Grabbed the orange juice from the table and spilled some of the orange juice on me,” he continued.

“Then she walks over and is on the phone, and I assume she’s talking to the police.”

In disbelief at the way they were treated, Whitfield said Hector approached the waitress to try to defuse the situation and wonder if “it might have been a misunderstanding.”

‘Then she said, ‘There is no misunderstanding. I want you to leave. Police are on their way,” Whitfield said.

The hungry truck drivers tried to explain that they “just wanted to order some food,” and tried to order from another waitress. The duo were stunned when she returned and sheepishly asked them to leave, despite admitting she had ‘no idea’ why.

“It was just embarrassing,” Whitfield said. ‘As I walk around the restaurant, I try to explain to people that we were just trying to order food and they are refusing to serve us.

‘People still looked at us as if we had done something wrong. It was like the more I talked, the more they looked at us. So I felt helpless.

‘Then I turned to look at the police to see if they would do anything, and they said, ‘Go this way”.

Footage showed the officers quickly apologizing to the men when, after explaining the bizarre altercation, they heard someone say: “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“I just want the world to know what happened here so it doesn’t happen again,” Whitfield said.

After a video of the waitress ignoring the truck drivers and then arguing sparked backlash, Denny’s president and CEO Roland Spongberg released a statement condemning the incident and confirming that the waitress had been fired.

“Denny’s is committed to a culture of inclusivity and service excellence for all guests,” the statement said.

“We have conducted a thorough third-party investigation into the incident at the Denny’s location in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Following the investigation, the franchisee immediately took decisive action and the employee no longer works for the company.

‘Denny’s has a strict zero-tolerance policy when it comes to any form of discrimination.

‘We recognize that in this specific situation there were opportunities to improve the service level. We remain committed to ongoing training and development of all staff.

“Onsite staff will immediately undertake a dedicated training program to ensure the team exceeds our guests’ expectations.

‘We regret this incident and would like to apologize to the guests involved. It is clear that we fell short of our own standards that day and we are committed to making amends.”