Dunkin' Donuts Pulls Sign That Ignited Tweetstorm

Baltimore location urged customers to report on certain employees
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 23, 2018 1:40 PM CDT
Donut Store Pulls Sign About Workers Not Using 'ENGLISH'
This file photo shows a Dunkin' Donuts sign. It's not in Baltimore, but it could have been.   (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

Media attention and Twitter rage have apparently inspired Dunkin' Donuts to remove a sign from a Baltimore location, the Baltimore Sun reports. Posted at the West 41st Street location, the sign urged customers to report on workers who yell in foreign languages. "If you hear any of our staff SHOUTING in a language other than ENGLISH Please call 443-415-7775 immediately with the name of the employee to receive a coupon for FREE Coffee and a pastry," the sign read. One customer tweeted in response, "The more I think about this the weirder it is. Why would the general manager be OK with employees yelling in English? Why would he be fine with them yelling at all? This is weird."

A Twitter user in New Jersey added, "I guess @dunkindonuts is cool with racism. Hello, Starbucks!" Customer quotes in the press were no less strident: "I think the staff should be able to speak whatever language they are speaking," one told WBAL-TV, while another called it "horrible. It's the kind of thing you can expect in this climate, horrible things like that." Reporters who called the sign's phone number a few days ago reached a man who said he no longer managed that location, but had posted a similar sign before. For its part, Dunkin' Donuts said a location manager put up the sign "based on her own personal judgment" to address a "customer service and satisfaction issue," but the franchise owner considered the sign "inappropriate." (A lawyer recently ranted against Spanish speakers in a New York City eatery.)

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