A couple eating at a Los Angeles International Airport restaurant left a racist message on their receipt instead of a tip for their server, he alleges.
“No tip for illegal,” the handwritten note read. “Go back to Mexico.”
Guillermo Ortiz waited on the couple near the end of his shift at the Planet Hollywood at LAX on March 21.
“20 minutes after (they left), I opened the checkbook, and I found the message, and it made me feel bad,” Ortiz said. “I’m not even Mexican, I’m Puerto Rican, but my wife is Mexican – there’s no right to treat people like that.”
Ortiz told KTLA the service was going fine until he brought the check to the table.
“The way they were looking at me, you can tell when something is not right,” he said.
When he opened the checkbook, he was greeted by the racist message instead of a tip.
“I’ve been working as a server since 2014, and this is the first time this has happened to me,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz then removed the 18.5 percent gratuity that was automatically included, which the receipt states can be done if the customer alerts staff.
The couple had paid in cash and swiftly left before Ortiz got a chance to follow up with them.
“Probably ’cause they saw me, they know I’m Hispanic, they thought I’m Mexican or illegal or I don’t know what they’re thinking,” he said. “This is happening because of what’s happening with President Trump right now... I think that’s the reason people are acting like this.”
But Ortiz remained resolute in his pride.
“I’m proud of what I do... I’m a server; that’s the way I support my kids, that’s the way I support my family.”
Ortiz corporate was investigating the matter following his reports to management.
Planet Hollywood in the Tom Bradley Terminal is set to permanently close on Saturday, leaving Ortiz unemployed.
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