©2005 The Media Desk
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The story is TRUE, even though the cut and pasted, and scrambled, email made it unreadable.
A Marine in Texas WAS refused service at a convenience store by an Arab clerk because he was in the service.
The owner of the store did fire the employee in question. But made no other statement. Link to the story from a Dallas TV station and the original email from the Marine's sister is below.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, but it has gotten the most publicity. The 'man of middle eastern descent' who was at the counter may have exhibited poor judgment and was most likely trying to make some political statement without understanding how to do it. But since we weren't there, we'll never really know.
Now the other side of the issue. The convenience store is a Private Business. They have the Right to refuse service to anyone. Most places will not wait on somebody who is overly intoxicated or abusive. To not serve the Marine as outlined in the below email and the story on the Dallas news may have been stupid, but it was the employee's right. It was also the owner's right to hold him accountable and fire him. Whether or not the now ex-employee will be welcomed into his local mosque as a hero remains to be seen.
[SIDE NOTE: If this situation had been in Saudi Arabia, and a foreigner had refused to wait on a Saudi (nevermind the practice that in most cases non- Saudi's are not permitted to work in businesses accessible by the general public, and women not at all), the employee would be arrested by the mutaween (the religious police) and charged with any number of crimes including being suspected of disrespecting the Royal Family or Islam, charges which can bring a lengthy jail sentence or even death. see Criminal Penalties http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1012.html ]
The best thing to do if you or a loved one experiences similar treatment is to pass the word, call the owner or franchise office, organize a boycott through a group or church, and so on. Take it to the local media, and if the mistreatment is severe enough, open a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau and your local State's Attorney. Since it is illegal for an American to mistreat an Arab, the reverse is also supposed to be true.
The story from Dallas/Fort Worth NBC station http://www.nbc5i.com
ORIGINAL EMAIL FROM THE MARINE'S SISTER, not the somewhat mutilated spam that is going around with the screaming subject line, IS BELOW:
Subject: Marine refused service at local store
END OF EMAIL
Thought I would pass this along.
On December 19th, 2004, my brother Jason F. Young Lance Corporal in the United States Marines was refused service at a convenience store named One Stop Grocery and Grill at 2001 8th Ave. in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.
He was refused service because he is a Marine.
He went in to the store and asked the clerk (a man of middle eastern descent) for a can of tobacco, at which point the clerk asked him if he was in the military. (He had on a USMC shirt) After my brother replied, "yes sir" the man said nothing to him and looked at the other middle eastern man in the back of the store. Then both men proceeded to go in to the storeroom and did not come out. My brother yelled back to them a time or two and they did not respond.
Jason waited a few minutes and finally left the store.
I am very proud of the way that my brother reacted to the situation. I can honestly say if it had been me I would have cleared their counter and taken my can of tobacco. It is not fair that these people come into our country and enjoy the freedoms that my brother and so many others have fought for. They do not respect our service men and women who have died for them to be able to be here. They do not respect our country, and personally I think they need to go back to where they came from.
My main point in writing this is to get the word out about this particular store and discourage people from shopping there. If they can't respect or even sell to the people that are responsible for the rights they have, then they don't deserve to be in business.
Please email this to everyone you know to discourage them from shopping at this store.
Heather M. Dowell
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