Papa John's CEO Apologizes for Delivery Man's Racist Rant

[Syt]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/papa-johns-ceo-apologizes-racist-rant-delivery-man/story?id=19266598#.UaT6_UDIatY

Papa John's CEO Apologizes for Delivery Man's Racist Rant Left on Customer's Phone

Papa John's Chairman and CEO John Schnatter apologized to a customer in Sanford, Fla., for a racist rant a Papa John's delivery man inadvertently left on the customer's voicemail.

After he delivered a pizza to the Sanford customer and his wife Sunday evening, the delivery man "butt dialed" the customer and left a voicemail message laden with racial slurs as he complained about his tip.

The customer posted a video on YouTube in which he showed the pizza delivery receipt, explaining he and his wife tipped 21 percent, "as usual."

In the voicemail message, which lasts about four minutes, the Papa John's employee complains to another Papa John's employee about the $5 tip and uses the N-word and other racial expletives, which he also incorporated into a song about the customer.

"I guess that's the only requirement for being a [insert N-word] in Sanford," a city still reeling from racial tensions after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, last year.

Read more: Trayvon Martin Drug Photos Can't Be Mentioned, Says Judge

"Yeah, they give me five bucks there -- fine outstanding African-American gentleman of the community," the delivery man can be heard saying in the call.

His fellow co-worker laughed in response.

Schnatter posted an apology on Papa John's Facebook page on Monday afternoon.

"Friends, I am extremely concerned to learn about the reprehensible language used by two former employees in one of our restaurants," the Facebook post stated. "Their thinking and actions defy both my personal and the company's values, and everything for which this company stands."

Schnatter said the employees "responsible for this absolutely unacceptable behavior were immediately terminated."

Read more: 7 Noteworthy Company Apologies

"My heartfelt apology goes out to the customer involved, his family and our community at large. I am very sorry that anyone would be exposed to these hurtful and painful words by any person involved in any way with our company," Schnatter said.

A call to Papa John's by ABC News for further comment was not immediately returned.

Many Facebook users who commented in response to Schnatter's post applauded his public apology.

One Facebook user said Schnatter is "a CEO that actually takes responsibility for the actions of his employees. You can't control employees, but you can take appropriate action."

In January 2012, a customer was described on a paper receipt as "Lady Chink Eyes" by a Papa John's employee in New York City.

[Berkut]

Fuck, $5 is a pretty good tip for a delivery driver....isn't it?

[Valmy]

Fuck, $5 is a pretty good tip for a delivery driver....isn't it?

Yeah, real good, unless they ordered lots of pizzas or something. 

[Syt]

Fuck, $5 is a pretty good tip for a delivery driver....isn't it?

Yeah, real good, unless they ordered lots of pizzas or something.

They say they tipped 21%, so the bill would have been 23.80 without tip.

Heck, I tip the delivery guy 10-15% and they're super-happy.

[Jacob]

His fellow co-worker laughed in response.

Fellow co-worker?

[fhdz]

Fuck, $5 is a pretty good tip for a delivery driver....isn't it?

Surprisingly, the racist asshole is also bad at math.

[katmai]

$5 for delivering my pizza? Fuck that.

[Syt]

His fellow co-worker laughed in response.

Fellow co-worker?

Brought to you by the department of redundancy department.

[derspiess]

The story I read made it sound like there was no tip and he was only paid $5 for the pizza.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I might feel a little bit of sympathy for the driver if he had been stiffed. I can't find it now, and have no idea why I read it in the first place, but I once read a blog from a surprisingly well-adjusted 40-something pizza delivery guy who just was offering random stories about his job. He never delved into racism, but he gave his personal experiences with tipping and he said in his experience black customers failed to tip at all a disproportionately when compared to white customers.

But I don't get at all how the guy is mad about a $5 tip on a $23 order. I used to tip a standard $2, usually a pizza order for the three of us is around the low-mid 20s, and I knew $2 was low percentage wise, but I had always thought that since the delivery work is not really based on the amount of the order a "flat rate" of $2 was good. Sometimes it'd actually be over 20% on a smaller order but usually it was under, closer to 10%. After reading a bit of this guy's blog he made a pretty good argument for $3 being the "flat rate" for all tipping, and that you should tip generously on very large special orders. It made sense and I've adopted that approach, my baseline delivery tip is $3 and if I'm ordering a bunch of food for a party or something I'll give a very generous (20-25+% tip) just for having to handle so much food etc. So $5 is really much more generous than I'd be, and I think would realistically be in the top percentile for tips on a $23 order for most delivery guys.

[Neil]

His fellow co-worker laughed in response.

Fellow co-worker?

Brought to you by the department of redundancy department.

Isn't that like saying incompetent journalist?

[CountDeMoney]

My delivery orders usually come to around $20 bucks giver or take, so I tip $5;  delivery driving is dangerous work, between putting your ass on the line (robbery attempts) and your car on the line (getting wrecked trying to get me my jalapeno poppers), I think it's the least I can do.

[derspiess]

My delivery orders usually come to around $20 bucks giver or take, so I tip $5;  delivery driving is dangerous work, between putting your ass on the line (robbery attempts) and your car on the line (getting wrecked trying to get me my jalapeno poppers), I think it's the least I can do.

I have a lot less crime in my neighborhood, so I feel okay sticking with a $3 tip.

[Barrister]

I'll give 'em $5 or so.

[Admiral Yi]

Papa is giving them money too; 3 clams is enough for a pie.