Korean Restaurant Owner Slaps Black Female Employee Over $8.47

Customers at a Georgia seafood restaurant were shocked when the owner of the restaurant was caught on camera assaulting a female employee in front of other employees and patrons.

Markus Moultrie posted a video to Facebook of the bizarre incident at Doo’s Seafood & Deli in Snellville, Ga., on Friday. Moultrie says he was at the restaurant during his lunch break and asked for a refund because his order was “fucked up” (which, coincidentally, always happens when you’re in a rush; as someone who’s allergic to cheese, I can’t tell you how many hamburgers I’ve ordered in a rush, only to get back to the office and discover I was awarded the double-cheese upgrade).

When Moultrie demanded a refund of his $8.47, he says, the owner’s wife told the cashier to pay for it out of her own money. When both Moultrie and the cashier objected, the owner (in a blue Best Buy-like shirt) stepped in. In the video, Moultrie tries to explain: “Sir, honestly, it’s not her fault.” But the owner hauls off and slaps the black woman like she’d messed up his plantation’s cotton production.

Moultrie, audibly upset, begs the woman to press charges and asks customers if they’d just seen what happened. One customer says she’d already called the police, while other customers confirm that the man had smacked his employee. Meanwhile, the employees, at least one of whom is black, just stand there looking!

The cashier who was assaulted, to her credit, remains calm and asks the store owner, “Why’d you hit me?” as another nonblack employee appears to stifle a laugh. The video ends when Moultrie says he is going to call the cops.

The Doo’s Seafood and Deli website says its owners, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, are from South Korea by way of Louisiana (or maybe they’re from Louisiana by way of South Korea; I never quite understood the “by way of” protocol). The site claims, “Friends, family and business men pleaded with Mr. and Mrs. Lee not to open the first Doo’s Seafood & Deli location so they wouldn’t lose their life savings in a bad restaurant investment.” They probably thought he had a promising future on the lucrative underground slap-boxing circuit.

According to the site, the Snellville location is the third site of the small chain, with two others in New Orleans and Stone Mountain, Ga. For the sake of transparency, I should say that I have actually visited the Stone Mountain location of Doo’s, but I still have so many questions:

• What the hell can you get from a New Orleans-style seafood restaurant that costs $8.47?
  
• Why did the other employees seem so unsurprised by this? Were they shocked, or does this happen often?
• Is “taking smacks to the face” a part of the job description?
• In the video, Mr. Lee says he’s going to call the police. What was he going to tell them: “Hello, 911? Yes, I’d like to report an assault on my palm by an employee’s face”?
• Why does Markus Moultrie talk so loudly?
  
• Seriously, Markus, what did you order for $8.47? The menu in the background says the fried food special is $24.99. Did you order a cup of water and a container of cocktail sauce? (Everyone orders the water for lunch and then fills their cup with Sprite. Niggas who order water love Sprite.)
• Is this how Mr. Lee treats his black employees? Look at the two women in the background. They look like they’re thinking, “Oh shit, I might be next!”

Mr. Lee should not be allowed to get away with this. I’m not saying that anyone should boycott Doo’s. But if you care about the workers’ rights and insist on eating there, the least you could do is not snitch on the employees when they get your order wrong. You see what can happen.

Also, take all the Sprite you want.