Pennsylvania restaurant: ‘No malice intended’ by calling man N-word on bar receipt

A Pennsylvania man said that he was shocked over the weekend when a bartender used the N-word instead of his name on the receipt for his food.

Marquis Moore told The Patriot News that he was about to eat an order of take-out wings from Zembie’s Sports Tavern in Harrisburg when he noticed the racial slur.

In the space where Moore’s name was supposed to appear on the bar tab, the word “nigga” was written instead.

“It makes me feel like I’m just low,” Moore said. “A nigga is an ignorant, disrespectful person. It has nothing to do with your skin color. What would possess you to put something like that on a piece of paper? You don’t even know who I am.”

But according to Zembie’s owner Angelo Karagiannis, the word was meant as a light-hearted joke, but was misunderstood by Moore.

Bartender Megan Bonsall told Karagiannis that Moore was busy talking to people at the bar, and so she ask a friend for his name. That friend allegedly showed Moore’s Facebook page to Bosnall, where he described himself as a “sexy nigga.”

She said that she wrote down “nigga” on the ticket as a joke.

“Megan has worked for me for 12 to 13 years. There was no malice intended at all,” Karagiannis insisted. “We have a Redskins fan club and every week there are 12-15 black guys who come in to watch the games. We are not racist at all and serve anyone.”

Karagiannis said that he had instructed Bonsall not to identify people by using physical characteristics in the future.

But Moore didn’t buy the tavern’s explanation, speculating that the bartender had searched the comments on his Facebook page looking for an excuse after she was caught.

“Even if that is the case, why didn’t she put ‘sexy nigga’ on the check?” Moore pointed out.

The 29-year-old Harrisburg resident added that he would never being going back to Zembie’s Sports Tavern.

“I’m hurt by the situation, I am just a random Joe and she could have just taken the time to ask my name,” Moore observed. “Racism is no longer behind closed doors.”

Watch the video below from The Patriot News, broadcast Dec. 15, 2014.