While everyone across the nation and much of the world is almost certainly up to their limit in wearing masks, nothing should excuse the behavior of a Manhattan bakery patron. A woman, presumably white, called a clerk at the store the “n-word” while employing the “er” version after she was refused service for not donning a mask.

As reported by CBS News New York, the woman was at the Davidovich Bakery inside the Essex Market on the Lower East Side of Manhattan over the weekend. A bystander captured the incident on their smartphone in where the woman, pushing a stroller and seemingly walking with other children, was refused service after security left the decision to serve the patron up to the clerk behind a partition.

When the clerk decided not to serve the patron, the security guard then asked the woman to leave the line but not before she called the clerk a “b*tch ass n*gger” without as much flinching. What makes this especially jarring is that the children in tow appeared to be biracial but that hasn’t been confirmed.

CBS News New York exclusively spoke with the bakery clerk, who remained unusually calm despite being assaulted verbally by the patron.

“Honestly, I feel like we’ve been going through this, you know, racism, we went through COVID all year last year, we went through George Floyd. We went through all types of situations,” Vic said to the outlet. “I felt like we were moving forward, honestly, that’s where I’m at. I thought we were moving forward. I’m educated enough and smart enough, and I think we’re in a world where… love surpasses hatred. Seeing her kids right next to her I couldn’t say anything to her.”

Vic, who is 30, has been praised for not feeding into the woman’s negative comments and insults, including being noticed by the company’s vice president.

Stephanie Denaro, the Queens mother in the video, seemingly defended the use of the slur, stating that her children’s father uses the word as a term of endearment. Denaro has not apologized to Vic for calling him the slur and doesn’t intend to.

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Comments are closed.