Man sues Hooters restaurant in Queens for racial slur on receipt

A Korean-American man who got a receipt identifying him as "CHINX" when he ordered Buffalo shrimp and chicken wings to go has filed suit seeking damages for the slight from a Hooters restaurant in Queens.

Kisuk Cha, 25, a Pennsylvania man who was dining with his girlfriend in Fresh Meadows in early July, was "shocked, stunned, mortified, humiliated and severely distressed," according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court.

"He wanted to confront his server but sat paralyzed with anguish," Cha claims in his lawsuit. "He could not eat the food he had just bought as his stomach was churning and he could not be sure that someone did not spit in his food...He does not feel welcome at Hooters and indeed questions whether he is welcomed at any non-Korean establishments.

Ed McCabe, a lawyer for Strix LLC - which owns four Hooters in Queens and on Long Island - and owner William Harley, acknowledged the incident, but said the hostess responsible for the racial description has resigned and the restaurant isn't liable because it violated corporate policy.

"It was an isolated incident," McCabe said.

The word "Chinx," which the lawsuit describes as "a plural form of what's widely known at the 'N' word for Asians," appeared on a section of the receipt designed to allow servers in the bar area to describe customers waiting to pick up food so they can be identified. Typically, McCabe said, it might read "blond" or "redhead."

Cha alleged that his server, identified as "Shenika" on the receipt, giggled at him. But McCabe said an internal investigation initiated by the Hooters chain national office identified another employee, a 20-year-old hostess, as the culprit. She resigned, and would have been fired, he said.

The conduct was contrary to training Hooters gives its servers, McCabe said, and a review of three months worth of receipts found no other racial descriptions.

"She was remorseful," McCabe said of the hostess who resigned. "I think there was a complete lack of comprehension of the insensitivity of the remark."