Katie McManus witnessed two security guards at a Cape Cod garden center tell a woman to "get the f back to Brazil" on Mother's Day. She and a bystander intervened and recorded the incident. Both the garden center owner and security company took action, firing at least one guard and pursuing trespass orders.
Something really disturbing happened yesterday, and I wanted to make a video about it to share with you, like, what I wish I had done better, and also what we can take away from it as business owners. So yesterday was Mother's Day Sunday. It was a beautiful, gorgeous day on Cape Cod. And my mom said that the only thing she wanted for Mother's Day was she wanted hanging flowers to hang on her front porch. And I was like, cool, done. I can do that. So I went to our local garden center, and I'm like, you know, I pull in and it's really, really busy. And so I grab a cart and I, like, wheel it over to the flower area, and I'm, like, picking out some flowers, and I hear a kerfuffle happening. And that is, like, a very, very cutesy word for something that really ugly that happened. And the woman who's standing next to me and I both kind of, like, went on high alert, and we started listening for what these two security staff were saying to this woman. This woman looked like she was Hispanic. I don't know her ethnicity. I don't know anything beyond. Like, that was my take. And the two security men at this business, at this garden center were screaming at this woman to get the f back to Brazil and that she did not belong here. And so, of course, this woman and I were like, excuse you, what did you just say? And we marched out. We got in their faces, and they started, like, trying to justify saying these racist things by saying, well, she doesn't even speak any effing English. Which was a not factually true. She actually spoke English with zero accent and also is completely irrelevant. Doesn't matter if someone speaks English or not. They deserve to be spoken to with respect. And so I pulled out my phone, and of course, I was so. I was, like, so shaken by the entire, you know, experience that I pulled it out to record. And of course, like, I forgot to hit the record button. Anyway, we were able to get them to, like, back off. She was able to get away. She thanked us. And, you know, like, I wish. But, like, in hindsight, I really wish I had, like, followed and just checked in on her and made sure she was good and gotten her contact information also, just, like, you know, be able to touch base there after the fact. Um, anyway, this other woman and I, we both touched base about, like, what we were going to do with the business. She knew some of the owners. I didn't know any of the owners, but I was still going to reach out. Um, and this morning, so I sent an email. I called and left voicemails. Like I wanted to make sure that they knew exactly what happened. And I wanted to make sure like if they're a decent business owner, let. They let go of these two employees, like whatever it was, whatever happened. And I wanted to make sure that they fixed this. Right. So I got a call back from the business owner today, gave and I had emailed her and given her like a full rundown of what had happened. She called. She felt so bad. She was like beside herself that this had happened in her business. Apparently these two security guards, they weren't direct employees of the business. They were employed by this security company that they hire on really busy weekends. Weekends to kind of direct traffic because it gets really nutty in that area where they are. She had apparently marched down there as soon as she understood what had happened and told them to get the F off of her property. And she's getting no trespass orders for them. She called the security company and basically said, we're no longer continuing our contract with you. And I had a really nice conversation with her. And she's trying to track down the woman who is targeted by these two individuals. Of course, one of them was wearing a MAGA hat like it just attracts, unfortunately. But anyway, so you know, she's doing the best she can and she's doing everything she can to try to rectify the situation. And then I did do some homework and I tracked down the security company and I called them. And the woman who I got on the phone as part owner was beside herself. She was like on the. I don't know, it sounded like she was crying on the phone and she had fired one of the individuals. I told her it wasn't just one of them, it was two of them. It was both of them. They were both being incredibly racist. But this is how you handle this. If you're a business owner, you have to understand that you're bringing people into your business who are going to represent you and what your business stands for. And it is so important right now, in particular with racism and this population of people who are filled with so much hate, who also for reasons, reasons feel this permission to just go and share their hate openly while they're on the job. Like it is so important for business owners, especially if you are in a customer facing environment and you have people who are working for you to, to make sure that each and every single person who works under you knows that this is unacceptable. And I would strongly recommend have some kind of standardized operating procedure for when this happens how each and every employee is supposed to respond, to get everyone's information so that you can reach out, so that you can apologize, that you can clean things up. And it's so important to train on that before you ever think it's going to happen to you, because let me tell you, it's happening more and more often, and it's happening more openly than I have ever experienced in my life. Okay? So, like, I'm in Massachusetts. It is a very, very blue state. Okay. Every single district in Massachusetts went blue last year. And it's still happening here. And let me just tell you, as someone who is a bystander in this, things that I wish I had done better is I wish I had taken my phone out as I was walking over. I wish I hadn't waited. I wish I had gone and talked to the woman who was targeted and just made sure she was good and gotten her contact information to make sure that she was getting an apology from the business. I wish I. When I realized my. My camera wasn't working, I wish I had taken pictures of these two individuals and at least documented in that way. I was just so thrown. But, I mean, I hate that I'm even making this video right now. I hate that this is something that's happening in our world and unfortunately, it's just the nature of the world right now. So, anyway, I want to acknowledge these two businesses who reacted very quickly and are doing everything in their. In their power to try to clean it up right now. But for those of you who have businesses, if there's anyone who works for you who may not be full of love and respect for other humans, make sure that they know there are gonna be serious consequences if they speak disrespectfully to customers. Yeah. Anyway, I hate this. I hate it here.
