Alleged homeless discrimination incident at Salinas restaurant sparks outrage on social media

A Facebook video of a woman recounting an experience of alleged homeless discrimination at a Salinas restaurant is sparking public outrage on social media.

Salinas resident Vanessa Madrid posted the video on Friday evening after she said an employee at La Plaza Bakery denied service to a homeless man she brought in to have a meal with her.

“She said, ‘okay, well, he can’t be in here.’ And I asked her, ‘why?’ And she said, ‘we don’t want his kind here. Look at him: he’s dirty, and he looks like he stinks,'” Madrid said.

She’s still in shock after the treatment of her dinner guest.

“That’s discrimination. And I was like, ‘I’m a paying customer. I would like to sit down and have a meal with him.’ And she said, ‘if you want to order food and eat with him, you’re going to have to take your food outside and eat with him, because he’s not wanted in here.'”

After the incident, she posted a video to Facebook, where she said “I’m just in disbelief right now that this happened.”

It’s now been shared more than 2,000 times and has more than 1,500 comments.

The incident also sparked dozens of negative reviews on the business’ Facebook page.

The owner did not want to go on camera but told KION they’ve never had a problem like this before and plan to do more training with their employees after the incident.

But as any business, they can refuse service to anyone.

The owner of the restaurant was not there when the incident happened, but he met with Madrid Monday.

She said her message for him is “if somebody comes and pays for a cup of coffee and a pan dulce with a bunch of pennies, you ought to treat them with the same way as somebody coming in buying the same cup of coffee and the pan dulce with a $100 bill.”

Madrid is planning a community outreach event to feed the homeless and says the owner has agreed to help.