Master Chef Firing Daughter Over Insult on Diners' Bill

A manager, 2 servers also got the boot
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 11, 2016 5:03 AM CDT
Master Chef Firing Daughter Over Insult on Diners' Bill
An insult-free bill.   (Shutterstock)

Four diners—three of whom were wearing plaid—dined on deep-fried eggplant, Szechuan shrimp, and fish rolls at Chinese Master Chef Peter Chang's restaurant in Arlington, Va., on Saturday. But when it came time to pay, they found two extra line items on their $115 bill: "Im a plad [sic] a--hole" and "I have a small penis." One of the diners tells the Washington Post that the insults apparently stemmed from an "awkward" moment earlier when his companion questioned a server about why their rice wasn't served in individual bowls, at one point saying, "That's the way it's done in China." Later, when the foursome asked to split the check, the server sarcastically replied, "That's totally how they do it in China," the diner says. "Then we saw the receipt." The group called over a manager, who said the comments on the bill were a joke among the servers, and handed over a $20 gift card.

"They didn't do too much to apologize," the diner adds, per ARL Now. Peter Chang himself went several steps further. In a statement, he says the manager, server, and another server who entered the insults into the computer have been fired. His daughter, general manager Lydia Zhang, will also be fired once an investigation wraps up. "I am deeply disturbed by the incident. I am sorry, my respected guests," he says. "Business is business," Chang's business partner, Gen Lee, tells the Post of the family head-rolling, adding he'll now manage the restaurant personally. Insulting guests via the bill is practically a "trend" at this point, notes a post at Eater, which rounds up other instances involving racial slurs and jokes about a patron's weight. (A father's restaurant receipt included a slight on his kids.)

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