Waiter admits he wrote racist receipt reading 'We don't tip terrorist' that went viral on Facebook

Hope Schreiber
·Writer

Don’t trust everything you read on Facebook.

A waiter admitted he wrote an offensive message on a receipt and shared it on Facebook. (Photo: Khalil Cavil via Facebook)
A waiter admitted he wrote an offensive message on a receipt and shared it on Facebook. (Photo: Khalil Cavil via Facebook)

Khalil Cavil, a 20-year-old waiter at a Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa, Texas, is now admitting he fabricated a story that claimed one of the restaurant’s customers left a racist comment on a receipt.

“I did write it,” Cavil told the Odessa American. At the top of the receipt, Cavil wrote: “We don’t tip terrorist.”

Cavil admitted he had written the note after the restaurant issued a press release stating that it was a hoax. “I don’t have an explanation,” Cavil said. “I made a mistake. There is no excuse for what I did.”

Cavil had posted the receipt on Facebook in hopes that it would encourage conversation “about this hatred that is still going on, that is still here and prevalent.” In the post, which has since been deleted, he wrote, “I didn’t know what to think nor what to say, I was sick to my stomach.”

Cavil, who said he was planning to attend college in the fall, was the recipient of donations that totaled around $1,000. The waiter said the money is being processed and returned.

The customer was originally banned from the Saltgrass Steak House, but he has since been invited back by the company’s COO, Terry Turney. Turney issued this statement: “After further investigation, we have learned that our employee fabricated the entire story. The customer has been contacted and invited back to our restaurant to dine on us. Racism of any form is intolerable, and we will always act swiftly should it occur in any of our establishments. Falsely accusing someone of racism is [equally] disturbing.”

“I’m sorry. I deeply made a huge, big mistake. And I’m in the process of getting the help that I need,” Cavil said.

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