A Louisville business is facing criticism after the owner told employees to “leave religion and politics at the door” after she received a message from a customer who said she was treated disrespectfully because she was a law enforcement officer.
Please &Thank You owner Brooke Vaughn told the Courier Journal she sent the message to the management team on Feb. 3 after receiving an email from a man claiming to be a police officer saying he had been treated disrespectfully. The man said in the email that he was “greeted by a rude person” and received “evil looks from all the staff.”
“As a reminder, please put your religion and politics aside when you come to work for Please & Thank You,” the message read. “If you discriminate against anyone in our store, you are not fit to be a DAY MAKER and should consider making a living elsewhere.”
A screenshot of the message was posted on Reddit around 1:30 p.m. on February 3, with the post stating that the message was sent after Vaughan received an email from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Vaughn said the officer who complained to her wrote that he was in uniform during the visit but did not confirm whether the man was an ICE agent.
Within hours of posting the message to social media, Vaughn said she and other employees began receiving several complaints, adding that she was forced to turn off comments on the company’s Instagram page due to the ongoing altercation.
“People showed up in the store and called our employees ‘fascists,'” she said.
Vaughn added that the store’s media accounts have also gained followers since the news was posted, but she’s not sure if they’re following the accounts to support the business or just “to check it out.” [them] fail. “
Earlier, two U.S. citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, were shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis, triggering nationwide protests. Thousands of federal immigration officers were dispatched to Minnesota in December, and President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced on February 4 that 700 immigration enforcement agents would leave the state.
Metro columnist Joe Gerth also contributed.
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal: Please and Thank You Owners face backlash after memo posted online