Woman Goes On Foul Language Rant Against Miami Beach 7-Eleven Clerk
MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - A woman went off on a foul language rant against an employee of a 7-Eleven on Miami Beach over a couple of Big Gulp cups.
Manorey Rojas-Hernandez said about 3 p.m. Sunday, the woman came into the store on Washington Avenue and redeemed points for a free hot dog.
She then got two Big Gulp cups and started to fill them with dressing for the hot dog.
When Rojas-Hernandez told her she'd have to pay for the cups because they were not part of the free promotion, the woman became irate and began screaming at him.
Rojas-Hernandez pulled out his cell phone and used it to record the woman's tirade filled with foul language and racist taunts. At one point she told him "your mom is a prostitute," according to a police incident report.
The woman is also heard calling the clerk an "uneducated Latino" and saying "we don't want you in this country."
The clerk is heard saying that the customer does not want to pay any money for what she is getting. The woman again says the clerk's mother is a "Colombian prostitute."
The clerk would later show the video to the police who noted that she was white with tan-colored skin, brown hair and appeared to have a Middle Eastern accent.
Rojas-Hernandez then picked up the cups and asked the woman to leave the store. She did.
The following day she returned to the store and asked to buy two packs of cigarettes.
When Rojas-Hernandez refused to sell her anything and asked her to leave the store, the woman became aggravated and started yelling insults, "your mom is a Colombian prostitute you (expletive) pig."
The woman challenged the clerk to give her name to 7-Eleven and she was told "Get out of here. You are not welcome."
She then stormed out of the store.
Police say the woman is between 45 and 55 years old and had a Middle Eastern accent.
Rojas-Hernandez did not want to take any action against the woman and refused to have police issue a trespass warning, which would result in an arrest if she returns.
CBS4's Peter D'Oench spoke with a group of Israeli tourists who were having lunch across the street from the 7-Eleven store on Tuesday. They, like others who he spoke with, said they were horrified by the woman's behavior at the store. They were also shown the cell phone video.
"It's disgusting. It is not nice. It is awful. I am a bit shocked. You give service and this is a bit weird. In Israel you usually respect a place and you don't do something like that to someone who gives you service," Shaked Jacoby said.
"I think a lot of people forget that people who work in retail work multiple hours to serve us and help us get what we want and sometimes we forget that their paychecks are not very high," Omer Noy said. "We have gotten to a point where freedom of speech should not be saying everything that is on your mind. You can not always do that. It does seem abusive and what made this even worse is that she came back the next day."
A 7-Eleven manager said Rojas-Hernandez had gone on vacation and neither he nor anyone else in the store could comment.
He said corporate policy forbids anyone from speaking to the media.
CBS4 reached out to 7-Eleven corporate headquarters for comment, but has not heard back.