Katelyn Simmons Subway store application hopeful rejected cause she was black. How a Texas high school senior was denied cause of the color of her skin- store manager fired.
The manager of a Texas, Subway outlet has been fired after allegedly denying a black teenager a position at the sandwich chain based on her race, writing that she didn’t want ‘those people’ in the store.
Klein High School Student, Katelyn Simmons applied for work at the fast food vendor over the weekend with the hopes of saving up money before her senior year, Click2Houston reported. One of her friends already worked at the Subway on Champion Forest Drive and, after a bit of encouragement, the soon-to-be senior agreed the job seemed a natural fit for her as well.
‘I thought it would be fun and chill, and it’s really discouraging for it to go down like that just because of the color of my skin,’ she told the news outlet.
Simmons filled out her application on Sunday and dropped it off later the same that afternoon, prompting her friend to reach out to the store manager on her behalf.
‘Girl brought in her application I’m leaving on the table for you now,’ her friend wrote in a series of texts that were later screen-grabbed and shared online.
The manager responded with questions about Simmons’ appearance.
‘Black girl long dark hair,’ she wrote, before adding ‘Shortish.’
‘Oh no thanks. I don’t want those people in our store lol,’ the manager allegedly wrote back.
I hate that my first post has to be negative but I am absolutely outraged. I am a 17 year old girl that applied at subway today and my friend who is a current employee showed me that the manager automatically denied my application because I Am African American. @SUBWAY smh pic.twitter.com/DA8iV979Xh
— Katelyn Simmons (@Katelyn77652714) June 2, 2019
Katelyn Simmons Subway store application rejection: ‘this is vulgar and it needs to be pushed and needs to be shown.’
The incident left Simmons frustrated , with the black teen girl saying, ‘When I see an issue that is vulgar and very important, it needs to be pushed and needs to be shown, like, this is unacceptable.’
By Monday, screenshots of the texts had been shared more than 17,000 times on social media – eventually catching the attention of Subway.
‘The manager of this location was immediately terminated for her actions. The Franchise Owner has reached out to the young woman who applied for the position to apologize and encourage her to consider re-applying,’ the sandwich shop said in a statement.
‘The former manager’s actions do not reflect the openness and values shown by Subway Franchise Owners and their staffs. The Subway brand and its independent Franchise Owners are inclusive and welcome.’
Of note, Simmons told via KTRK that she has no plans to reapply to Subway.
‘My biggest thing was I just wanted to be heard that this is not okay,’ she said. ‘I just want Subway to do something and say ‘this is not how we do things.”
The teen has since received an avalanche of offers and is now expected to start working at a health spa in Houston. Welcome to a divided America….
