A Korean American woman is suing drugstore chain CVS in federal court after an employee altered her name on a receipt to read, “Ching Chong Lee,” the Smoking Gun reports.
In an email to the company’s customer relations department, Hyun Jin Lee complained about the offensive term, saying:
“Do you think it’s funny? It’s very disturbing to me!!!!,” Lee wrote. “Why doesn’t he just call me Chink! It has the same derogatory meaning!!!!!”
Lee claims that when she saw the racial epithet on her receipt when she went to pick up photos at a CVS store in Pomona, N.J., near the Jersey shore. She had put her name, “Hyun Lee” on her order slip but she was “shocked, stunned, mortified, humiliated, and severely distressed” when she saw “Ching Chong Lee” printed on the envelope.
She is seeking $1 million in damages.
CVS issued an apology to Lee in early April by email, ensuring the incident would be handled and the employee in question would be “counseled and trained.”
This is not the first time Asian American customers have been racially mocked in micro-aggressive ways by store clerks. Last year, two Korean Americans in Georgia found their Starbucks cups had been given “chinky eyes.”
