Taco Bell cashier who used Asian slur on receipt out of a job

A Philadelphia Taco Bell cashier who served up a slur to an Asian American customer has lost his job.

A spokesperson for Taco Bell Corp. said Tuesday in a statement that the Center City cashier who referred to a customer as "Steve Ch—" on a receipt "no longer works for the brand." The company didn't respond when asked to clarify whether the employee was terminated or resigned.

That isn't what the customer, In Young Lee, was aiming for when he posted early Saturday morning about his encounter with Taco Bell employees. Lee, a 25-year-old Ph.D. student at Penn, said Monday that he wouldn't publicize the name of the cashier and that he just wanted the cashier to understand "that racial slurs have implications and the meaning behind things can really hurt people."

Lee said he visited the Taco Bell at 1037 Chestnut St. in Center City around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. After he ordered two tacos and told the cashier his name was "Steve," Lee looked at his receipt and saw he'd been listed as "Steve Ch—," a slur for Chinese people. He confronted the cashier about the slur, and Lee said the man initially defended himself, saying there were multiple "Steves" in the restaurant at the time, and he needed to differentiate them.

Taco Bell did not release the name of any of the employees involved. The company also said Tuesday that management apologized to Lee and that the franchisee is retraining its staff "to ensure this incident will not happen again."