African-American couple upset over words written on IHOP receipt

An African-American couple left an Austin, Texas IHOP upset after seeing what they say is a racist label on their receipt, Fox 7 reported Monday.

Rolman Sparkman and his girlfriend Arainia Brown say they were given the receipt with the words "BLACK PPL" written at the top.

They say what suprised them most was that their waiter, Dwyane Williams, was also black.

"People being racist - and it's your own people being racist toward you for no reason," said Sparkman. Brown, who has experience working in restruants, says race should never be used to identify customers. "We either put a number - a to-go - the color of their shirt, not their skin color," she said.

IHOP released a statement saying: "This was a poor choice made by our franchisee's team member, and is not in keeping with policies and procedures. We recognize that it could be offensive and sincerely apologize. Everyone is welcome in our restaurants and our franchisee is using this as a teachable moment for the entire team so that it will not reoccur."

Williams apologized on his Facebook page, and said it was a slip-up to get orders out. He said he was sorry if he offended anyone.

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