Leon’s Frozen Custard’s English only policy is currently the cause of some controversy in Milwaukee, WI, per a Fox 59 report.
On Tuesday, customer Joey Sanchez overheard a conversation between a Leon’s Frozen Custard employees and a Spanish-speaking customer.
“She whispered to him in Spanish ‘I’m not allowed to speak Spanish to you,'” Sanchez said.
Sanchez added that he tried to order in Spanish as well, but was told the same thing.
Leon’s Frozen Custard owner Ron Schneider told reporters that his employees can only speak English on the job, and the policy has never been an issue before, despite being in place for a long time.
“Hey, c’mon! It is America. We’ve spoken English for a long, long time,” Schneider said of the policy. “Any foreign language is going to be a problem. What I’m trying to avoid is when people come up here, get waited on in a different language because there happens to be an employee who speaks that language.”
Schneider, who told Fox 59 his wife is Hispanic, said they have never turned away a customer.
“It’s going to get disruptive if we have to become bilingual, trilingual or anything else,” Schneider added.
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