Vineland Red Lobster Employee Fired After Viral Confrontation With Customers

A manager at the Red Lobster in Vineland was fired after a video of her refusing to seat a party of 15 people spread rapidly across social media, with customer Vinchel Lapree alleging the family was turned away because they were Black.

The confrontation unfolded after the group waited roughly 30 minutes to be seated. According to Lapree, who took to Facebook on March 8 to describe what happened, the situation escalated when his mother asked the manager a single question. "My mom asked one question, and she [manager] snapped, talking about how she will not be seating us! She was so rude… corporate was called, and I'm going up there tomorrow. She will be fired! Red Lobster, these the type of people y'all hire," Lapree wrote.

Video of the exchange captured the manager's reaction when family members pressed for an explanation. She told them, "I'm not having it!" and "You guys are arguing with me. I'm not tolerating any of this. I said no, that's it!" The confrontation continued until the manager screamed, "I don't care, f**king leave!" before walking off toward a back room while calling back, "Remember my name." The person filming responded, "Oooh, she won't have a job tomorrow."

The manager told the family to contact corporate and maintained her decision was justified because a grandmother in the group had been "rude."

Lapree said his party had been willing to wait despite the group's size. "Granted, [we're] a lot of people, but be real, you're supposed to accommodate us. It was a 30-minute wait. No problem! We will wait," he wrote on Facebook.

Red Lobster responded publicly on Facebook, stating the company planned to "take this matter seriously." Within days, the consequence Lapree had predicted came through. Vineland Today reported on March 9 and March 10 that the manager had been fired after the video went viral. Social media commenters broadly agreed the termination was the appropriate outcome.

No official explanation beyond Red Lobster's brief Facebook statement has been made public, and the fired employee has not been identified by name in any available account of the incident.