Patricia tried to defend herself. I genuinely thought something was wrong. I mean, she was just browsing and not buying anything. Browsing and not buying anything? Peter cut her off, his voice rising with anger.
That's what shopping is. That's what every customer in this store does. They browse, they look at items, they take their time deciding what they want. What exactly about that seems suspicious to you? Was it the browsing?
Or was it the fact that she's black? Patricia had no answer. Her face showed a mixture of embarrassment, defensiveness, and the dawning realization that she had just destroyed her husband's career. Bennett turned to Jennifer, the sales associate who had sided with Officer Patterson without question. And you, when the officer told you I was disturbing the peace, you immediately agreed without asking me a single question.
You told me to leave. You supported him arresting a customer in your store based on absolutely nothing. Jennifer's voice came out or as a whisper. Ms. Bennett, I didn't know it was you. If I had known you were the owner "If you had known I was the owner, you would have treated me differently?"
Bennett interrupted. "But because you thought I was just a black customer, you assumed the racist cop was right and I was wrong. That's exactly the problem, Jennifer. You made a choice based on what you saw, and what you saw was my skin color." Bennett turned to Peter, her voice firm and clear.
"Jennifer is fired, effective immediately. She can collect her belongings and leave." Jennifer started to protest, but Peter held up his hand. "Ms. Bennett is right. You supported false accusations against a customer based on racial bias.
You're terminated. Leave now." Jennifer grabbed her purse from behind the counter and walked out of the boutique with tears streaming down her face, knowing that video of this incident was already being recorded and would follow her for the rest of her life. Officer Patterson tried one more time to apologize. "Ms. Bennett, I made a serious error in judgment.