Of late, we have learned of various things black people cannot do without white people deciding to call the police. These include: swimming in a public pool, sitting in a Starbucks, taking a nap in your student lounge and now, couponing.
The manager of a Dollar General in New York was fired last week after an incident when he called the police on a black woman because she was ‘abusing the system’ by using coupons. Dollar General coupons.
The woman in question, Madonna Wilburn, told the local news station WIVB 4…
“I tried to show him on my dollar general app that I had clipped all of the coupons, so they should’ve came off. He told me that I was trying to beat the system, that I was trying to fraud the system.”
She posted this video of the encounter on Facebook…
Posted by Madonna Wilburn on Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Along with this photo of what she was buying…
… and these of the total amount…
… and these of the coupons she was trying to use…
…and this private message that the manager sent her on Facebook after the incident…
… and the evidence of police involvement.
The full text of her post reads:
“PLEASE SHARE….So here is unfortunately another incident where the manager at Dollar General on Genesse Street in Buffalo New York felt he needed to call the police on a “black women” ME who was taking advantage of the coupon system. I had no coupons in my hand and they are all digital coupons on their app. Spend $30 on gain scents and receive $ 5 off then other digital coupons ranging from .50 to $2 off of each of these items all on their app. He could not figure it out. Told me he hate people like me, told me to
Shut up, and more I eventually pulled out my phone….and started recording to protect myself against his nasty attitude in case anything happened.. now he inboxed me and his wife Kristin Dudek friend requested me and I blocked her!!!”
The corporate offices of Dollar General issued this statement.
“We always strive to deliver the best possible customer service and are disappointed anytime this doesn’t occur. Based on our investigation we believe that certain aspects of this matter including the involvement of law enforcement were not handled in accordance with our policies and expectations.”
The incident has inspired a new hashtag, #couponingwhileblack.
Naturally, people called out the fact that white people seem to misunderstand the purpose of a 911 call or really any call to the police.
How can anyone think it is okay to use 911 as a complaint line? It is not costumer service, it is for EMERGENCIES. JFC ?
— Kassandra Appel (@AppelKassandra) July 25, 2018
1. This is a Dollar General store- I mean come on! It’s not that serious!
2. 9-1-1 is NOT YOUR PERSONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE!Y’all remember when calling the police was just for emergencies?! Lawd!!
— Django Jane ??? (@injerahabni) July 25, 2018
This is also just an open admission that these people don’t believe the police have anything better do. If you actually respected the profession and the so-called “skill set” required of the job you’d call them for stuff that met that.
— ConcreteWallflower (@Me75327714) July 25, 2018
So this happened all the time we just started recording it. There are wypipo who apparently think the police are a concierge service and it has worked for them. I see it clearly now.
— ABIOLA (@hottnotthemama) July 25, 2018
#couponingwhileblack Poor #CouponKen. Such a hard life! Must be tough to waste police resources while avoiding arrest and normalizing racism on the regular.https://t.co/YyT3GRcDDC
— Abi Overmann (@WeAreInDistress) July 24, 2018
At what point is this shite gonna stop? Too many coupons??!! They need to start charging these idiots for wasting the time of law enforcement. Somewhere there’s a serious crime occurring but the cop are dealing w this petty nonsense. #CouponKen #CouponingWhileBlack https://t.co/2Tp9gRCNl3
— If u can read this.. (@nojobny) July 24, 2018
Why are people using #911 in this way? There are literal emergencies happening #CouponingWhileBlack https://t.co/9hAu5cIa5o
— G (@GGarsenal1) July 25, 2018
But others pointed out the ridiculousness of the entire situation.
AmeriKKKa's severe epidemic of racism never ceases to spawn the best hashtags:#BlackWhileAtHome#AtHomeWhileBlack#CouponingWhileBlack#GolfingWhileBlack#StarbucksWhileBlack#SwimmingWhileBlack#LegalOwnerOfAGunWhileBlack#BeingPOTUSWhileBlack#BeingFLOTUSWhileBlack https://t.co/kCznAEQ6KI
— ?Blue?Humanity? (@BlueHumanity) July 28, 2018
#couponingwhileblack can't even do two legal things at once https://t.co/gQtLgASUdl
— Abel Djassi (@lombason) July 25, 2018
As I see white women with giant binders of coupons walking around the grocery. What the actual heck? #couponingwhileblack ??
— don't boo, vote in 2018 (@shutterbutter68) July 25, 2018
COUPON KEN! #couponingwhileblack #whileblack #CouponKen https://t.co/ofQodr8Ibb
— BROKEBAG$$$ (@truublu4u) July 24, 2018
Except for:#swimmingwhileblack#couponingwhileblack#golfingwhileblack#shoppingwhileblack#winetastingwhileblack#sellingwaterwhileblack#bbqingwhileblack
… https://t.co/kCcDv5c8me— Not that Branson (@403_Forbidden) July 28, 2018
The situation, calling the police because someone used coupons, would be hilarious if it weren’t so upsetting.
