Black Man walks into Panda Express behind another customer, then says the same rules suddenly do not apply: ‘She literally repeats it back to me’

A man who posts on TikTok as Chai ( @project.chai) said a Panda Express worker handled his pickup order differently from the customer who entered the restaurant with him. In a TikTok video that has gained 82,600 views, Chai said he arrived at 3 p.m. to collect a plate he had already ordered.

Chai said the dining room was not busy and that only five people were sitting down and eating. He said a Hispanic woman walked in at the same time he did. Both of them had their phones out, and both walked toward the pickup area, with Chai following behind her.

He said the worker first spoke to the woman, asked if she was picking up, took her name, and handed over her food. Chai said there were no extra questions. In his words, the worker told her, “here you go, have a good day.”

Man says the worker repeated his name then asked for a last initial

Chai said the worker then asked him, “what’s your name?” He said he gave the full first name on his Panda Express account, which he described as longer than “Chai” by three letters at the front. He said the worker replied, “huh?” He said he spelled the name out as G-A-T-C-H-A-I. “She literally repeats it back to me and she says my name, and I’m like, yes, that’s me,” he said.

He also said the worker’s face then changed and that she appeared to act suspicious. He said she next asked, “okay, what’s the last initial of your name?” He said he answered “M,” and she then handed him the food.

In the caption, Chai added that his order was the only other one on the shelf. He said he took the food and left. He also said he had been polite, smiling, and speaking in a normal way during the pickup.

Chai said he believes the extra check was racial profiling. He said the worker did not ask the woman ahead of him for a last initial, even though the two of them reached the pickup spot at the same time. He also pointed to what he described as a change in the worker’s demeanor after he gave his name.

He said the store is in a predominantly Asian area and that uncommon names should not be unusual there. He said he had already said the name, spelled it, and heard it repeated. “So what other verification would you need if I told you my first name 3 times?” he said. “That don’t make no sense.” For Chai, the encounter highlights a broader pattern of unequal service, as a separate incident involved a Black man seeing an elderly lady waiting an hour for help at a pet store.

Viewers reacted in the comments. One person urged him to take the matter further and wrote, “please try to sue them if you can or at LEAT bring enough awareness, you dont deserve this.” Another commenter offered sympathy and wrote, “I’m really sorry this happened. You shouldn’t have to go through this, ever.” A third person called the situation frustrating and wrote, “that’s so annoying.”

One viewer said customers should not feel they have to stay extra polite and wrote, “they be acting like these companies care about them you don’t need to look nice for them dawg go on about your day they ain’t shih.” Such incidents of racial profiling in retail settings are not isolated, like when a Black man was asked for his green card at a Walmart in Oklahoma.

Another comment focused on the food itself and said, “Panda Express ain’t even that good.” One commenter agreed with Chai’s reading of the encounter and wrote, “100% racial profiling bro it’s so sad that racism is still so common in everyday life today.”