A gas station employee shared a series of TikToks in which a customer told him to “go back to where he came from,” then called the cops when the employee denied him service.
Paul Punjabi, a San Antonio Shell employee who goes by @texanpunjabi on TikTok, uploaded three videos yesterday revealing part of his altercation with the racist customer. In the most recent video, Punjabi shares the details of the argument that led to the customer calling the cops.
“First of all, he told me to go back to where I came from, then tried to play victim card himself,” Punjabi says. “Then he called the cops on me because I wouldn’t serve his racist ass. Yet I am the one entitled.”
Punjabi also shares video of the customer, who accuses him of denying him service based on his skin color.
“So he’s refusing service based on the color of my skin,” the customer, who is not white, says as he records Punjabi with his own phone.
“Nope, that’s not the case at all,” Punjabi responds. “You got butthurt on the day of storm because I refused to sell it to you ‘cause you wanted to freak out, remember?” (This indicates that the customer has been frequenting the store at least since the winter storm devastated Texas last month.)
“I don’t care for you bro,” Punjabi continues. “That’s why I don’t want you in here. You’re the one that keeps coming back even though I told you I don’t want to serve you. So you can’t live without seeing me. That’s what the problem is.”
“Motherfuckers always acting entitled and shit,” the customer says. As Punjabi pivots to help another customer, the man filming can be heard muttering “faggot ass.”
The two previous videos show Punjabi explaining the altercation to a San Antonio police officer. “I didn’t say anything. I said, ‘Im not gonna serve you.’ That was it,” Punjabi says. “And I went on helping with my customer.”
The customer then confirms that he said “fuck you” to Punjabi and told him to go back “to where the fuck you came from.”
“So it’s OK for him to say that, right?” Punjabi asks the officer. “It’s OK for him to be racist, and yet I can’t refuse service to him.”
In the second video, Punjabi tells the officer that he refuses to serve the customer “because of what went on on the snowstorm day.” When the officer interrupts him, Punjabi exasperatedly says, “Ma’am, you’re not even willing to listen to my side.”
Commenters criticized the police officer for seemingly sympathizing with the racist customer and not taking Punjabi’s story seriously.
“Only question she should be asking is ‘do you want him to leave?’” @rakwolve1 wrote.
Others failed to grasp how the customer accused Punjabi of racial discrimination when he was also a person of color.
“Using ‘color’ but he’s brown asf,” @besharamq commented.
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