Schnucks Employee Refuses To Sell Money Order To Black Couple

ST. LOUIS, MO — Kellen Hill needed a money order to pay rent, so he stopped in at a south city Schnucks to buy one Monday afternoon. Hill was first told he needed to show identification. So he did. He was then told he couldn't use a debit card to purchase a money order, so he called his girlfriend, asking her to leave work and bring some cash.

When Hill's girlfriend arrived with $1,100 in hand, an employee still refused to sell them the money order. "Because people like you do fraud," Hill says he was told.

Upset, Hill argued with the store employee, who called the police. It's not clear if the police ever arrived, but neither Hill nor his girlfriend were arrested. Eventually, the store employee apologized and sold them the money order.

Hill said he had been buying money orders at the grocery store since November, and that he had never before been denied — he'd never even had to show ID. He posted a video of the incident to Facebook Monday. In it, Hill's girlfriend is crying, asking how they could possibly commit fraud by buying a money order with cash.

Both Hill and his girlfriend are black, and Hill accuses the employee in the video of racial profiling. "Racial profiling is not good, bro," Hill says.

"We're not racial profiling," the Schnucks employee answers.

In the video, about half a dozen white customers come to Hill's defense, asking the employee why he refused to sell Hill the money order, and if they could buy it for him instead (using Hill's money).

"If they've been denied, could someone else purchase it for them?" one woman asks. "Can you deal with someone else?"

"I'd rather not do that, no," the employee answers.

"Can you tell us why?" the woman demands. He doesn't answer.

"You're going to lose your job," Hill tells the employee. "You do realize that, right?"

Schnucks confirmed Wednesday that the employee has indeed been fired.

"Creating an environment where customers receive exceptional service is one of Schnucks' core values," CEO Todd Schnuck said in a statement. "The exact opposite was on display yesterday when a customer attempted to use cash to purchase a money order at one of our stores and was refused."

He continued:

This should not have happened. We have spoken to the customer by phone to apologize. The teammate involved was terminated. I would also like to publicly apologize as well.

The customer visited our store to purchase a money order with a debit card and showed identification issued by the state of Florida. Due to multiple recent incidents of fraud where subjects were using stolen debit cards and showing out-of-state identification -- most frequently from the state of Florida -- to purchase high-dollar money orders, the customer was asked to use cash to make the purchase instead. Later in the day, the customer complied with the request, when his wife returned to the store with cash. The money order should have been sold to her at that point. It was not.

I deeply apologize to the customers and am incredibly disappointed in the poor judgment that was used in handling this incident. Although the teammate was focused on the recent increase in fraud, once the customer produced cash for the transaction, the money order should have been sold without further issue. I want our customers to feel welcomed and respected in our stores and I sincerely apologize for how our customers were treated in this instance. We have also extended an offer to the customers to meet with them in person to offer our apologies as well.

Earlier this week, three black teens were almost arrested at a Nordstrom Rack department store in Brentwood after employees falsely accused them of shoplifting. And yesterday, a gas station clerk pleaded guilty to gun charges related to the shooting death of a black man he falsely accused of shoplifting a bag of candy in 2017.

Photo by J. Ryne Danielson/Patch