A Maryland man has accused his local Chick-fil-A of racism because his to-go order had the name “Monkeys” on it. Marquise Vanzego told TODAY he drove through the drive-thru in LaPlata on Aug. 23 and ordered chicken strips, fries and an iced tea/lemonade drink.

While calling out an order to Marquise, the employee reportedly said “monkey.” “It felt like you had a stab in your heart,” Marquise said. “You start to think about all the other incidents that may have taken place that you’ve heard about on the news that are ethnic profiling.”

When Marquise spoke to the manager on duty, the manager apologized and offered a refund for his order. In a video of the conversation shared on Instagram, Marquise told the manager, “I’m going to write a letter to corporate headquarters, this is very offensive.”

“Doing something like this has consequences”

Marquise claimed he placed the order directly with a “young white male” who was standing outside the store taking orders. The store owner, John Flatley, told Marquise that the employee would not be fired because he was under 18. Marquise was told the employee simply wrote down the name he heard.

“This Chick-fil-A is an independently owned franchise. The franchisee of this restaurant has apologized to the guest,” Chick-fil-A’s marketing department said in a statement. “However, this experience does not meet our expectations and is unacceptable.”

Marquise said he hopes the employee becomes more “socially conscious” after the incident. “I believe he should be held accountable for what he did,” Vanzego said.

“I understand that, he is a young man, he is 17, he is still learning. But he must also know that there are consequences when you do something like that,” he added.