Kansas man says he felt ‘humiliated’ after finding racial slur on truck following oil change
TheGrio...
Larry Martin says he was shocked to discover the slur after a Wichita car dealership contacted him about an employee’s conduct.
A routine oil change turned into a deeply disturbing experience for a Wichita, Kansas, man who says he discovered a racial slur on a service sticker inside his truck weeks after visiting a local dealership.
Larry Martin told KWCH that he took his truck to Rusty Eck Ford for a standard oil change about two months ago. At the time, he said, he had no idea anything was wrong.
“I got the oil changed. I paid for it. I went about my business,” Martin said.
Then, last week, the dealership contacted him.
“They notified me, told me they had an employee who had made a derogatory statement on my windshield. Not just mine, several other customers. They wanted me to take a look at it,” Martin said.
When Martin checked the sticker inside his truck, he discovered the N-word had been written on it.
“I looked at it. I double looked at it, and said, ‘This can’t be real,’” Martin recalled. “It felt humiliating.”
Martin said the discovery left him embarrassed and questioning why someone would target him in such a way.
“I felt embarrassed that someone would say that and put it on my truck,” he said.
His daughter, Kelsey Martin, said she was equally stunned, particularly because her father had a longstanding relationship with the dealership.
“I was completely shocked. I said, ‘Dad, are you sure?’ It’s Rusty Eck Ford. He has a great relationship with them,” she said.
Rusty Eck Ford terminated the employee responsible after conducting an internal investigation.
“Rusty Eck Ford does not tolerate racial, hateful, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate conduct in the workplace,” the dealership said in a statement. The company added that its leadership had met with the Martin family and that additional questions raised during that meeting warranted further review.
The investigation remains ongoing.
For Martin, the experience has left him hoping the dealership takes meaningful steps to ensure other customers don’t encounter something similar.
“I’m just hoping it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Martin said.