A Black woman in Portland, OR, originally started her business, Royalty’s One Stop Shop, with the hope of helping others be “pretty and safe” with a line of fashionable self-defense accessories.
Yet still operating a business can come with its challenges, especially as a Black entrepreneur. Two days ago, this Portland woman shared an email she received from a client demanding a cancellation and refund of an order after they found out she was Black, according to the Daily Dot.
Royalty’s One Stop Shop owner, user @royaltysonestopshop, posted the email to TikTok, asking BIPOC entrepreneurs and the user community to respond. She read the email aloud and posed questions and concerns relating to its content. The video went viral, receiving well over 113,000 views.
@royaltysonestopshop #greenscreen #customerservicebelike #customerfreakouts #racistawareness #blackownedbusiness💪🏾💪🏾 #selfdefenseforwomen #safetykeychain #selfdefense ♬ original sound – Self Defense Keychains
According to the email, the client followed up with a refund request while spewing racist stereotypes and antagonistic remarks.
“Before you start and go on a race tyrant please be aware it [is] called my preference[…]Because we are all aware of how you people like to act when things do not go your way,” the client wrote.
“What do you mean by ‘you people’? How do we like to act? How do you expect someone to act when it’s 2022 and you’re still giving this type of energy?” the business owner (@royaltysonestopshop) asks in the video.
The client, in the email, went on to write that the owner should disclose that she is a Black woman. The Tiktoker responded that she is openly Black on all her social media platforms, as well as on the business site’s “About the Owner” page. The email continued to add salt to the wounds, threatening to blast the owner on social media if she didn’t receive a refund the next day.
“Also happy holiday isn’t it your people holiday today?” the client ended the email, implying Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In the video, the business owner expressed her discontent with the client’s prejudiced language.
“I’m just disturbed by the fact that you thought this was OK. You could have just asked for a refund. I don’t ask questions on why people want refunds […]This is not OK. We need to do better in 2022,” she says.
As views climbed over the past couple of days, the video received an overflow of support for her.
“It’s so hard to believe that people are still this ignorant in 2022. Keep your head up sis! You’re the better person!” one user said.