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The Seattle Mariners front office and PR department were busy prior to the start of the regular season thanks to Kevin Mather. Now, they have more work to do after Tweets and videos went viral on social media.
What happened?
On June 18th, Dae Shik Kim Jr. and his brother went to watch the Seattle Mariners play against the Tampa Bay Rays but they didn’t go home happy. It all started with an usher coming down to their seats and checking their tickets.
For Dae and his brother, it didn’t seem like an ordinary check of their tickets.
Mariners Karen came up only to me and my brother to check our tickets cause we don’t look like the 2nd row type of people. She checked no one else’s tickets and walked away disappointed when we showed our proof lmao. She went straight to her boss and told him “they’re good” pic.twitter.com/U43WdevISu
— Dae (@daeshikjr) June 19, 2021
After the incident, Dae made an official complaint with customer service, as one should. But even after that, the snowball kept rolling. The manager visited the two fans at their seats and it made me cringe.
The manager is now interrogating me after i made an official complaint with customer service and demanded I prove it happened. Said he had to “interview” the people sitting around me. They all obviously confirmed my story. @Mariners racially profiling me and now embarrassing me. https://t.co/HD00K0HoS0 pic.twitter.com/uipKXAazec
— Dae (@daeshikjr) June 19, 2021
According to the video, the manager wanted “proof” and even talked to the people sitting around Dae and his brother… seems like a bit of overkill to me.
Some commenters on Twitter questioned whether the usher was just doing her job and checking people she wasn’t familiar with (non-season ticket holders). But, Dae confirmed that the people sitting in front of them were non-season ticker holders and they weren’t questioned.
Literally these two fans in front of us got their tickets from their work (season ticket holder seats) and have never sat in their seats ever. I can only imagine why they weren’t asked to show proof 4 times like we were. https://t.co/HD00K0HoS0 pic.twitter.com/jp8t0RemJE
— Dae (@daeshikjr) June 19, 2021
The conversation between Dae and the manager continued on the concourse:
This Mariners manager is now offering me 1 free ticket to a Mariners game, free fries, and a promise to fire his lowest paid employee as a scapegoat. Bullshit. This is a systemic issue @Mariners. It starts from the top and this suit is proving it. https://t.co/AHV0yEsODV pic.twitter.com/pRr23IMuUf
— Dae (@daeshikjr) June 19, 2021
One part that really bothered me was the whole “interview the section part.” Why does a manager need to confirm with every single person sitting by the two fans that the incident happened? Shouldn’t you believe the customer? I feel like that’s customer service 101.
As an Asian-American, these videos hurt me deep down and I can’t imagine being in Dae’s shoes in the moment. It seemed like the visit from the manager was a little unnecessary and like Dae said in the video, he didn’t want to make a scene and just wanted a phone call in a few days.
The Seattle Mariners have had their fair share of front office issues and this might be another example of it. So far, the Director of Guest Experience has taken ownership which is a good sign. There is still a lot of work to be done and stories like this are important to drive progress.
Quick @Mariners update: Director of Guest Experience called me on the phone and told me the Mariner’s front office is “100% owning what happened” and confirmed that their staff was completely in the wrong for what they did to me and my family. A small step towards accountability.
— Dae (@daeshikjr) June 20, 2021
They owned that this type of racial profiling is never ok whether intentional or not. I emphasized that this is a management problem that starts from the top and they were receptive to that. Will keep you posted.
— Dae (@daeshikjr) June 20, 2021