My boyfriend and I feel discriminated against by a McDonalds restaurant manager in Richmond,VA. I have worked for Burger King myself and whe...

Question

My boyfriend and I feel discriminated against by a McDonalds restaurant manager in Richmond,VA. I have worked for Burger King myself and when a paying customer comes in and wants to spend a few hours reading or whatever either alone or with others -Its allowed,there were times when even a homeless person might come in and they might buy a cup of coffee or just ask for a cup of water and just sit there for a few hours. Well my boyfriend and I are homeless- we know the manager from him working there a couple of weeks a couple of years ago-he quit. But we continued to come in there and were never told we were not allowed or banned from there. When we weren't homeless I would come in there almost daily to buy his breakfast to go b/c he worked right next door- she was hospitable then.But now when we come in there- I buy 2 small coffees and sometimes something to eat and if she thinks we have been in there too long-she will peek around the corner at us to see if we are there still sitting at the table or she will send an employee to quick glance to see if we are still there...OR come up and say"You know you guys have been here too long you have to go soon" the last time she said this 2 weeks ago it was approx. 10:15am and she said in front of other customers "You guys have been here since 8am,you have been here too long it's time to go". I started crying,not loud- just tears.But I felt so embarrassed - we had done nothing wrong- we were never too loud,I never cut in line -I wait at end of line to get a refill on coffee-and usually only ask 1 time for a refill-sometimes I ask twice.We don't bring in outside food,or make a mess-in fact I clean the toilet each time I use it b/c their bathrooms aren't very clean..........Anyway, is there any legal recourse for me? I am not a greedy person- But I do believe I need to stand up for myself in this situation-I believe I can get the employees there to state that I have good character as well as my boyfriend.They always say hi and ask how we are. I believe it is discrimination. We started riding our bikes to a different Mcdonalds or sometimes go to the Burger King right across the street from the problem McD's we stay anywhere from 1-3 hours at both places and NO-ONE says a thing about it. Sorry I made this a little long.Besides complaining to her boss or restaurant owner what could I do? Thank-You Sincerely,Lauren Gardner

Answer

Yes, what you've described certainly has the appearance of discrimination

but it's not the kind that you can sue for (successfully) and recover damages therefrom.

Discrimination against homeless or vagrant appearing people is currently not against federal or state law as far as I am aware.