I recall a story of a person who was refused gas at a rural gas station because they were not from the area. In a another town a motel refused Coast Guard workers a room because they weren't from the town.

Small towns can be weird.

Why would people who lived in the town want a hotel room in the same town? How did they ever get any customers?

I got the story directly from my father who worked with the guys. It could have been bigotry maybe the men refused service were denied due to their appearance, accent, job (fishermen upset with Coast Guard workers).

My aunt was refused a hotel room in Quebec City because she is English. Her French husband asked and was told sure no problem but the clerk said to him in French "let me get rid of this English pig fisrt". My aunt spoke French ( awkward!). That was a story often told at family reunions.

It would be interesting to know more details about this 0.03 percent. No idea whether you should put your money on small towns or on big cities (e.g. parents both adopted & didn't know).

That happened to me once. In Mingo County, West Virginia. With New York license plates.

In places that are not touristic or in smaller cities that are not a big metro areas, speaking German (Hochdeutsch) is not enough. Failure to speak the local dialect of that region will get you ridiculed or even discriminated against. Not just in the service industry, but in job hunting as well.

Also, don't be named Kevin.