Respect Indeed
My Very Worst Job has to be when I worked for a steak house at 17.
In the state in which I was working it was illegal for me to bring alcohol to a table. I was the only server there under the age of 19 (the legal serving age) so the other servers were not too happy to have to “do my job for me” as they put it. The assistant manager was a haggard old bitch who marched around the place like she owned it, and reprimanded me for every little thing she thought might be a mistake. She would stand at the window in the back while food was coming out and take things off customer’s plates and eat it, which was disgusting. She also suggested to me that I should just bring out the alcohol to the tables myself although I refused. I told my parents what was going on, and they told me I should quit if I was unhappy, but the customers were all really nice, and I was making good tips so I thought I could stick it out until I left for college at the end of the school year. Boy was I wrong.
I knew there was a lot of racism in the city where I lived. I am half Puerto Rican, but have blue eyes and lighter skin. The customers just assumed I was white, but the staff knew I was not as my last name was very Hispanic sounding. The day the shit hit the proverbial fan, the assistant manager was working, it was a Friday night and very busy. I had a huge section as some of the servers had called in due to a big snow storm (in the area in which I lived, snow storms are generally no big deal unless you lived far out of the city). The tables were full and I was running in and out of the back with food, and drinks for each of my tables as quickly as I could.
I had just picked up a huge tray full of coffee and various drinks for one of my tables and headed out the door to the dining room, when the assistant manager stepped right in front of me. I stopped but the drinks kept going. All over the nearest customer’s coat and shirt. I had actually tipped the tray in a way that the coffee spilled on me and not them, so in a way that was good. I was so embarrassed. I immediately apologized and got towels to clean up the mess, not realizing at the time how badly my arm was scalded. The assistant manager actually grabbed me by the arm (right on my burn) and dragged me to the back to reprimand me for “getting in her way” and “costing the restaurant money.” She then proceeded to call me a “stupid spick” and told me they should never have hired me, knowing I was inevitably going to run all their business out by hiring someone “who obviously didn’t know how to treat white people with the proper respect.” I was horrified, and I’d had enough. I told her to she could take her racist ass right to hell, and walked out of the place never to return.
I actually talked with a lawyer about what had happened, but not long after I left, they went out of business and never reopened.
could the OP have sued the owner for talking to her like that? and accosting her on her burned arm?
Please know that I would happily choke this lady if I ever met her.
YOU NEVER GET IN THE WAY OF THE SERVER WITH A FULL TRAY. This is not an opinion – it is a rule. If a server loses his/her tray, there goes a LOT of money – not to mention the embarrassment to the restaurant with the loud noises and food all over the floor.
So this manager was not only a rotten human being, she was a rotten food service employee who apparently doesn’t know the basic rules in a restaurant.
I assume the employment attorney would make an argument that the management created a hostile work environment because of the racism. Proving damages are a different story, but lawsuits have definitely been filed on less.
Disgusting old witch! I hope your arm was ok. I would have slugged her, the racist idiot!
“Proving damages are a different story”
Well, in this case there was a clear injury that could be documented (under the assumption that the tray was knocked over on purpose, which it probably was), followed by assault (the arm grab). And in front of witnesses no less.
Absolutely there was a case. Creating a hostile work environment because of her race, and I’m sure you could even work the injury and treatment of into the case. To bad they went down.
I also have a Hispanic last name and I’m with Frau on this one, I would have whacked her one, maybe two depending on how pissed off I was. There would have also been a lot more swearing as I walked out, when I get pissed off I start making up swear words! Of course the smart thing would have been to quit back when your parents suggested it, but you had no way of knowing things were only going to get worse. Glad to hear they went out of business though, people like that have no business running a restaurant… or any business for that matter.
Seriously? SERIOUSLY?! What a cow. I just don’t understand that mentality. I mean, I’m used to incompetent management & everything but to be so blatantly racist is just beyond my comprehension.
I am SO sorry you had to go through that.
I never understand why a business would hire an underage worker, then complain when they’re underage. If you didn’t want to hire a 17 year old, don’t hire a 17 year old.
You shoulda sued the woman herself, not the restaurant. Personal lawsuit. Then again, you were underage…
Yeah, white people have done so much to earn proper respect. We totally quit enslaving people like 150 years ago, and we did away with Jim Crow. Kiss our feet, all ready! (I’m being 100% sarcastic.)
I can’t believe that woman spoke to you that way, OP. I’m glad they went out of business, and I hope your old manager has to dig ditches for 50 people of color with bullhorns and a bad attitudes for minimum wage.
Good for you for telling her off! I worked for a horrible office manager when I was 17 but I didn’t have the nerve (or the experience) to realize how much I could have done about it. I didn’t have the nerve to tell her off, but you did – and you should be proud that you stood up for yourself. What a world-class bitch that woman was.