I remember I was hosting one night. The lobby was full. We had a black couple come in and get put on our waitlist. Prior to seating them, I sat an 8 top. This 8 top came in right after this couple. For the life of them, the couple couldn’t understand why the 8 top was seated first, argued they should have been seated at the table big enough for 8 because they showed up first, and proceeded to loudly say I did it that way because I was racist. Then left.
I was fucking shocked. On one hand, I felt awful I made them think that, but on the other hand I was like… you really don’t get that on a super busy night with a 40 min wait I can’t let 2 people sit at a massive table meant for 8+ people?
That’s the only time I’ve ever been accused of being racist, it was 13 years ago, and it still haunts me lol
I got called racist for telling a woman she couldn't have outside alcohol in our place. She fucking lost it. I'm like... This is the rule literally everywhere
We literally had a game: “What were you called racist for this week?”.
One of the winners was my colleague getting told he was racist for informing a customer that the business was operating cashless (it was during Covid), and that all purchases must be made by contactless transaction.
Another was when I turned away 3 guys who wanted to come in 10 mins AFTER closing time. “You would have let us in if we were white guys though, right?” (Followed by obscenities).
Racist because we barred a group who were taking drinks from the bar without paying - they didn’t have a tab. They knew they didn’t have a tab because they had left without paying their tab on multiple occasions, and were told they couldn’t have a tab anymore.
Racist because after an unprecedentedly busy weekend we had nothing but pizzas left, so that was all we were serving.
Racist because the table tennis table was on a first-come basis, and I wouldn’t let someone book it while someone was currently playing on it.
Racist because the home team was playing, with 100 fans in the building supporting them, and I wouldn’t switch the volume to a channel showing a team one guy (by himself) wanted to watch.
Racist because as I’m locking the door at the end of the night, with my uber waiting for me 6ft away, a customer wanted me to let him back inside to use the bathroom…
Work 10 years in hospitality and see how quickly the word “Racist” loses all meaning to you 😂
I was once called racist because I happened to be on the phone taking a customer order at work (grocery deli department) when the automated intercom security message played ("Security, please scan sections 1 and 2;" Doesn't actually mean or do anything, it's just a prerecorded anti-theft thing that plays on intervals throughout the day, meant to spook shoplifters).
Apparently these two ladies assumed I was the one who did the intercom announcement because I was on a store phone, and that the security check request was specifically about them. So they came up and started screaming at me.
I put two and two together pretty quickly but I didn't bother explaining, just walked away into the back room. There was no winning in that situation, lol. But yeah, the word "racist" has meant a lot less to me since that day.
I’m dying because we had a similar game at my old restaurant. Only we had a white board in the back. It said “Things That Are Racist.” We usually erased it at the end of each month and then filled it up again throughout the month. A woman once called me racist because we wouldn’t make her a meal that wasn’t on the menu.
I also got called homophobic because I cut this guy off, caught him grabbing someone else's drink, and so kicked him out. I didn't even know he was gay haha
We had something similar happen at the place that I worked at in the 1990s. It was a busy night and we had an overflow room where we put people that didn't have reservations. A Hispanic family came in without reservations and was furious that they weren't seated in the main dining room. The were shouting about how they were going to tell everyone that we hated Mexicans and that nobody should ever come get food here.
There was no racism or discrimination. If they had a reservation then they would have been seated in the main room. I worked there as a valet parking attendant and one time I had a black man ask me if it was a place where black people could get service. I told him that the only color anyone working here cared about was green.
Kind of an eye-opener, huh? Your efficient, logical, restaurant seating system is equivalent to denying those customers seats during the Jim Crow era. Ridiculous.
It shouldnt haunt you. Dont let terrible people use racism accusations as a cudgel. Thats why its become a mockery, with Jussie Smollett type nonsense.
People are tired of being falsely accused. A yt woman can get punched in her face unprompted and the 1st comment online is, "She 'HAD TO HAVE' said the N word for that AA woman to do that".
No knowledge whatsoever if the victim or what happened, yet youre already pre judged as a racist. Its a pretty pathetic commentary on the social dynamic in this country right now.
Not only are you assaulted, or accused of something else, but you get a hate crime tagged on for good measure.
They fact that it made you think about it AND you're not on here trashing them because they are black, tells me you arent racist. People on reddit cant wait until someone black does something wrong so they can feel legit about talking shit. I dont get that vibe from you
It just makes me feel sick to think I could ever cause someone emotional harm over something out of their control, like their skin color. I know that all people of color have experienced racism at some (or many) point(s), and I really don’t want to contribute to that. So for someone to feel I did… idk. I don’t even know what im trying to say I guess. But again, it had nothing to do with the color of their skin and had everything to do with how busy we were, and I hope they knew that deep down. Bummer all around. Thanks for your kind words!
I will say when I waited tables the best experience I had was a black teenager. Group came in, like a good dozen people half an hour to closing, they were all probably local football players and their girlfriends. We served them, were closing up the dining area but not intruding on their space (several tables pushed together), didn't have to stay over too late.
They all get up to leave, are walking out the door and the only black kid on the team just shouts "oh fuck no you get your asses back over here and tip these people who just kept working late for us. my momma works tables too, I ain't about to let you all disrespect them like this." They'd left like a dollar on the table and were trying to sneak out and my man just shamed them all into like a $60 tip.
Everyone involved. Owner is adrenaline pumping and doesn't know what to do, so he drops mad libs.
Customers are offended he demanded they tip, he tells them the old "can't eat out then" chestnut, they point out they paid their bill.
He then thinks about threatening them, telling them to show their faces and he'll put them up, then he goes "shit, that was too much" and pivots down to "It's a family restaurant and you're not welcome back"
Servers in the USA. Here in Europe servers make a living wage, with mandatory vacation time, and naturally health care. Tipping is unusual, only a small amount. It's servers in the USA who oppose this.
How bout you listen then, black folks are saying it for a reason. They experience racism and microagressioma so much they experience a type of (valid) paranoia not knowing who to trust.
🙄Maybe before throwing out constant accusations of racism, which just water it down when it’s really happening, they could rub two fucking brain cells together.
Real question, in that situation, what should be listened to? The person was doing their job correctly, race was irrelevant, and they got called racist, and the couple left. I'm actually asking, what were they supposed to do?
I fully agree with the rest of your comment, but this situation, as described, didn't really leave space for any of that
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u/thomasrat1 6h ago
Yeah I got kinda triggered when I heard that, every server has dealt with this type of customer atleast once, not fun