Ok.. WHY???

[Parkbandit]

Why is it that when a minority has a problem with a company.. that it MUST BE BECAUSE THEY ARE A MINORITY.

Fucking Christ. Can people STOP using that all the time?

Case in point.

I had 2 ladies stay at the hotel last night. They called me to complain that our van driver didn't pick them up at the scheduled time at the club they went to. We ended up paying for their cab for our mistake. Ok, I see that in our Service Recovery log and think "Great.. we made a mistake, but we made up for it".

This morning, she calls me all angry about being left at the club and arriving at the hotel 30 minutes later than she would have if she were picked up by us. She then proceeds to say that it must be because she is a lesbian and that our van driver has something against lesbians.

I wanted to SO FUCKING BADLY tell her that "Ma'am.. guys don't have problem with lesbians.. we think that's great and natural and beautiful"

God... I can't tell you how many times I've heard that shit when things don't go perfect. "It's because I'm black, isn't it!" "It's because I'm hispanic, isn't it!"

I need a fall back reason. I've tried "It's because I'm a white male, isn't it!" but it has yet to work. I can't wait until I'm 60+.. then I can use the "It's because I'm old, isn't it!"

[Gan]

Its because I drive a mini-van isnt it!?!


Edited to add:

I've had to do the same thing (service recovery) in hospitals back when I worked for one. Its a crutch, and because the predjuce buzz word gets results due to the inflammatory nature if other customers overhear it. Oh, and because its the American way to want compensation for inconvienence (something for nothing). Kind of like the same mentality for going after McDonalds for spilling hot coffee in your lap while driving.

[Edited on 7-3-2005 by Ganalon]

[Jolena]

:rofl: :smilegrin:

[Edaarin]

Parkbandit, please don't exaggerate.

You know damn well that no one thinks butch lesbians are a beautiful thing.

EDIT: FYI, if I hadn't been accepted as a moderator, then I would have screamed racism.

[Edited on 7-3-2005 by Edaarin]

[Parkbandit]

Holy shit..

I didn't meet her until just now. She sounded fine over the phone.

But god damn.. Edaarin hit that right on the head. That's SICK AND UNNATURAL!

[Kyra]

Lord I hate that when people use the "It's because I'm <insert description>" excuse.

I worked with a group of women who would scream NAACP if anyone looked at them wrong & management was petrified to reprimand any of them because of it.

Yet let one of the non-minorities walk down the hall yelling obscenities(in a nursing home mind you) & they'd be fired so fast they wouldn't have time to blink.

They even went so far as to corner a white nurse who was married to a black man & call her a n****-lover & threaten to beat her ass because of her marriage..and got away with it. :barf:

I hate that crap with a passion...anyone screaming discrimination without at least one non-biased witness & or plausable reason for it needs to be shot.

K.

[Edaarin]

Originally posted by Kyra

They even went so far as to corner a white nurse who was married to a black man & call her a n****-lover & threaten to beat her ass because of her marriage..and got away with it. :barf:

K.

That's absolutely unacceptable. A friend of mine took shit like that all the time while she was dating my roommate, worst of all at the school dining halls from the people serving food.

We filed a SHITLOAD of complaints, and nothing ever got done about it.

[Snapp]

Originally posted by Edaarin
EDIT: FYI, if I hadn't been accepted as a moderator, then I would have screamed racism.

I had my whole "Harmnazi is a homophobe" thread planned out if I didn't get accepted too.

[HarmNone]

:wtf2: I'm a hag, silly boy! No phobes up in here! ;)

[Apotheosis]

I would just say it was due to driver incompetence.

And on the thing about "it must be because I'm <insert description here>",
I would just say, no, it's not because you're <this description>, it's because your an oversensitive, whiny fuck.

[Kyra]

Originally posted by Yswithe
And on the thing about "it must be because I'm <insert description here>",
I would just say, no, it's not because you're <this description>, it's because your an oversensitive, whiny fuck.

:rofl: Yeah, that was my thought but if I'd said it I'm sure I'd have been fired for racism or something equally fucked up. :rolleyes:

K.

[Apotheosis]

People need to take a stand damnit!

Race doesn't matter anymore.. It's all about how a person acts/treats another person.. really, IT'S THAT SIMPLE.

[Skirmisher]

I agree it's an overplayed hand. I didn't used to think so, but years of working in a service industry has made it clear to me that it is.

I enjoyed it so much one time when this woman got angry because the head teller would not cash her check so she came to complain to me making a big scene the whole time and saying how it was becasue she was hispanic.

I did a double take for a second and realized this was someone who used this line without even thinking andI asked her to look at the teller line and find a non hispanic.. As there was not one it was yummy to watch her slowly deflate , scowl and mutter something about how the head teller was a rude low class girl who would always be nothing.

I asked her to get her check cashed somewhere else and watched her leave sans dinero knowing full well who the low class person was.

[Parkbandit]

When I leave the hotel business.. you can bet I'll be telling people what I really think.

I can't wait.

[Vixen]

I hear it all the time,whenever someone at my job got written up.. they played the race card, cause the manager was white, and the majority of the employees were not. Pissed me off to no end, god forbid someone get written up cause they actually suck at their job...

I had a friend, who happens to be white, get called a racist by an african american lady, because he refused to let her take her car out of his garage and pay him later..... she looked really stupid when his equally african american wife came up to have lunch with him at the same time

[Sylvan Dreams]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
Why is it that when a minority has a problem with a company.. that it MUST BE BECAUSE THEY ARE A MINORITY.

Fucking Christ. Can people STOP using that all the time?


IMO...

It's because people that are "different" are so used to being told that they're a victim, that when things don't go their way, they automatically default to that victim mentality.

[DeV]

Originally posted by Ganalon
Oh, and because its the American way to want compensation for inconvienence (something for nothing). omg Yes. This is annoying and something I deal with daily, but the only difference is I have to hear it from rich snobs because when they are inconvenienced it is surely the end of the world and we must drop everything we are doing to overlook other companies as well to ensure they are treated like gold when merchandise leaves our company.

And PB, what can I say, I know what you mean. People play the race card and any other card because they have nothing else to use. They know exactly what they're doing. People ought to start calling other people on that when they do it. When my minority friends do it, justifying and rationalizing why they were treated this way or that way, I tell them that it's played itself out and if they feel people are treating them a certain way because of how they look, sound, act, and so on, maybe there is something they truly need to change within themself.

Maybe its the attitude, demeanor, how you communicate with others and so on. One day people will realize that not everything boils down to race and class, but more so on how you present yourself in a way in which you demand respect and then act accordingly.

[Jazuela]

I'm convinced this is why my boss won't fire our incompetent shift manager. He's afraid she'll take her big, fat, black-puerto-rican self over to the labor board screaming RACISM at the top of her lungs. And she's got the lungs to do it too.

1) She is extremely loud, and gets defensive when people ask her to please lower her voice so the customers can be heard.
2) She'll often stand in front of the fry station yelling to the girls in the back about who knows what (since she's speaking spanish, most of us in the front don't understand what she's yelling), while the orders are lining up and most of them include - french fries.
3) She deletes orders from the monitor before they're completed, and then yells at me, or the girls in the back, when she gets the orders confused.
4) I have YET to see her put a to-go order in a bag, and a "for here" order on a tray.
5) She's more concerned (maybe obsessed? you decide) with scrubbing down the walls and complaining that no one ever cleans up, than she is with the line of customers half-way out the door waiting for someone to put the food in a bag, or on a tray, and get the line moving.
6) She leaves "just to go to the bank" which is less than 5 minutes away, and comes back an hour later complaining about the traffic. In the middle of the least populated time of day, when there is NO traffic. Do we want to know what the hell she's been doing all that time while our store is running without a manager present? Not me.
7) She tells the customers it's their fault if they get their order wrong.
8) When the customer complains back, she'll then tell them it's my fault.
9) Once she realizes it's her fault for deleting the order from the monitor before it's been completed and forgetting what the customer wanted, she'll blame it on a faulty monitor.
10) Whenever money is missing from the registers she blames it on the registers. Unless it's my register. Then it's my fault (even though I share the register with her, and whoever covers for me while I'm on break, and whoever was there before I logged in that day).
11) She complains to each of us about each of the other, telling us what everyone else's personal problems are, which rehab center they just got out of, how she KNOWS that April is trying to steal her manager job away from her and how she is always disrespected - but she doesn't know why, because she never says nuttin about nobody.
and on, and on, and on.

She pisses off the customers, she pisses off the crew, even the store manager can't stand to be anywhere near her and intentionally schedules them so they don't ever work the same shift. But - he won't fire her. The ONLY reason I can imagine, is because he's afraid of a discrimination lawsuit.

[ElanthianSiren]

The sickest part of the whole "OMG!!! Yur mean 2 me bcuz I'm (insert race/creed/color hair dye etc here)" is that when something legitimately DOES happen that is over the top, all the bullshit cries of "I've been soooooooooooooooooo wronged" tend to eclipse it. We become desensitized to it because 90% of the time it's crap attention whoring.

-M

[DeV]

Umm, it's fast food. No offense, but your boss needs to grow some nads and do the business, customers, fellow employers and himself a favor.

I get irritated when people KNOW someone should be fired because they are incompetant as hell and are fucking afraid to do anything about it because someone might cry discrimination.

PRoblems like that won't stop until people in charge step up to the plate and do what needs to be done. If it truly has nothing to do with race then fucking fire her dumb ass. I don't get the hesitation when it comes to employers. Sure they may sue, but if the employee has a record of imcompetance, fellow staff realize and understand this as well, and customers don't even want to deal with her let alone the store manager, there is a problem and it doesn't only lie with the employee.

[Trinitis]

This is why the workforce system has made "write ups". After two or three of these, not only can you fire her, but you have legal documentation of reasons why.

Every job I've ever worked uses this system, for this exact reason.

[Parkbandit]

Originally posted by Adredrin
This is why the workforce system has made "write ups". After two or three of these, not only can you fire her, but you have legal documentation of reasons why.

Every job I've ever worked uses this system, for this exact reason.

Exactly. I've never had a problem if I used this method to get rid of anyone. First of all, it informs the employee that their behavior is unacceptable and secondly it gives you a legal paper trail.

After 3 write ups, I make them available to the industry.

[Xandalf]

I was a valet for a few years, and we were working a job at right across from the White House at the Old executive building. It was all street parking on a saturday night, so we were busting our asses to find spots for all the cars.

So my manager closes up at around 10:30 (the part started at 9:30) and took down the signs offering valet. About five minutes later, a black lady pulls up in her mercedes and asks us to park it. We tell her we're not accepting cars anymore and she should park it herself. She flips out and yells at us that there's nowhere to park and she cant find a spot and blah blah blah and my boss was like "well ma'am, we're parking in those same spots so if you can't find one, we won't be able to find one for you."

She gets out of the car (leaving it right on the street outside the White House) and proceeds to tell my boss how he's racist and isn't taking her car because it's black. He pretty much laughs in her face becasue the whole scene was so ridiculous, she got back in her car, finally found a spot 30 minutes later, and then told all the party managers how racist the valets were... who also laughed at her.

In conclusion: People play the race card when they feel slighted in anyway. I wander if I can use the fact that I'm jewish in some way shape or form.... hmm

[Skirmisher]

I tend to laugh most of these complaints off as I am completely secure in knowing I'm not guilty of such actions.

I think most times those who use such tactics are counting on people to retreat immediately and are a bit stymied when the targets of their assaults scoff at them.

[Jorddyn]

I think the reason people use "It's because I'm a minority!" depends on the situation.

Business - I'm the customer, dammit! I am right! I am giving $13.72 of my hard earned dollars to this company (that makes $10 million a year), so I MUST be important to them! If they won't bend over backwards and kiss my ass, it's because they're racist!

Social circles - I am beautiful, funny, witty, charming, and smart! If someone doesn't like me, it MUST be because I'm a minority!

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there are bigots in this world - I lived with one for about 20 years. I just think the vast majority of the screams are from people who can't handle the truth. Excuse me, I must go channel Jack Nicholson.

Jorddyn :)

[ElanthianSiren]

Originally posted by Jorddyn
I think the reason people use "It's because I'm a minority!" depends on the situation.

Business - I'm the customer, dammit! I am right! I am giving $13.72 of my hard earned dollars to this company (that makes $10 million a year), so I MUST be important to them! If they won't bend over backwards and kiss my ass, it's because they're racist!

Social circles - I am beautiful, funny, witty, charming, and smart! If someone doesn't like me, it MUST be because I'm a minority!

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there are bigots in this world - I lived with one for about 20 years. I just think the vast majority of the screams are from people who can't handle the truth. Excuse me, I must go channel Jack Nicholson.

Jorddyn :)

:lol: Well said.

-M

[Doyle Hargraves]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
Why is it that when a minority has a problem with a company.. that it MUST BE BECAUSE THEY ARE A MINORITY.

Fucking Christ. Can people STOP using that all the time?

Case in point.

I had 2 ladies stay at the hotel last night. They called me to complain that our van driver didn't pick them up at the scheduled time at the club they went to. We ended up paying for their cab for our mistake. Ok, I see that in our Service Recovery log and think "Great.. we made a mistake, but we made up for it".

This morning, she calls me all angry about being left at the club and arriving at the hotel 30 minutes later than she would have if she were picked up by us. She then proceeds to say that it must be because she is a lesbian and that our van driver has something against lesbians.

I wanted to SO FUCKING BADLY tell her that "Ma'am.. guys don't have problem with lesbians.. we think that's great and natural and beautiful"

God... I can't tell you how many times I've heard that shit when things don't go perfect. "It's because I'm black, isn't it!" "It's because I'm hispanic, isn't it!"

I need a fall back reason. I've tried "It's because I'm a white male, isn't it!" but it has yet to work. I can't wait until I'm 60+.. then I can use the "It's because I'm old, isn't it!"

It's because people are looking for a free ride, and currently the "minority" thing is their ticket, because people in this country are stupid enough to buy into their bullshit and the problem gets worse everyday.

[Jurry]

i managed a concession stand for a few years.one day i got called to the frontline because a gentleman was having a fit and using the so called race card.seems the cashier had demanded to see his money before she would fill his order.i was stunned.i have never in my life heard such a request.i agreed with him.there is no way she would have asked a white man to up the money before she would even wrap a hotdog.and it meant zip to me when she said she has black friends.by the way i`m white and turned the whole mess over to upper management on the spot.i hope he sued

[Flurbins]

Originally posted by Jazuela
7) She tells the customers it's their fault if they get their order wrong.

Having worked in food, I can say this is true probably 50% of the time at least.

[Nieninque]

You're just saying that coz Im Black, right?

[Jazuela]

Oh sure, it probably IS the customer's fault some of the time, no doubt about it. But - unless you're buddies with that particular customer, and he/she can take the joke - you NEVER announce to the customer, in front of other customers, that he's just plain flat out wrong.

There are ways to make a customer realize that he made his own damned mistake, that allow that customer to be thankful for the correction and return to your shop again. And then, there's Tracy, who says things like "Well, you should've ordered it with cheese if you wanted cheese. You think I'm a mindreader?"

The bitch should be terminated, the customers know it, the rest of the crew knows it, the manager knows it - but she pulls that discrimination card every chance she gets and the store manager just doesn't need the headache of a court case.

And no - we don't have written writeups. It's a franchise, not a corporate shop, and we don't even have an employee manual with rules and regs. Everything is "at will" - you can quit at will, you can be fired at will. EXCEPT - if you have that little discrimination card and ain't afraid to use it. Sucks but eh - I'm only stuck with her on Wednesdays, thank god.

[DeV]

Originally posted by Jazuela
EXCEPT - if you have that little discrimination card and ain't afraid to use it. That's such a pussy move.

I've never had a manger or supervisor hesitate at all in firing a minority when they are incompetent or unfit for the job they've been doing, even when they've threatened to pull the race card.

In the grande scheme they know they are a shitty worker and will pull the race card as long as you (general) allow it to affect your (general) reasonable decision making in firing their no good asses. Why should they stop when they know you won't do anything about it. :?:

[Gan]

I've always used 3 strikes and you're out. Hell, I've even used that on the local union president who worked for me, whom I inherited as a bad apple, and whom I fired. I just made sure I had all my documentation in order, and that I followed the informal counsel, formal counsel written, formal counsel final writte, then giving them the truth to set you free paperwork. Its held up in lawsuits, EEOC hearings, and employee appeal hearings. Its hard to beat thorough and impartial documentation describing and dealing with against policy work behavior.

[Latrinsorm]

Yeah, I wonder why people would play the race card when dealing with PB...

[Trinitis]

And no - we don't have written writeups. It's a franchise, not a corporate shop, and we don't even have an employee manual with rules and regs. Everything is "at will" - you can quit at will, you can be fired at will. EXCEPT - if you have that little discrimination card and ain't afraid to use it. Sucks but eh - I'm only stuck with her on Wednesdays, thank god.


Every fast food place here is a franchise. We have no corporate uptakeings here, as this town is very VERY big on the who "Our money stays here" bit. I've worked in 2 of the fast food places here in the past, both had write ups. Your place lacking them is the owners fault, not due to the lack of corporation.

The good thing is, it's a shitty job. Just quit :shrug:

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by ElanthianSiren
The sickest part of the whole "OMG!!! Yur mean 2 me bcuz I'm (insert race/creed/color hair dye etc here)" is that when something legitimately DOES happen that is over the top, all the bullshit cries of "I've been soooooooooooooooooo wronged" tend to eclipse it. We become desensitized to it because 90% of the time it's crap attention whoring.

-M
Yes, this is also very true.

I remembered another wile reading this thread where the lead teller actually refused a service, that we DO offer, to a customer just because he happened to work and always come in with a large group of mexican non customers. Now, none of these guys spoke english, and a decent number of them were very probably illegal I will admit, but this one in particular was not. But just because he worked where he worked and his english was limited the teller would not do for him what he would have done for any other customer.

If he had tried such a stunt with a white customer he would have had someone screaming in his face. Because this was a little brown guy who spoke very little english he felt secure in his power base to make such a decision and in fact after I had instructed another teller to cash the items in question the lead teller became indignant saying in a rather loud voice that he had already said to not do that.

Now, as I had tried to be quiet about countermanding his decision and he then sabotaged my attempt I said to myself okay and answered back to him in an equally loud voice and I told him that I had told her to do it and if there was a problem he could talk to me about it.

Now incidents like this were much more rare than the people crying wolf, but they do happen and all those who try to take advantage as Melissa said just make it more difficult to see which is which.

[Warriorbird]

Should've told them your drivers aren't prejudiced against lesbians...just ugly people.

[Kyra]

Originally posted by DeV

Originally posted by Jazuela
EXCEPT - if you have that little discrimination card and ain't afraid to use it. That's such a pussy move.

I've never had a manger or supervisor hesitate at all in firing a minority when they are incompetent or unfit for the job they've been doing, even when they've threatened to pull the race card.



The corporatation I worked for let the race card be pulled 365 days a year. We had a guy who had 13 complaints made about sexual harassment(one happened to me, the guy dropped his pants in a room with the door closed) yet they never did a thing because he & his "friends" screamed racism.

It's crazy. I really want to kick people in the teeth when I hear that s**t.

Kyra & flock/thundering herd.

[Czeska]

Years ago I was co-manager at a GAP store in a mall. I was the only manager on duty one Sunday, and a kid (13-14ish) came in, tried on clothes, and put a stack on the counter to buy. His other bags were behind the counter, since this was our policy for anyone going into a fitting room.

Well, when it came time to pay, he wanted to use a blank check signed by his mother. I told him I couldn't accept it, I needed that person here with ID. He said "call her, she'll tell you it's ok!" I repeated myself, and told him we'd hold the stuff til she could come pick it up (insert tantrum from young boy).

Well, the kid walks back out into the mall after demanding his bags (which we handed right to him) and yelling at me that I wouldn't accept his check because he was black. He walks back in 20 seconds later with his much older, much larger brother, who got about 2' from me and tried to intimidate me.. the 5'6" 20 something (at the time, hush it) white girl.

I basically said, "I don't care if you're black, white, or green. It's not your check. And if you don't back off, you can go with security."

They left. The end.

[OreoElf]

Originally posted by Yswithe
People need to take a stand damnit!

Race doesn't matter anymore.. It's all about how a person acts/treats another person.. really, IT'S THAT SIMPLE.

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself... There is no "races"... We are one race. The human race kthx. I've always been raised to believe that... and honestly living where I grew up I experienced more racism towards white people than others (at my High School).

It's because I'm fat pale and pagan isn't it?

(On a funny note I did convince this one persian girl that I was recently let out of a mental ward... I had an Alkatraz Mental Ward Patient shirt on... I just remembered that ... :lol: )