There's a lot of anecdotal evidence of waiters at restaurants delivering less than stellar service to black patrons, but a recent research study put hard numbers behind the phenomenon of "tableside racism":
"Many people believe that race is no longer a significant issue in the United States," says Sarah Rusche, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the study. "But the fact that a third of servers admit to varying their quality of service based on customers' race, often giving African-Americans inferior service, shows that race continues to be an issue in our society."
Researchers wanted to determine the extent to which customers' race affects the way they are treated at restaurants, so the researchers surveyed 200 servers at 18 full-service chain restaurants in central North Carolina. The majority of the servers surveyed – approximately 86 percent – were white.
Survey results showed that 38.5 percent of servers reported that customers' race informed their level of service at least some of the time, often resulting in providing inferior service to African-American customers. Findings show that many servers perceive African-American customers to be impolite and/or poor tippers, suggesting that black patrons, in particular, are likely targets of servers' self-professed discriminatory actions.
BlueSue, you have an issue with black women drinking Riesling? Seriously? How is preference for German wine related to race? It's unfortunate you witnessed fights, but you were not "bitten by dogs" for 6 years. It's notes like fussing about wine choices that reveals your racism.
As people have noted, lots of different types of people are rude customers- old people, young people, rich people, poor people, city people, farm people, large groups, single diners. What do we learn from this? NO particular characteristic is associated with being a poor customer, so if you want to earn tips, treat EVERYONE well! You're in the service industry, that's your job! If you think you're seeing a 'pattern', you're not, because your own experience disproves it!
I love to dine out, and I've had every kind of server imaginable. Guess what- the ones who offer me nicer service get a larger tip.
So I'd like to see this particular restaurant study redone, and this time, measure the number of times each ethnicity is overly aggressive or overly demanding of the wait staff. Only by measuring the behavior of black people could we accurately verify if the response to that behavior is due to unfair stereotyping or is due to the actual "bad" behavior of black people.
I'm also thinking of another study, where black school kids were punished more harshly for the same offense. I mentioned that study to several teachers and they all said the same thing: that black kids behave badly at more frequent rates than any other demographic, which is the reason teachers crack down on them faster. Again, the assumption is that black kids behave just like any other demographic, when this information has not been verified.
But if this wasn't a business setting... things would be a lot different.
Anyway, as for the article, very interesting but would like it to be done in a different area with a larger black waiter ratio just to see if they also have the same opinion.
Anywho... I know if all waiters think like this, they're extremely disappointed when they serve my family's table (inlaws that is). They are the cheapest bunch of white folk out there. Not demanding or rude or anything, but they sure don't tip well at all even for excellent service.
We've come so far.
BASED ON MY OWN OBSERVATIONS, black people are very difficult to wait on. They are demanding. They like a lot of ranch dressing. They order $40 steaks well done and complain about the cooking time. They drink very sweet drinks, including wine. Every black woman I've waited on in my current restaurant who ordered wine, ordered a riesling.
At the seafood place, you would not believe the treatment I got from black folks. It was humiliating, and detailing it here would never be believed and would offend (even more) outrageously. Just think of every awful thing that could be done or said to those who serve and it happened to me by black folks. They fight each other. We had to call the cops every weekend for fights. Not only among the men! They walk out on checks. I had three black people give me REALLY BAD counterfeit money. The black people who patronized that place were on a lower economic scale than the place I'm at now. ("Um, $28 on this card, $16 on this card, and $23 on this card...will that cover it?")
No, this does not happen with patrons of other races. I've never had to call the cops for a fight amongst white folks, Asian folks.
Last night I had a single black lady in my section. I did more work for her than I did for any other ten people that night. Came in 10 minutes to close, wanted dinner AND dessert (even though kitchen closed at 11pm Sunday night) -- not just any dessert....a chocolate souffle. Kitchen staff had to stay late to make it, because she didn't want it arriving too early. When her food arrived, she sent me on literally ten trips to fetch things -- water, no, I need no ice. I need a lemon. I need chili pepper flakes. I would like the wine list. No, I will have a Bailey's coffee. At 10 minutes before the kitchen closed, I had 6 other tables who were getting neglected because this one lady couldn't give me her demands either 1.) prior to receiving her food, or 2.) all at once.
The tipping rates for these folks HAS gotten better. At the cheap seafood place, it was $5, no matter if the bill was $100 or $50. A lot of times, zero.
I consciously try to not give inferior service to black people when they come to my section. But if you had been bitten by dogs for 6 years, you would be afraid of dogs. Waiter behavior is based on customer behavior.
I actually think, though, that this is a cultural thing, not really a race thing. Urban black folks tip differently in their own culture.
There are two really great black ladies who come in my current restaurant maybe once every two weeks. They drink excellent wine, dress beautifully, and are the sweetest ladies on the planet. They tip great. They live in a predominantly white area...draw your own conclusions. My point is though, that if they were treated badly on their initial trip to my restaurant, they wouldn't have returned again and again. So even though black folks have "bitten" me in the past, we try to get over it and treat the next folks nicely even though the odds are greater that I will get the same treatment I've gotten from the vast majority of blacks in the past. MY past. THIS IS ALL MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
If a majority of the servers percieve this to be true there is probably some merit to it.
I love Neatorama precisely because it doesn't do politically hot issues. Why would you want to mess up that?
The underlying fact that pretty much everyone is self-absorbed and only concerned about #1 is the one consistent cause of all these problems.
The waiters' behavior is justified by the statistical data. It's like an insurance actuator determining that a 25-year old male driver is at higher risk of being in an accident than a 25-year old female driver. From their perspective it's not prejudice, it's just good business sense.
The waiters can fall-back on the same excuse insurance companies (and pretty much everyone else uses) and who can fault them for it? Economics determine morality.
I posted this because I found it interesting. There's no requirement to like every single post on Neatorama, or even to read every single one.
Sad to see you go, though Fae.
Ask yourself what you can offer the internet that isn't offered by others? EVERYBODY AND THEIR DOG has an opinion blog. Why do you feel the need to bring that into Neatorama? Doing so offers nothing new and is making Neatorama just another wannabe issues site.
What you COULD have done instead is focus exclusively on "Neat" stuff. Kinda like your name implies. THAT would bring something new and different. A site where one can kick back and get away from all the troubles of the world. Sadly, you disagree. But hey, it's your site, do what you want to with it.
And it's my time to do what I want to with it. This will be my last time visiting Neatorama.
Bye