Posted on 09/17/2007 4:43:08 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A jury has ordered the Denny's restaurant chain to pay $600,000 to 15 members of a black family who claimed their white waiter deliberately ignored them and used racial slurs.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
good grief.
Getting tossed out of a Dennys is a service, not a slight.
“Some of Green’s family members said they had to get their own drinks, utensils and napkins”
Well that does it. Next time I get bad service I want my payola.
So now, if someone calls me a name, I can cash in?
Oh wait, no, I can't. I'm white.
On Saturday, I was telling my father about the time a black waitress in Denny’s gave me the lousiest service. Left my food waiting on the shelf for ten minutes. I hate cold sausage gravey. But the black family behind us sure got fast service. Coffee refils: Me 0; Them 4.
I blew my fast track to the good life by not suing.
If Dennys has to pay out $5,000.00 a head every time somebody gets bad service, the Grand Slam Breakfast is gonna cost about $5,008.95.
I had a similar situation in Columbia, South Carolina, but I didn’t sue over it.
Carolyn
They dropped all the good stuff on their menu about 1 year ago and I’ve only gone once since.
The quality really dropped during that time in general.
And I assume that white families will be given similar “reparations” for every time that Jessie Jackson spit on their food back in the day?
....O.J Justice is growing in America...further reasons why the races are growing further apart IMO
Astonishing! There’s a white man left in East St. Louis!
"..Green's sister, Linda Haynes, said a Denny's manager Theresa Huggins, was made aware of the problems. Huggins has testified she notified a superior about Brooks but that she was not authorized to fire him. Denny's fired Brooks as soon as they learned of the problem, Ordonez said during opening statements in the case.
Haynes said the she called ahead that night to notify Denny's that the family party would include about 30 members. There were no problems at a table waited on by server Danielle Bell.
Haynes said her husband overheard Brooks use racial slurs while he was at the table where the Caucasian customers were. She also said Bell told them Brooks had problems with black people.
"She said it wasn't the first time something like this happened," Haynes said..."
Looks like two witnesses, both Denny's employees there at the time testified against Dennys. Denny's pays.
There is somebody white who works in East St. Louis?
The most racist town I have ever been through. We stopped unknowing on our way from Atlanta to Montana. As we pulled up the gas pumps, the person manning the register came out and told us “ the white folks gas is about 3 miles that way.” True story.
Unbelievable.
After all, it is the restaurant for diners with discriminating taste...
My guess is that the jury was substantially black and against the racist solidarity shown by blacks in scamming whitey Denny's didn't have a chance.
I just wonder why the jury would want to wear Denny’s clothes. /sarc
I can’t understand why Denny’s is being held responsible. It’s not their policy to discriminate and call customers names. ONE employee took it on himself to be racist and rude.
It is sickening that this family is making Denny’s pay for something that one employee did. This isn’t about moral principles, this is about greed. IMO they are no better than the racist jerk that discriminated against them.
Dude, 600K is excessive. They fired the waiter. Give them a free meal and some coupons.
Never happen. Denny’s should have fired that waiter earlier.
This verdict will stick.
A friend just had a similar thing occur in a local retail store (Burlington Coat Factory). She went to a register where 2 or 3 employees were standing around and asked if they were open; they said no. She went to another register’s line and when she glanced over, she saw them taking a customer. While she waited, they took yet another customer.
The employees at the register were black, as were the two customers they checked out. She is white. She felt her treatment was racially motivated and complained to the manager. (”Thank you for blah, blah... I’ll look into it blah, blah....”)
It is morally wrong, bad business and probably illegal. The company IS liable for the conduct of its employees. It is pretty obvious when you are in the situation that you are being treated unfairly, and not just the victim of bad customer service. It is harder to prove after the fact. But if the facts of the case support your claim, there should be consequences. Financial consequences to a business for bad employee management and tolerance of discriminatory practices are IMHO justified and appropriate.
Though my friend was in hurry and had her children with her, she was furious enough to complain to the store manager.She was not willing to pursue this further.
Well, anyone who is mistreated because of their race / ethnic background (African-American, Italian-American, German-American, Native-American, etc. etc) should sue.
Yeah, only $500k could ease my pain if I were slighted and called names in a restaurant. PFFFFT. No doubt those people are celebrating “getting over”, while frivilous lawsuits like these make it tougher on everyone else. But who cares, right? They “got over”! *puke*
You're right. But don't worry. The rest of us will have the last laugh.
They'll blow the money. First by squabbling over it, then by dumping it into ludicrous "investments", and mad spending on useless crap.
Two, three years from now it'll be a laugh line article on page 20 - "Discrimination Victims Poverty Stricken Again".
Acompany should be liable only if they knew or should have known that an employee was behaving in a proscribed manner.
$600K, huh? Would be VERY interesting to see a followup report on the people who got the money a year from now and hear what they did with it.
I agree.
From article:
... There were no problems at a table waited on by server Danielle Bell....
Haynes said her husband overheard Brooks use racial slurs while he was at the table where the Caucasian customers were. She also said Bell told them Brooks had problems with black people....
Unfortunately for Denny's, if an employee knew there was a problem, I believe that counts as the company being aware. If the delivery man persistently hits on your secretary making her uncomfortable, and she tells you and you don't do anything, your company is now exposed to a sexual harassment case, even though no employee did the harassing.
I'm not certain, but I would imagine the laws about racial discrimination would be similar to sexual harassment. In fact all employees where I work are told that if ANY (student or) co-worker confides in you ( not just a subordinate or your own student) that they have been harassed, assaulted or made uncomfortable, the institution now has some degree of exposure and you must report this or encourage the person to report it.
While one goal is to make a comfortable and safe working (and learing) environment, another goal of these employee workshops is also to limit the institution's exposure. It continues to amaze me how stupid and inappropriate people can be, and how much they think others should put up with.
A restaurant worker who has a problem dealing with segments of the public should be a dishwasher or cook, not a part of the wait staff.
The proper term for this is “grand theft”.
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