Posted on 12/17/2013 4:03:34 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
Morton's The Steakhouse, a high-end restaurant chain, is responding after a firestorm of complaints on social media about how it treated a cancer patient dining at its Nashville location over the weekend.
A man undergoing chemotherapy treatments says he was asked to take off his hat because it violated the restaurant's dress code.
Robert Chambers says he put on a beanie to keep him warm --combating the side effects of his chemotherapy treatments. Chambers says a waitress then told him to take off the hat because it was against dress code.
After explaining that Chambers had cancer, a manager came over and asked to see a doctor's note before he could put the hat back on.
(Excerpt) Read more at newschannel5.com ...
Would you really boycott all of these places because of the actions of one manager? Do you really think that manager was acting in the spirit of the culture of the entire operation? Have you ever heard of the concept of a good business having a bad employee….or even a good employee having a bad day and making a bad call?
I assure you, this is not the typical treatment people get in a Mortons, which is why the corp office apologized….
We had dinner at Ruth’s Chris in San Antonio a few months back. There was a table of six guys, all wearing Electric Co-op baseball caps.
I agree they have every right to make any silly little rule they wish....I just don’t go to places that treat their customers like sheep. It’s bad enough they think that is a good idea but evidently some of their employees aren’t smart enough to see a PR nightmare building while they humiliate a cancer patient.
Well, I happen to have been to that specific restaurant, as well as some of them in other cities, and I can assure you “they don’t treat their customers” like that…..this is a definite outlier.
And it’s not a silly rule. A restaurant is part atmosphere….and certainly with these, it is very much part of the experience. This is a very special date, anniversary, or power out of town buiness type of place. It’s not a place to go get a steak if you want to slum it. Their rules, and it’s not like they have a lot of them, are there to protect their atmosphere, which is central to who they are and central to why 99% of their customers go there.
The only thing silly was how this particular manager applied the rule, and it was silly, foolish, insulting…..
There are also rules about shoes. Should someone with a cast be required to remove the cast so they can get a shoe on their foot? Should someone without a foot be required to put a shoe on their stump? Rules are rules after all.
So much time, effort and energy could be saved by being blunt with the manager.
“If you let me wear my cap, we will all eat, pay and leave. If you make any issue about this at all, we will go on the Internet, and within a few hours you will be vilified, your corporation will demand a personal apology from you, they will likely feel forced to give a large check to some charity, and you will still have your business reputation ruined. You might even lose your job, or at least any chance for a future promotion.
“Over a hat.
“So I strongly advise you, let it go. If any of your other customers complain, tell them it’s a medical thing. In doing so, the rest of your evening and the next few days will be pleasant, and no one will be the worse for wear.”
I would have walked out.
I don’t have a problem with them running their business anyway they want...I just refuse to patronize a business with this attitude. It all comes down to whether one considers this sort of treatment insulting.....I mean I’m not in third grade and I don’t really need the approval of a restaurant as to something as innocuous as a hat!!
I’ve never been to any of the offshoots scattered around the country, but the original Morton’s on State Street in downtown Chicago is an exceedingly nice fine dining experience, on up there with the best I’ve experienced.
If that were me.
“Oh, in that case I’ll go somewhere else.”
and leave.
With due respect, you seem to continually miss a couple of key points.
First, your answers all assume that the way this patron was treated is typical. You may not really assume that, but your posts do not make sense unless you do assume that. For the third or fourth time, this is NOT typical of this restaurant and was NOT condoned by the HQ.
Second, if you are offended by a dress code for a private business, and you keep stressing your offense without tempering it with an understanding that it would be a drab world if every restaurant were the same……you are missing a huge part of liberty and free enterprise.
You are not Morton’s material. That’s fine. If you don’t ever want a meal in a place with what is today a rare atmosphere of sophistication, then they are not marketing for you. So turn your baseball cap backwards, let your jeans hang down below your ass crack, and off to Golden Corral for you.
The time to check apparel for appropriateness is upon greeting by the hostess or host at the door. If the man put his beanie on after being seated because he got a chill, it’s a little more understandable but they were still idiotic, no clue that they were embarrassing themselves and Morton’s, whether he was being truthful or not. Asking for a doctor’s note, what, is this a preschool?
The Nashville restaurant is one of their main hubs, and it is also fabulous…..
I agree…the doctor’s not thing was the most disturbing of this…just infantile, not to mention ignorant.
Really......Am I to assume that you represent "Mortons material" has that been a goal of yours. I am ashamed for you that you would so quickly take the low road and resort to insults , maybe if you continue to patronize this restaurant you will gain the communication skills to have a reasonable discussion with a fellow freeper. Maybe you could gain some humility if "you" visited a Golden Coral.
The story originated from a review of the restaurant on Yelp.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mortons-the-steakhouse-nashville
Hah! I do stuff like that. They usually just back away and leave me alone. rofl
My favorite line is.......that’s unacceptable in a low, calm voice. They are usually so surprised by my being calm and what follows that they just back away.
Nothing wrong with a Golden Corral, if they’d just patrol the buffet a little better, kids sticking their grubby little hands in there, lol.
Some people deem service and atmosphere as important as the quality of the food and are willing to pay for it.
To each their own.
I’d much rather eat in the kitchen of a hole in the wall with outrageous food at a decent price (and love it when I happens) than be sucked-up-to for an hour long fantasy meal that costs a week’s worth of groceries.
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