Restaurant Racism
Jennifer Reyes
Racism and Sexism Paper
05/11/2012
Restaurant Racism
Racism is the belief that one’s race is superior to another’s. With this belief people act accordingly and treat the inferior race unfairly. In the past this country has gone through their fair share of racist acts and laws. From slavery of African Americans to the Jim Crow laws, we as people have constantly placed labels on others to make ourselves superior. Although currently the level of racism has diminished greatly in comparison to our past, racism still does exist today. It can occur in an office, in a supermarket, or wherever there is an abundant number of different people and different cultures. But there is an area of racism that goes unnoticed in society that needs to be addressed and that is racism in restaurants.
I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for three years and have come across some assumptions when it comes to race and overall service. From the most part, servers get paid primarily in tips, so depending on the server and the generosity of the guests, that is how a server makes his money. I work in a very diverse area where people of all races come into my restaurant and although it is wrong, I have to admit that I am, among others, an example of implementing racism. The minute a family enters restaurant racism has been initiated and they have become labeled by the servers on duty. From my experience, people of Caucasian decent tend to be easy going and leave a better tip than all other races. When I see an African American couple get sat in my section I automatically assume they are going to be impolite and needy and not leave the suggested 18% tip. Although I know that assumption is wrong to do, this is just solely based on my experience. To prove this assumption I went around to the neighboring restaurants and asked some of the servers how they feel about taking care of African American guests, and they all agreed with my statement of them being poor tippers and
Racism and Sexism Paper
05/11/2012
Restaurant Racism
Racism is the belief that one’s race is superior to another’s. With this belief people act accordingly and treat the inferior race unfairly. In the past this country has gone through their fair share of racist acts and laws. From slavery of African Americans to the Jim Crow laws, we as people have constantly placed labels on others to make ourselves superior. Although currently the level of racism has diminished greatly in comparison to our past, racism still does exist today. It can occur in an office, in a supermarket, or wherever there is an abundant number of different people and different cultures. But there is an area of racism that goes unnoticed in society that needs to be addressed and that is racism in restaurants.
I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for three years and have come across some assumptions when it comes to race and overall service. From the most part, servers get paid primarily in tips, so depending on the server and the generosity of the guests, that is how a server makes his money. I work in a very diverse area where people of all races come into my restaurant and although it is wrong, I have to admit that I am, among others, an example of implementing racism. The minute a family enters restaurant racism has been initiated and they have become labeled by the servers on duty. From my experience, people of Caucasian decent tend to be easy going and leave a better tip than all other races. When I see an African American couple get sat in my section I automatically assume they are going to be impolite and needy and not leave the suggested 18% tip. Although I know that assumption is wrong to do, this is just solely based on my experience. To prove this assumption I went around to the neighboring restaurants and asked some of the servers how they feel about taking care of African American guests, and they all agreed with my statement of them being poor tippers and