The New Face of Oppression

I've got something to say about this:

Rose Rock, the mother of comedian Chris Rock, claims she was racially discriminated against when she was seated but ignored for a half hour at a Cracker Barrel restaurant along the South Carolina coast.

But, first I'm going to go punch a hole in a wall.

Listen, Rose, there is a term for what happened to you at Cracker Barrel. It's called bad service. And if you think that only black people - oh excuse me - people of color experience this phenomena, you'd be wrong. My husband and I walked into a low-brow chain restaurant five days ago, only to be ignored at the door for about ten minutes. After we were seated, another 15 minutes went by before anyone took our order. I suppose, perhaps, the restaurant was run by anti-white black panthers, but I doubt it. The joint was disorganized, and -let's face it -certain chain restaurants don't draw exactly from the top of the food chain of restaurant servers and management. They don't pay enough.

But, please Rose go on with your sad tale.

He never called over the waitresses and asked, `Why did these people sit here for a half hour without service?'"she said."The only thing he said was we could have a free meal and neither of us wanted to eat."

You see, he didn't have to. It's not a manager's job to berate employees before the customers. Maybe he didn't bring a server over, because it wasn't a server's fault. Perhaps it was an extremely inexperienced hostess? You know how common it is for a poorly run restaurant, with bad or new hostesses, to sit people without assigning a server to the table? What did you want, Rose the manager to drag over some 17 year-old girl, who goofed, to apologize for 200 years of oppression?

When bad service happens to white people, it's called what it is. When it happens to black people (however slight), it's racism.

Let me give you some unasked for advice, Rose, next time you face the oppression of bad service, walk out.

Update: Gays at Cracker Barrel:

Look, while in the business, I would say about 50% of the male servers were gay. Traditionally this was always the case (although I think it's not as prevalent as it used to be.) Now, if a male employee were to be fired, chances are great (dare I say there is a 50% chance) that he is gay. People are rarely pleased when they are fired, and would usually prefer to find an excuse. I sucked as a server? NO, that can't be it (I mean, after all, how often does bad service occur?)