Restaurant manager fired for accommodating a bigoted customer's demand

[Butter!]

Exactly. The customers were already "disturbed" so that ship had sailed. The server wouldn't have had to wait on a customer who was made to leave either, so that "protection" was a non-issue. The only thing Iomiller proposes that was actually at (speculative) risk was a "fake complaint of poor service" from the racist customer which as we've explained wasn't a real threat to anyone.

Also, fake complaints from bitter customers, or angry exes of employees, or even people who get mixed up and leave a review for the wrong place - these are a part of life when one manages, owns, or is otherwise involved in the running of a restaurant. You can't prevent them outright, not anymore than you can prevent every single germ in your vicinity from touching your skin. To quake in such fear over the potential for ONE bad bs review, to the point that you publicly accommodate racism, is insane. I'm cracking up at the very notion.

Also, this is Olive Garden, lol. It's not some exclusive five-star joint with a reputation to maintain. It's Italian Eat n Park. (And by Italian, I of course mean "Italian.") One bad review from a crazy person is just going to amount to screaming into the void, especially if the manager were to get ahead of it by filling out an incident report for corporate.

 

[Trebuchet]

We actually stopped going to Olive Garden years ago because of consistently bad service across multiple locations. I will admit to having liked their food. I like "Mexican" food as well.

 

[shemp]

Olive Garden has excellent pepperoncinis. That is not enough reason to go there.

 

[shemp]

I think restaurant employees should be permitted to murder ten customers a year, each, without facing legal consequences. Something about getting other people to make meals turns a surprisingly large portion of the population into raving jerks.

Only ten? This is uncharacteristically lenient of you.

 

[Myriad]

We actually stopped going to Olive Garden years ago because of consistently bad service across multiple locations. I will admit to having liked their food. I like "Mexican" food as well.

The problem with Olive Garden food is that it's nothing special. It's Italian day to day home cooking, done badly.

It's hard to make your own Big Macs. You can make your own burger that's worlds better than a Big Mac, but if you want to make one that actually tastes like a Big Mac, you're in for a bit of a culinary challenge. Similarly, there are plenty of good easy recipes for making your own fried chicken, but it won't taste like KFC unless you have a pressure fryer and a willingness to take your life into your hands.

But Olive Garden pasta dishes are easy. You don't have to make your own pasta, you don't have to blanch and peel and crush fresh tomatoes, you don't have to chop fresh herbs, you don't have to get your cheeses from the Italian neighborhood cheese shop that makes the mozzarella fresh in-house, to make much better pasta dishes than Olive Garden. There's a leftover serving of last night's chicken parm on linguine with marinara sauce waiting for me for dinner. Every ingredient in it came from Walmart or Aldi, and now it's a day old, and once I re-heat it in the microwave it'll still be better than anything I've ever been served at Olive Garden.

The problem is usually disappointments with the basic preparation. The pasta might be cold and dry, or soggy; or the chicken in the alfredo re-heated too many times; or some component is overcooked; or the whole dish (along with the customer) has sat out too long waiting for the side salads or something. A bucket of fried chicken doesn't suffer too much if the mashed potato side dish is gummy. But all the parts of an Italian platter have to work. A lot of complaints and a lot of stress on the staff results.

Of course, the case at hand had nothing to do with the food, as far as anyone can tell.

 

[Thermal]

Anyone taking it upon themselves to willingly duplicate a Big Mac intentionally should be tested for rabies. And I mean the old fashioned way.

The beauty of fast food is approximating edibility without the work and cleanup. Olive Garden, for example, is wonderful for feeding a large group when you did not have a few hours available to prep. So I for one sing their praises. They save me hours of time better spent, at the expense of actual quality. Viva la OG.

 

[Butter!]

Anyone taking it upon themselves to willingly duplicate a Big Mac intentionally should be tested for rabies. And I mean the old fashioned way.

The beauty of fast food is approximating edibility without the work and cleanup. Olive Garden, for example, is wonderful for feeding a large group when you did not have a few hours available to prep. So I for one sing their praises. They save me hours of time better spent, at the expense of actual quality. Viva la OG.

Aw, as soon as I read that part of his post, my mind immediately went to - "I wonder if I could do that! How might I do that? I'm going to try to do that." And then I read your post, and I was like "... what's the old-fashioned way..."

 

[Trebuchet]

Anyone taking it upon themselves to willingly duplicate a Big Mac intentionally should be tested for rabies. And I mean the old fashioned way.

The beauty of fast food is approximating edibility without the work and cleanup. Olive Garden, for example, is wonderful for feeding a large group when you did not have a few hours available to prep. So I for one sing their praises. They save me hours of time better spent, at the expense of actual quality. Viva la OG.

Based on my experiences with their service, if you book for a large group they'll probably forget to set up the tables and have insufficient staff to serve them.

 

[Checkmite]

But Olive Garden pasta dishes are easy. You don't have to make your own pasta, you don't have to blanch and peel and crush fresh tomatoes, you don't have to chop fresh herbs, you don't have to get your cheeses from the Italian neighborhood cheese shop that makes the mozzarella fresh in-house, to make much better pasta dishes than Olive Garden. There's a leftover serving of last night's chicken parm on linguine with marinara sauce waiting for me for dinner. Every ingredient in it came from Walmart or Aldi, and now it's a day old, and once I re-heat it in the microwave it'll still be better than anything I've ever been served at Olive Garden.

Not every meal has to be an exquisite culinary expedition to the highest ramparts of gastronomical ecstasy. Sometimes you just need some damn food, and to relax while someone else does the work of preparing it. That is the only point of fast food and casual-dining restaurants.

 

[trustbutverify]

Anyone taking it upon themselves to willingly duplicate a Big Mac intentionally should be tested for rabies. And I mean the old fashioned way.

I'm old enough to have eaten a Big Mac, fries and vanilla shake at their first Long Island location... when the menu was very simple. For food ready at that speed, it was amazing. The taste of that meal compared to what is produced currently is night and day.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I'm old enough to have eaten a Big Mac, fries and vanilla shake at their first Long Island location... when the menu was very simple. For food ready at that speed, it was amazing. The taste of that meal compared to what is produced currently is night and day.

I can picture it!

You: "I say, be this establishment an patriot one, or be it loyal unto the tyrant King George?"
McDonalds worker: "To be sure, sir, we be true patriots herein."
You: "Verily, forsooth, then I shall partake of Ye Combo Meal Numbre Foure!"
McDonalds worker: "One pheasant cornpoke over salted breadmeats, and ye potatoes unto the style of the Frenchmen. Also ye drink: what shall you have, sir?"
You: "An tankard of mead!"
McDonalds worker: "For tuppenny more it may be superior-sized to an tankard-and-half, with yet more of the potatoes."
You: "I be not made of coin, sirrah! Grant me the meal I hitherto commanded, and damn your eyes for insolence!"

The Seventies were an amazing time.

 

[Myriad]

The beauty of fast food is approximating edibility without the work and cleanup. Olive Garden, for example, is wonderful for feeding a large group when you did not have a few hours available to prep. So I for one sing their praises. They save me hours of time better spent, at the expense of actual quality. Viva la OG.

That's what pizza is for. All those same advantages, but with the possibility of actual quality, and half the cost. (But not the pretense of a "traditional" meal with plates of shining Chinaware and forks made of stainless metal and stand-up laminated ad placards just like in the manor house on the hill.)

 

[P.J. Denyer]

I want to work for you.

Seconded

 

[P.J. Denyer]

And then another large group assume that every waiter is also an expert sommelier. I can't tell you how many awkward wine conversations I've had to listen to where the waiter has just memorized the "most popular" in each category. Now when these conversations start I ask the waiter whether they prefer vodka or whiskey. In no time you can figure out that they are just a beer drinker, or a scotch drinker, or really just love fruity drinks. But in no cases have I found a waiter who is a oenophile. And yet my wine drinking friends demand that they provide their expert comparisons of the three merlots they are considering before they finally just order the blend with a fun name.

I may be in the wrong thread for this rant . . .

What I always hated was people who wanted a 'Red Wine" or a "White Wine" and when given the options outright refused to choose one. "Any one" or "You choose for me", some of them could get quite belligerent when asked to choose. But if I picked it for them and they didn't like it, it's my fault.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

And it wouldn't make a difference because when the corporate office follows up by calling the manager, the manager will explain what actually happened.

My experience was that an complaint to head office generated a fistful of gift cards, charged against the branch, regardless of the actual circumstances or whether anyone even bothered to ask the manager.

 

[Wudang]

After McDonalds sued an Italian food critic for his comments Jay Rainer (one of the UK’s best known critics) did the same in the https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...nk.shopping2&usg=AOvVaw3u9Q4plcyXdxLG4KtNMYaI

 

[catsmate]

And then another large group assume that every waiter is also an expert sommelier. I can't tell you how many awkward wine conversations I've had to listen to where the waiter has just memorized the "most popular" in each category. Now when these conversations start I ask the waiter whether they prefer vodka or whiskey. In no time you can figure out that they are just a beer drinker, or a scotch drinker, or really just love fruity drinks. But in no cases have I found a waiter who is a oenophile. And yet my wine drinking friends demand that they provide their expert comparisons of the three merlots they are considering before they finally just order the blend with a fun name.

I may be in the wrong thread for this rant . . .

Isn't there an Android app that generates random/fake wine "connoisseur" crap?

 

[Pixel42]

This thread reminds me of the time I attended a clinic for a minor procedure and the surgeon introduced himself and said he'd be the one treating me and was that OK. Slightly mystified I said fine, and he relaxed and performed the treatment. It was only when pondering it afterwards that I realised the surgeon (who happened to be brown) had seen an old white woman and thought "may be racist". Very depressing.

 

[shemp]

Isn't there an Android app that generates random/fake wine "connoisseur" crap?

It's not an app, but there is this. https://phrasegenerator.com/wine

Examples:

The 2010 Pinot Noir from Cypress Meadows Winery unites 150-proof bubble gum essences with a fishy chocolate flavor.

Navarro Vineyards coalesces pungent cool ranch overtones and a melancholy tobacco bouquet in their 2001 Merlot.

A exotic licorice aftertaste and melodious crack-cocaine elements are combined in the 2002 Cabernet from Champs de Dauphin.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I like how "Ewww mass produced non-artisan chain restaurant food" is a bigger sin then racism for a lot of people.