Restaurant manager fired for accommodating a bigoted customer's demand

[cullennz]

I can understand that if faced with a list of wines you've never tasted before (or don't remember tasting anyway) you might not know which one to pick, but in that case you probably shouldn't complain if you ask the waiter to pick for you.

(Idea: you could say (even if it isn't true) something like "well, OK, but just so you know, I'm a teetotaler so I've never tasted any of these wines and I have no idea how any of them taste. Do you still want me to choose for you?" You could leave out the part about being a teetotaler I suppose. Another idea is just go with whatever the most expensive one on the menu is.)

Actually you would better going for beyond your affordability to have tried the wine over tee-total as you might get a bigger tip.

 

[plague311]

Wine is gross.

I contributed.

 

[Wudang]

Don't you have house wines you direct the customer to? These are (ideally) decent enough wines that the house has bought in bulk or clearance or whatever and give the house a better profit margin. Plus they're chosen by the boss so not your fault.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

I can understand that if faced with a list of wines you've never tasted before (or don't remember tasting anyway) you might not know which one to pick, but in that case you probably shouldn't complain if you ask the waiter to pick for you.

(Idea: you could say (even if it isn't true) something like "well, OK, but just so you know, I'm a teetotaler so I've never tasted any of these wines and I have no idea how any of them taste. Do you still want me to choose for you?" You could leave out the part about being a teetotaler I suppose. Another idea is just go with whatever the most expensive one on the menu is.)

This was wine by the glass and there were only 3 red, 3 white and 2 rosé even in the posher pub, writ ten out on a list on the bar. With the reds it was Cab Sauv, Merlot or Pinot Noir. If you actually drink wine you've surely got to know one of them! Failing that 'give me the first one on the list' will do. And yep, even by the glass if you picked it, they'll complain and blame you if they don't like it!

(By the way, this wasn't a "I don't know these wines but I like these flavours" type conversation, it was literally "I can't be arsed to choose so you pick one" )

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Don't you have house wines you direct the customer to? These are (ideally) decent enough wines that the house has bought in bulk or clearance or whatever and give the house a better profit margin. Plus they're chosen by the boss so not your fault.

The landlord was a bit of a wine snob*, we had eight wines by the glass but no "house wine", plus his opinion was that having a house wine was a recommendation and our fault if they they didn't like it.

*Since then I've spent several years selling wine, I've sampled one hell of a lot of bottles and I don't think he made terribly good choices even.

 

[Puppycow]

Imo it's pretty hard to go wrong with Pinot Noir. (I'm no expert, it's just what I've found I like.)

 

[smartcooky]

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 . . .

Did you ask the waiter if the wine list contained a nice Chianti, and if the restaurant served fava beans?

 

[Wudang]

The landlord was a bit of a wine snob*, we had eight wines by the glass but no "house wine", plus his opinion was that having a house wine was a recommendation and our fault if they they didn't like it.

Sigh! Never his fault. Yep had bosses like that.

*Since then I've spent several years selling wine, I've sampled one hell of a lot of bottles and I don't think he made terribly good choices even.

I've met similar. Not a real buff myself, fairly pedestrian tastes but I've met real wine buffs and people who think they are.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Did you ask the waiter if the wine list contained a nice Chianti, and if the restaurant served fava beans?

In the book he drinks Amarone, which is a better pairing with brain (or so I'm assured, I've never eaten it myself) but the filmakers didn't think it was recognisable enough.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Sigh! Never his fault. Yep had bosses like that.



I've met similar. Not a real buff myself, fairly pedestrian tastes but I've met real wine buffs and people who think they are.

By 'our' I meant the pub, himself included. Your comment fits him, but not on this particular instance.

 

[casebro]

I feel sorry for people who are in a "interchangeable small wheel" job. You don't even have to screw up. For no damn reason at all, we just grab a new one and you get replaced. Like the manager in the OP, or me in my first job as a machinist. The employee as a commodity.

 

[plague311]

I feel sorry for people who are in a "interchangeable small wheel" job. You don't even have to screw up. For no damn reason at all, we just grab a new one and you get replaced. Like the manager in the OP, or me in my first job as a machinist. The employee as a commodity.

Welcome to America.

 

[Bob001]

I feel sorry for people who are in a "interchangeable small wheel" job. You don't even have to screw up. For no damn reason at all, we just grab a new one and you get replaced. Like the manager in the OP, or me in my first job as a machinist. The employee as a commodity.

It's a big surprise to some people when they discover that most of us are in "interchangeable small wheel" jobs. There are very few employees whose knowledge, skills and experience are so rare that they couldn't be replaced pretty quickly, often by somebody who would be happy to work for less.

 

[Babbylonian]

It's a big surprise to some people when they discover that most of us are in "interchangeable small wheel" jobs. There are very few employees whose knowledge, skills and experience are so rare that they couldn't be replaced pretty quickly, often by somebody who would be happy to work for less.

And who is less willing to tolerate a hostile work environment.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

Live long and prosper

Ah, the classic Olive Garden Kobayashi Maru test.
The manager should have reprogrammed the simulation and made the customer blind.

This made my day.

 

[commandlinegamer]

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 Seventeen-seventies were an amazing time.

ftfy

 

[Bob001]

And who is less willing to tolerate a hostile work environment.

You mean more willing in this context, right?

 

[Babbylonian]

You mean more willing in this context, right?

No. The implication is that this manager could be fired for accommodating the racist (and some think this is a bad thing). Thus, they could find someone to take the job for less money who would also be less willing to allow a hostile work environment.