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+--- Thread: How Un-American can you get? (/thread-13086.html)
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- Botafogo - 03-20-2003
I have an employee who is the bartender at a serious French restaurant (in "liberal" West LA) at night. Last night they had a full house but two different parties asked (in a French Restaurant owned by a French Chef, serving French Food and French Wine) to have their waiters changed as they did not want to be served by a French person.
One of the waiters (who has lived in the US for fifteen years and is an American Citizen) broke down crying in the kitchen as he told the crew that he and his AMERICAN wife and CHILDREN had been asked to leave a small market earlier in the day after the owner heard his accent.
This is NOT what this country is about and not what we are fighting for. I may have to retire to Brasil sooner than I thought. They have confirmed the new Guggenheim for Rio so maybe I should start working on that winebar / jazz club across the street now...
Disgusted, Roberto
[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 03-20-2003).]
- hotwine - 03-20-2003
Apologies and regrets to that fellow, Roberto.
- Innkeeper - 03-20-2003
Sometimes war brings out the worst in American civilians. Very regrettable.
- Auburnwine - 03-20-2003
That ain't nothing compared to the calls my Arabic (Kuwaiti, Egyptian, Palestinian) friends get in the middle of the night or what their kids hear in school.
We have had lynchings in this part of the world in my lifetime, so it's nothing to take lightly.
- Thomas - 03-20-2003
And simpleton ideas in Washington such as changing the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries in the Congress mess hall only serve to fan the flames of stupid racism and zenophobia. Leaders all too often lead in the wrong direction.
- Georgie - 03-20-2003
Shameful, absolutely shameful.
- winedope1 - 03-20-2003
sorry to hear about that. it is a shameful ocurrence. Things like this happen to innocent people, and then Americans wonder why they are regarded so poorly in so many countries when they travel around the world. That is an especially ridiculous happening in that the people knowingly went to a French establishment but did not want French service?? Go to Burger King or the like then. Show some sense, if that's possible.
- Bucko - 03-20-2003
Nuke 'em I say. Kill off the rest of the whales while we're at it. They just poop in the ocean and make a mess. Same for the whooping crane; who wants all of that noise?
TongueInCheekBucko
- Thomas - 03-20-2003
Did anyone notice I wrote zenophobia instead of xenophobia? A writer like I is supposed to watch for those things--but I was so irritated I lost control of my senses...
- Kcwhippet - 03-20-2003
If that were my restaurant, I would have informed the patrons that French service in a French owned restaurant serving French food is entirely appropriate, and perhaps they would be more comfortable some other establishment such as a Middle Eastern restaurant.
- Georgie - 03-20-2003
Understandable, given the circumstances!(Reply to foodie)
[This message has been edited by Georgie (edited 03-21-2003).]
- Drew - 03-21-2003
and for the rest of the story.....
Many of you know that I'm a Police Sergeant in Baltimore City. I am the Community Relations Rep for the Northeast District, the largest in the City (1/5 of the Cities population reside in this district). Wednesday night I conducted our monthly Community Council meeting which is generally attended by community presidents; we have 52 active communities in my district. Approx. 60 persons were in attendance and I started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Malik M----y, president of one of the largest communities, and recently converted black muslim, born in America, REFUSED to stand and recite the Pledge. I wonder how the residents of his community, who elected him to represent them, would feel if they knew of his action??????? Oh yea, forgot...it's his right, shame on me for bringing it to someone's, anyone's attention. Some people, like those in the French Restaurant, are rude, puffed up, a--holes, but even so, those actions would never lead me to leave this country. I'm sure that there's PLENTY of similar a--hole residents of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Brazil......excetera, excetera, excetera.
Drew
- Glass_A_Day - 03-21-2003
Sorry that waiters feelings have been hurt, but come on. Suck it up. The French have been doing the exact same thing and much worse to Americans in France for years. How quickly we all forget how we get treated in French restaurants in France if our French isn't perfect and in many cases, after they find out that we are... oh god... dreaded Americans. I'm not saying that anything is this waiters fault or that the person asking for a new waiter is right. Come on though. Many of you make it sound like we Americans have the exclusive on being unfair, when in fact the French have held this title for years.
- Innkeeper - 03-21-2003
Agree with GAD. Americans do not have a lock on rudeness and obnoxiousness. A few years ago when we were still in business, we had a lovely English family of five for guests. He worked for IBM International and was on his second tour in the headquarters which is in Paris. The current stint was supposed to be for three years, but he was on the seventh year of it when they visited. The whole family spoke French fluently. With few exceptions they loathed the French. They said that it was almost a daily experience to find someone in a store or other establishment being rude to foreigners. What they described indicated that things in French society had not changed a twit since we were stationed there in the '66-68 timeframe.
- Georgie - 03-21-2003
Prejudicial behavior is ugly no matter who dishes it out. Anger at the French government for their lack of support, doesn't justify mistreating people. It's un-American and it's un-Christian. I like to think that Americans would take the high road in cases like this, rather than perpetuating hatred. "Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me."
- Auburnwine - 03-21-2003
French folks have always been really nice to me. One time I had a bar full of textile guys merrily shouting the phrase: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."
They thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard in their lives.
- Thomas - 03-21-2003
I don't believe you can trivialize and condone stupid, irrational, ignorant behavior no matter if you are American or Aboriginal Australian.
Georgie made reference to un-Christian. That is a subject that raises my hackles, i.e, so many of us profess to be Christians yet it is ok to advocate violence against others, whether verbal or physical. I cannot find that sort of behavior professed in the Gospels of the New Testament.
- Georgie - 03-21-2003
You raise a valid point, foodie. Christ said that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. I strive in my daily life to treat others with love and respect. You don't have to be a Christian to do that, but that's where I come from. I abhor violence and am very saddened that diplomacy failed (I know there are varying opinions about that) in regard to this war. On the other hand, if given the chance to kill Ossama Bin Laden with my bare hands, I just might be able to do so. I don't know. Guess I have a ways to go towards perfection. Nonetheless, abusing innocent people to make a political statement is, to me, intolerable.
- winedope1 - 03-21-2003
guys-never said folks from other countries weren't rude. The point is, these people specifically CHOSE a French restaurant and then complained that they didn't want a Frech server. That is ridiculous. If you have a problem with a group, don't seek them out, go somewhere else for dinner. Any person or group making a sweeping generalization about another group is not right. Why can't we all just get along??
- Glass_A_Day - 03-22-2003
I honestly think it is against human nature to have everyone get along. We never have. Since the beginning of time. There has always been war, torture, rape, murder, ect. I wish it wasn't this way, but it is. It gets better then it gets worse. A cycle that will last forever. Seems quite the waste of a perfectly good species.