The regional manager was Hispanic, the manager who demanded that I pay for the salad was white, and then there was me. Right off the bat, the regional manager requested that the white manager apologize for bringing the salad back to my table after I refused it.
He apologized, but added: “you people are always asking for more, more water, more lemon, more this or that…AND NEVER LEAVE TIPS. Tips are how my staff gets paid.”
“Ask your staff how I tip,” I argued. “I never had a problem before you.”
The regional manager quickly dismissed him (from our meeting, not from his job), and assured me that he did not represent the attitude of Perkins. She gave me a $50 book of coupons to enjoy a free meal during my next visit. I never redeemed the coupons because I never returned, and neither did the rest of our little group. After that incident we car pooled to a new restaurant located 30 miles away in the diversified city of Des Moines.
Yes, there are blacks who don’t tip, especially if they feel as if they’ve received bad service.
And there are servers who expect black customers not to tip, and so they don’t provide the best service. In the service industry, it doesn’t really matter what comes first, the chicken (poor service) or the egg (poor tip), until food establishments look beyond race, Dining while black will continue to persist.
Dining out is a luxury, especially in these lean economic times, and consumers — no matter their race — will take their tips and appetites only to places where they feel welcomed.
