And they should damn well own up to their mistakes, rather than give a mealy-mouthed half-assed explanation of how they are continuing with the donation because of the “percentage” of the funds going directly to helping families.
Yes, but they’d also have to be smart enough to notice the controversial issue. It wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t realize that saying vaccines cause autism would cause them problems.
They are at least trying to fix this, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and not boycott them. I still won’t go there, because I don’t know where one is nearby, but I won’t boycott them.
It was chosen by marketing people, who are known morons. I discovered Marketing second semester of senior year and kicked myself for having wasted my college years in majors where I had to work now and then. It’s Communications for ugly people.
This. Especially given that you’d think every sentient being in the country would by now have heard of the autism/vaccination ‘controversy’ which is only still a controversy because people like Jenny McCarthy are still given a hearing.
In what way is Chili’s trying “to fix this”? All I’ve heard are mealy-mouthed excuses, like saying the money is supposedly going to one specific good work and not into the NAA’s general fund. (To cite an admittedly extreme analogy, it’s like allocating a percentage of sales to go to a Ku Klux Klan chapter, then saying that’s OK because the money will only be used for their highway cleanup activities.)
If Chili’s really wants to “fix” this mess, they could do what I suggested in the OP - donate 10% of sales on another Monday to an organization that facilitates immunization.
I disagree. The reason Chili’s sucks is their poor service.
Never ate at Chili’s before,& now I never will thanks to his thread.
I eat at Chili’s at least once a week, so this is very frustrating. Way to suck, Chili’s.
It probably depends on location. I’ve been in a completely empty Chili’s in Carlsbad NM where many service people saw me and completely ignored me and even turned away before I could speak up about not being seated. I left.
But I’ve been to a busy Chili’s in Georgia where I was seated and served immediately. I’ve returned to that one.
The company has agreed to do the right thing and cancel support for these miserable idiots. Ha.
From the company’s Facebook page:
I really wish someone would arrange a boycott of someplace I shop or a product I use so I could feel more a part of a movement. I already don’t eat at Chili’s and the Koch brothers’ brands of household products are second-tier brands at first-tier prices.
Yeah, quality of service is the kind of thing I wouldn’t be surprised to find varied greatly depending on location (or maybe even on who happened to be working at the time you visited that location). To blame, or praise, an entire chain based on limited experience doesn’t seem fair.
I pretty much ignore all the bottom-tier chain “fun” restaurants - Chili’s, Applebee’s, Chevy’s, ten or fifteen variations of “cowboy grill,” half a dozen “Italian fusion” places… They all serve pre-prepared food not much better than any fast-food joint, just on a plate and with a waitron with exactly 13 pieces of flair. Just can’t shake the canned, assembly-line, gosh you must be here to have FUN bullshit on top of the mediocre food. Gimme a mom and pop joint where the food might be good or bad, but made on the premises, served by a waitress who might be a grump or a sweetie but knows her job, and for a check that’s appropriate to the whole experience.
Good that they listened to the pushback and belatedly did the right thing.
Next time they should be more diligent about who they’re giving money to.
A small but noisy antivax group supported by the NAA (Age of Autism) originally was heavily promoting eating at Chili’s on Monday, but has taken brief note of Chili’s decision to cancel the event and now thinks people should contact the chain every time an autistic child wanders off and experiences harm (because of course it will be Chili’s fault).
*I suspect that the AoA link will soon be updated to feature a much more prominent rant about Chili’s “betrayal”.
I bet someone in corporate giving or community relations is getting fired over this. I assume they wanted to do support a cause that helps autistic children and thought they were steering well clear of the controversial aspects of autism and were fooled by this group’s name.
There’s the North American Man/Boy Love Association. I’m not exactly sure what their program is but it sounds something like the Boy Scouts so it must be okay.
Glad to hear they got a clue. Shame they needed that much help in doing so, but glad the clue-by-4 finally made enough of an impression.
I got an email today informing me that they canceled the event due to feed back. (See LavenderBlue’s post)
At the time, I thought to myself: “Why in the world would they do that?”
Now I know why. Geez! What a screw up.
I’m giving Chili’s the benefit of the doubt on this one and say somebody in PR fucked up in a big way.
Because really, the only people who believe this crap are die hard Whole Foods fanatics* and celebrities.
*Not saying if you like WFs yo9u’re an anti-vaxer, but rather, if you’re an anti-vaxer you’re probably a WFs fanatic.
Good for them. I’m still not going there tomorrow, but good for them. 
Maybe I’ll go there today to thank them for not doing this stupid-ass thing. I actually like their food.