Wife and I ate at a Denny’s last weekend. Teenage Asian girl was our waitress, very quiet and timid. Her tag had on it her name and the words “Asian Princess.” I made a joking comment about it and she giggled, uncomfortably it seemed. Soon after she came to the table and apologized, saying, “I’m sorry you had to hear that.” We had heard nothing, so she explained the manager was yelling at all of them for being too slow.
When I paid I asked about the nickname and was told it was the manager’s idea. I thought that was outrageous. Had I heard the yelling I might have said something.
Should I have said something? To my mind, it was no different than an African American waitress wearing a tag that said “Black Beauty.”
The great thing with national chains is that they have regional and national head offices with public relations and customer service people to address your concerns.
Call them.
Without more to go on I’d drop it. The nickname may have been her idea and the manager may only have suggested the wait staff make up nicknames. You didn’t hear any yelling, maybe she made it up as an excuse for being slow, or maybe he was yelling at her for something else, or not yelling at all. If you knew more it might be worth calling the company. But it is Denny’s and that would be one of the least offensive things they’ve done.
I suspect that any action might made it tougher on the waitress.
The nickname was the manager’s idea, I was told.
Moved MPSIMS --> IMHO.
It’s Denny’s. Home of the grand slam breakfast and the kk klan management… fat, stupid, abusive and racist.
I came closer to a major cops- involved incident at a D’s than any other place, ever, and over much the same thing.
Good. Next time DH wants to go to Denny’s instead of IHOP, I’ll tell him about this.
Fuck, no. She could be blowing the manager, and the two of them laugh at it…together. Together, meaning ‘without consulting you’.
Manager: “Are you my Asian Princess?”
AP, getting up off her knees: “Yes, baby. Are you my Imperialist Running Dog? haha!” (grabs his penis, and chuckles)
Manager: Hey, let’s let everybody know that you are my AP…we’ll put it on your tag! That way, all the other guys who are hot for you will know I’m your daddy!
AP: OK, hot baby!
The fact that you think that she is ‘timid’ may just be some of your Yankee Imperialist blood gauging her as ‘inscrutable’, or you are horny and want to be overly avuncular as part of your pickup strategy.
Had you heard the yelling, what would you have said? “I don’t like this nickname, either!”???
MYOB.
Handsomeharry: to quote Lincoln, “…I am constrained to say it is difficult to answer so ugly a letter in good temper.”
Well, to be sure, I meant nothing bad or evil towards you. Any ‘Yankee Imperialism’ directed towards you was meant to be hyperbole, and, not terribly harsh at that, so, I apologize.
But, your post does gives me concern…I wish you would re-think your position on getting Old White Men in trouble for your perceptions of their behavior, esp. when you just arrived on the scene.
Best wishes,
hh
The only “old white man” involved would be me. The manager was Hispanic.
Ah, I used to frequent a Denny’s years ago. A black manager got fired, waved the race card, and got reinstated. Later, he was fired again for selling cocaine from the manager’s office. I hope he didn’t try the waving the race card again, but he wasn’t reinstated. Actually, I think he was too arrested to work there anyway.
uh, time to lay off the model airplane glue.
I think calling corporate would be a decent thing to do if you believe the waitress was being sincere. Either the manager shouldn’t make up names like that, or she shouldn’t be lying about it to customers.
As unpleasantly imaginative as your hypothetical relationship between the waitress and the manager is, I don’t give a shit what they do together in private. None of my business.
But. When an Asian waitress wears a nametag that customers will read, it is no longer private. Suddenly everybody who goes to Denny’s is confronted with an off-putting stereotype. It’s more or less as if they put “watermelon slices - a juicy favorite of negroes everywhere” on the menu. If some clunkhead of a manager thinks that kind of juvenile racism is funny, he can laugh on his own time in the privacy of his home. If I as a customer have this thrust in my face, then I am perfectly within my rights to complain to whomever might produce some results in getting it eliminated.
It’s not appropriate for a name tag in any public-facing job.
Call corporate office and mention inappropriate name tags in general. Don’t mention the conversation, it’s a moot point as it’s hearsay.
Says you. I knew a girl who had a, hmmm…what, a golden medallion of what she called ‘the *real *Palestine’ on a gold chain around her neck. She was Palestinian, and proud of her heritage. Should she be denied the right to wear that, as well, because you don’t like it??
Why would she grab his penis after just getting off her knees?
Also, vote with your dollars. And everyone knows IHOP has a better name anyways.
Nice. Stay classy.
Because that’s the equivalent of an ethic slur/stereotype how?
Why wouldn’t she???