After having nearly two weeks off the only thing that sounded worse to me than working, was to die slowly by having red-hot iron rods inserted into my anus. But such is life.
I dug my still dirty work shirt out of the laundry and forced myself to put it on, while nearly gagging at the stale grease stench, I made a mental note to buy a new work shirt.
I was pretty bored the majority of the evening, and tried to keep myself busy while going through the motions and spouting off random bits of information like a robot on auto-pilot. And then I received my first big-top of the evening. An elderly man asked to pick up the tab, so I kept my eye on him and made sure to give him a little extra attention. When his Medium Rare Rib-eye came out Rare I wasted no time bringing it back to the kitchen for a quick fix.
Elderly man: "Don't overcook it...just throw it on the grill for a minute"
GH: "Absolutely sir."
Man: "I'm serious...if you bring it back Medium I'm walking out."
GH: "I'll watch the clock myself sir, you have nothing to worry about."
Two minutes, and a perfect Medium Rare later, I returned to the table and watched as the elderly man morphed into a fit of unnecessary rage.
Man: "God Damn It!! I said Medium Rare, not Medium...I told you...I knew they would overcook it!!! Who is back there cooking? It's some stupid white guy? Get the Mexicans...they know how to cook it right... * Mumbles* Fucking whiteys....always fucking up my steak."
GH: "Sir, this is a family restaurant, please lower your voice. I can get a manager if you would like."
Man: "Get me the stupid white cook. He needs cooking lessons."
After ten more minutes of degrading ramblings the man was finally asked to leave. I found it humorous that before he left he asked for a to-go box for his steak.
I'm sure I'll get shit for saying this, but I couldn't shake the feeling of racial stereotyping. If the man had screamed that a "fucking Mexican ruined his steak" he would have been publicly crucified. Why is it such a crime against society to so much as mumble a racial slur against an African American, an Asian, or an Indian, but have free range at Whitey? It just doesn't make sense to me.
August 2, 2009
Kill Whitey!
Post by G.H. at 12:10 AM
Labels: a strange and awkward situation, chaos and insanity, doucherocket, i'm a robot, society is a bitch, some people are ridiculious, what the fuck
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23 comments:
that's a classic story! holy cow that happened?
how old would you say he is?
My uncle ate blood-meat for decades..he's 90 and healthier than I am at 28
I woked in the restaurant industry for 12 years as chef and/or manager. The average person has no idea what is involved in working in the food service industry and how hard people work. You are doing a great job with your career and blog, keep it up.
Side note: When I left the industry to do something different I commented soon after to a friend,: "people outside of the restaurant business don't work very hard, do they."
Unreal
I love double standards.
Technically, saying a "Mexican" can do a better job is against the "Whitey" AND the Latinos. Since, a lot of the cooks are not really from Mexico, but Ecquador, San Salvador, Guatamala, etc.
But that's just a mere technicality. :) Welcome back to work. I'm sorry, but missed the stories.
Although it isn't really relevant I would love to know the ethnicity of steakbitch boy - Did he find it acceptable to complain about Whitey because he himself is of a fair persuasion? Or was he not a Whitey too?
Both are instances of racism and you are correct in what you said ["Why is okay to ....] I never got it either - nor do I get the n-word is okay ever, but it seems it is in some circumstances.
It's kind of like its ok to tell a person they're too skinny, but a crime to tell a person they are too fat. Skinny people can be self conscious about their lack of weight, but society thinks its ok to berate them and not the over weight people. Double standards are always wrong.
Wow. What was my uncle Thomas doing in your restaurant?
I get so sick of people who bitch about their steaks, especially when they demand some perfect balance between rare and medium rare .... when what they really want is medium well, because they just don't know what the different steak temperatures actually mean.
@Wendi: You're not funny on this blog either.
Personally, I would've been too confused by this man's racial leanings to even respond. So, good job trying to calm him down!
OMG. That is my dad. I'm really sorry. He does that every single time. It's just a ploy for a free meal.
Well, not only was he being difficult, but he was bad for business (as you rightly hinted to him). Customers will judge the restaurant, and how well they fit there, by the other clients, and a guy shouting ANY racial remarks doesn't look so hot. People can be so gross.
Ugh, don't you just love double standards? I've never understood it either.
OK, firt off, that guy was out of line by any standards. The point about 'Why is OK ..?' It's because people of color are, despite the advances made in the last 40 years, still discriminated agaisnt and (as a group - obviously there are individual exceptions) disadvantaged in comparison to white people, so the context is different. The occasiona discriminatory or derogatory comment against white people is unpleasant, but white people have not and do not suffer the same kind of ingrained, societal discrimination the people of color do, so making 'whitey' comments is an individual act of rudeness, not a reinforcement of continuing discrimination.
It's about thedifference in the current and historical position and level of control ordiscrimination which people experience.
Once you get to a point in which there is true equality between people regardless of ethnicity - and we are still a long way from that, then both are likely to be seen as equally bad.
@Margo, Discrimination is discrimination, doesn't matter who or what it's aimed at it's still wrong.
Perceived justification and rationalization be damned, there is no "context" here, if it's wrong to denigrate one race just for the color of their skin, then it's just as wrong to apply the same line of thinking to any other race.
@ Margo- great post! People have long wondered why racism against white people is treated or considered different, but seriously, you can't talk the same way about racism against white people and racism against Mexicans the same way because it IS different. We're not talking about whether it's wrong or not, because certainly, racism in any way shape or form against anybody is wrong, but racism against a group of people that have been historically stereotyped with negative images is different than racism against a group of people who are considered elite and beautiful for their fair skin and light colored eyes and smart and advanced in math and sciences. Even if in this case the white man is put down for not being able to cook right compared to Mexican people... who knows if he really means that he thinks a Mexican's place is in the kitchen of some restaurant unlike white people who don't belong there at all.
As an Asian American woman, I am offended by that picture of the little boy you used as your post icon to show that it's unfair that people are racist against whites. Why make an underage child whether the picture was taken with permission from his parents or not to distribute on the internet a poster boy for this issue??
EC and Margo, I understand and appreciate what you are trying to say, unfortunately racism is wrong, no matter who we are talking about. As soon as we start making slight justification for one, we might as well throw the last 100 years of trying to defeat racism out the window because we are back where we started.
Also, I'm sorry the picture offends you, but I have to admit, based on what happened in my situation, I think it fits pretty perfectly.
^ I think the issue isn't whether it's wrong or not. Clearly, it's wrong. The problem is the historical significance. From my studies, when people are racist against black people for being violent or rapists and murderers, it's ingrained since slavery that blacks are more kin to animals than other races and that's why they're so big and strong.
What's also makes it different with racism against white people is that they will rarely face any oppression or discrimination because of it.
And I wanted to make myself clear about the picture you posted. I think it's wrong because that child is underage. Being an Asian myself only makes me feel like that kid could be my brother and makes me sad more, although I should have made that clearer in the other post. Is that picture even yours? I'm not sure what's worse, taking a picture of a kid yourself and sticking it on the internet to make him represent the debate whether racism against white people is wrong, or stealing it from another person to help spread the picture of an innocent kid who probably doesn't even know what he's holding up. Had that kid been older and knew what he's doing it'd be a different story.
EC- This is absolutely not a picture I took! I would never do anything so ridiculous, or degrading...this was simply the first image that popped up when I googled "Kill Whitey."
Sorry for the confusion.
EC, I think you're taking this shit waaaaay too seriously.
Been outside today? Why don't you get out in the sunshine and pull that "knowitall" stick out of your uppity ass.
As a country, we've never been so blind to color. If you feel like you've been discriminated against, then maybe it's not your race. It's time to face the fact that you're probably just an unlikable asshole.
By the way: This picture works with the story well because the author's use of juxtaposition, naivety of youth paired with the subject's general ignorance. Duh.
Guest blogger invitation -- see here for details.
Are you cranky? Do you hate the asshats you have the schlepp food to every day? Or maybe you usually don't mind it, but one day somebody just pissed you off. Maybe you prefer to keep your blog more civilized and don't want to casually throw around the swear words .... but sometimes you just want to write something hateful and vitriolic. Maybe you want more blog traffic. Or maybe you actually have a good story to share. You know, whatever. This cranky blogger wants to feature your stories.
kara, I think you're the one who's blind here if you think the country's blind to race. GH's post itself is a witness that we do not think of or treat every race equally, and that includes white people. We've come a lot as a country in regards to race relations, and everyday, every year, every decade, we advance more, so yes, we've never been better, but that doesn't mean we're perfect. No country or race on this planet will ever be TRULY blind to the implications of one's skin color.
Thank you, GH, for kind reply!
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