Wednesday, October 18, 2006

I hear the tips there are shitty, too

I'm not sure what I think about this one. Chris Rock's mom walks into a Cracker Barrel and doesn't get service for like half an hour. Now, I will say that *if* this was the result of racial discrimination Cracker Barrel better be ready to pay up, and substantially (although frankly I wish it could go to someone other than Chris Rock's mom. Like maybe someone whose son isn't a multi-gajillionaire stand-up comedian who could easily spare a buck or two for good ol' Mom every now and then...).

But from the facts we have here... I don't see it. Maybe she has a good argument that this portion of South Carolina is racist, as evidenced by the fact that there apparently aren't very many black people there, but that doesn't mean Cracker Barrel itself is racist.

But, I mean. I've been ignored many many times when I go to a restaurant. Usually if it's taking too long, unless I'm drunk or lazy or bored I'll get up and leave well before it's been a half an hour. I'm not sure why she decided to stay so long; I guess she really likes the Cracker Barrel, which may well be reason to question her thinking in the first place....

Waiting forever at a table could be the result of lots of things -- maybe the restaurant is crazy busy. Maybe the server is crappy. Maybe the host/ess is retarded and didn't bother telling the server there were people at one of his/her tables. None of this translates into racism. It's just part and parcel of running a less-than-stellar restaurant operation, which is precisely what Cracker Barrel does.

And come to think of it, why is Chris Rock's mom eating at Cracker Barrel and not the Ritz-Carlton? Chris, you selfish bastard. Do you know how many hours she was in labor just so you could take your first breath and then exhale it with your first four-letter word?

11 Comments:

At October 18, 2006 at 4:19 PM, Blogger lazerlou said...

Lawfairy,

I'm a little freaked out about your skepticism. Crackerbarerl has a long history of racial discrimination lawsuits filed against it. Google it.

 
At October 18, 2006 at 4:42 PM, Blogger Law Fairy said...

sorry to scare you, lou. From the fact in the article I read, all there was was a long wait time. That doesn't make a racial discrimination case, and as a lawyer you know that. That's all I was saying.

 
At October 18, 2006 at 10:06 PM, Blogger Law Fairy said...

lol, drew, none taken -- again, if she can show it was racially motivated then I'm all for suing them into the ground. Racists are the scum of the earth... I just want to make sure when we sue we actually get the racists and not just crappy restaurants, but I'll take your experience to mean it's worse than just a crappy restaurant.

Working there sounds nasty... I've never been a huge fan of the food anyway :P Of course, the whole rocking-chairs-on-the-porch motif has never been my MO. That's just me though :)

 
At October 19, 2006 at 8:12 AM, Blogger Fred Vincy said...

There may well be discrimination here, but as a senior partner I worked for once said, "You need e-vi-dence." This won't get past a motion to dismiss unless she can find a drewcatt from that restaurant to blow the whistle (or some other fact beyond the wait).

 
At October 19, 2006 at 9:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am more inclined to back up and analyze her poor taste in restaurants. Cracker Barrel? Blech.

 
At October 19, 2006 at 12:41 PM, Blogger Law Fairy said...

Fred, yeah, that's the problem -- if all she has is what's in the article, well, unfortunately she doesn't have a case. Drew, call her up and offer your help! :)

And, yeah, isn't it always the problem that most of the smart people do all they can to get the hell away from the idiots? Sadly, the only way to fight idiocy is down in the barracks. Shudder.

Roonie, amen, my friend. Amen.

 
At October 19, 2006 at 2:41 PM, Blogger Will said...

Having scrapped the bottom of the Cracker Barrel while drunk I can tell you that the white devils were just trying to spare her from having to eat that stuff. Why anyone would willingly go to Cracker Barrel is a mystery to me.

 
At October 19, 2006 at 6:28 PM, Blogger Law Fairy said...

will, seriously. And what were you drinking to mess with your head like that? I mean, Denny's *at least* for hangover-prevention food.

 
At October 30, 2006 at 3:41 PM, Blogger Liz said...

1) I think the wait was intentional. I've never been completely ignored for 30 minutes at a restaurant. Especially one like Cracker Barrel.

2) I think her determination to stay supports the idea that, at least at the time, she thought it was intentional too.

3) I think Chris Rock's mom is the one bringing the lawsuit because, unfortunately, she's goign to be more accepted by jurors and harder to discredit than, maybe, a regular poor person.

 
At October 31, 2006 at 6:45 PM, Blogger heartinsanfrancisco said...

Cracker Barrel was involved in lawsuit(s) involving discrimination against gays, so in the Deep South, should it really surprise anyone that they also don't welcome black patrons?

If Mrs. Rock stayed, perhaps she was entertaining some kind of Rosa Parks fantasy. Or trying to work up an appetite for pig slop er, bad food.

 
At October 31, 2006 at 8:52 PM, Blogger Law Fairy said...

dizzy, good points. I will say that I hope that if she does win, she puts her winnings to good use. As for waiting time, I know that something they taught us when I was waiting tables is that a table with lots of people generally will not notice the passage of time as much as a table with just a few people. And ever since then, I've noticed that's true. When I'm in a group of eight, it can take them 45 minutes to take our dinner order after they bring out appetizers, but we won't notice. Conversely, when there are just two of us, 15 minutes can seem like a lifetime (unless I'm with the right company ;)).

heart, yeah, from the comments it does sound like Cracker Barrel has a major problem. That's so nuts to me... I can think of very few (possibly no) reasons to act like a jackass that are stupider than "because of someone's race." But then, I guess if everyone was intelligent as us, we wouldn't be so exceptional ;)

 

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