Portland OR Bakery fires employees for refusing service to black woman

[Emily Lake]

Alright folks... this is one that I think merits discussion. Here's the synopsis: A bakery in OR closed at 9:00, and turned off their "open" sign. At 9:06 a woman came into the bakery and was told that the bakery was closed and she couldn't order anything. There were a few people in the bakery who were finishing up their business from before 9:00. Two other people had come into the bakery after 9:00, but before 9:06, and had also been turned away. But they were white, and the employees were white... and the patron at 9:06 was black. The owner of the bakery fired the two employees as a result of them being accused of racism.

To me, that seems like a swing way too far to the other side of things. It seems grossly unmerited.

http://abcstlouis.com/news/nation-world/oregon-bakery-fires-employees-for-denying-black-woman-service-after-closing

I didn't see a thread on this anywhere, but if it's already been covered, feel free to merge or delete as seems appropriate

 

[TSwizzle]

The bakery has also volunteered to participate in Portland's second "Reparations Happy Hour", a black-only event in which whites donate money, and the hosting business hands out $10 bills to all "black, brown, and minority ethnicities" who walk into the business.

WTF ?

 

[repoman]

Taken to the cuckshed.

 

[J842P]

The bakery has also volunteered to participate in Portland's second "Reparations Happy Hour", a black-only event in which whites donate money, and the hosting business hands out $10 bills to all "black, brown, and minority ethnicities" who walk into the business.

WTF ?

I think this truly speaks volumes about these sorts of people. I can tell you, most of the "brown" people I know would be insulted by such a pat on the head, but I guess since we are all oppressed minorities, we couldn't possibly want some dignity.

Also:

The bakery's statement says that even though it does not consider the employees to be racist and that they were following the business's protocol of closing at 9 p.m., they were fired because "sometimes impact outweighs intent." The bakery also says in the statement that the way the employees went about denying the woman service, "lacked sensitivity and understanding of the racial implications at work."

These people are truly delusional. I'm starting to believe more and more that the people complaining about this sort of shit are absolutely correct.

 

[Tigers!]

Let me see if I have this correct
3 people enter the store after 9pm and are turned away, 2 white and 1 black.
The staff are sacking for racism yet turned away black and white people.
The staff are gloriously colour blind.

All staff should leave that bakery are the owners are stupid. Looks like an unfair dismissal case to me.

 

[Derec]

Portland, eh? Are these the owners?

And this political correctness is getting way out of hand. There are two sets of rules - for whites and for blacks. Whites can be held to arcane rules such as opening hours but blacks cannot.

And if the self-hating owners want to serve black people after 9pm but not white people, doesn't that violate public accommodation part of Civil Rights laws?

 

[fast]

Although this might seem irrelevant, when exactly was the accusation of racism? If it was near the 9:06 time, I'd ponder the "sometimes impact outweighs intent" comment with delicate sensitivity. The facts of the case (as to the times others were turned away) may not have been known by the 9:06 customer that merely noticed that there were white people being served after 9:00 while it being lost on the 9:06 customer that they were in before 9:00. All that customer might have absorbed was that whites were being served after 9 and she (a non white) also there after 9 was being turned away.

There could have been an air about the situation that if handled with better gloves could have resulted in far superior outcome. First off, doors not locked yet turned away when entering? That's protocol? Was the open sign on? These irrelevancies do not support racism, but races are involved, people, not numbers, people who should be respected--enough care not to even give a glemor of light that race might even be a possibility. Imagine the last customer served (white) walking out at the same the 9:06 customer walked out with her kid going "mommy, where's mine." Mother saying" they're closed" kid points out "she has one." Bystander seeing who's white and who's not.

Facts. Facts of the case. Facts of the matter. The truth. The truth becomes less palitable when it's always the black that is without. Perception. How things look. Sure, this might very well have had absolutely no bearing on race--but there again, they're people of a race with one getting and one not. Rules. Protocol. It's not enough. It takes caring people with more concern about how others feel than clocking out. I don't care if the open sign was off and the door was locked. If you're serving a white person who was in before 9 and a black person comes a-knocking at 9:06, facts should take a back seat to reason and intellectually knowing the facts and the truth about who is in the right.

When (again) was the accusation? If it was then, it might very well be a tough pill to swallow to cave in when you know in your heart that racism wasn't even remotely a factor, and when it's accompanied by a belligerent attitude to boot--with no sense of listening to reason in sight, it can be hard, but then again, that's why people of a certain caliber could have so very easily have rectified this situation long before it even began, but who gets paid enough for that?

Yeah, the expectations of the owner are a bit high for what they're paying the staff, and they should know this, especially since they're bright enough to know the marketing related impact of those words: "sometimes impact outweighs intent." It's true but pure post hoc bullshit. Firing should not have been done but rather use those words to reflect how miserably poor they were in devising protocol and how shitty and neglectful they were in training them for real customer service.

 

[steve_bank]

Two whites and one black turned away and the black claimed racism?

On CNN a black comedian went into a Starbucks and as an experiment began complaining and demanding free coffee, and got it.

The bakery owner probably took the path of least resistance.

 

[fast]

There are two sets of rules - for whites and for blacks. Whites can be held to arcane rules [...]

Dude, get with the program. It doesn't matter. White male Republican conservatives can handle it. A lil handicap'll do ya some good. If they happen to get the upper hand once in awhile, let it go. It'll be alright. I'm not going to demand a level playing field. Hell, starting out at a disadvantage is nothing but a fun exercise for me. If you don't get served after hours and they do, find a way to persevere. And with a smile.

 

[Derec]

Dude, get with the program. It doesn't matter. White male Republican conservatives can handle it.

I am not Republican.

A lil handicap'll do ya some good. If they happen to get the upper hand once in awhile, let it go. It'll be alright. I'm not going to demand a level playing field. Hell, starting out at a disadvantage is nothing but a fun exercise for me. If you don't get served after hours and they do, find a way to persevere. And with a smile.

So-called liberals defending rank racism. Typical.

 

[fast]

Dude, get with the program. It doesn't matter. White male Republican conservatives can handle it.

I am not Republican.

A lil handicap'll do ya some good. If they happen to get the upper hand once in awhile, let it go. It'll be alright. I'm not going to demand a level playing field. Hell, starting out at a disadvantage is nothing but a fun exercise for me. If you don't get served after hours and they do, find a way to persevere. And with a smile.

So-called liberals defending rank racism. Typical.

I'm not liberal. We're even now.

Of course it's racism. Geez. I was practicing trying to blend in.

 

[Mumbles]

Alright folks... this is one that I think merits discussion. Here's the synopsis: A bakery in OR closed at 9:00, and turned off their "open" sign. At 9:06 a woman came into the bakery and was told that the bakery was closed and she couldn't order anything. There were a few people in the bakery who were finishing up their business from before 9:00. Two other people had come into the bakery after 9:00, but before 9:06, and had also been turned away. But they were white, and the employees were white... and the patron at 9:06 was black. The owner of the bakery fired the two employees as a result of them being accused of racism.

To me, that seems like a swing way too far to the other side of things. It seems grossly unmerited.

http://abcstlouis.com/news/nation-world/oregon-bakery-fires-employees-for-denying-black-woman-service-after-closing

I didn't see a thread on this anywhere, but if it's already been covered, feel free to merge or delete as seems appropriate

Not much to discuss - or rather, not much in terms of race. Sounds like another business treating cashiers, waitstaff, etc. like garbage, but very few people are taking up the side of the black women - yes, there are always some fools who will, but as a national story, workers' rights seems like the far more important issue than "accusations of racism have gone to farr!!" one.

 

[Underseer]

Even if this is legit, do you really think this makes up for all the other racism?

Really?

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Wow, don't you just love capitalism!

Businesses can just fire people without good cause for the sake of perception. If you're a lowly wage worker you're supposed to just somehow know when you're trying to do your menial job. Meanwhile, an owner or manager who doesn't do the grunt work you have to do makes these capricious judgments about you. Not even a second chance, just "YOU'RE FIRED!" in a Trumpian way.

And no one even bats an eye.

Citizens of the country need to stand up against this at-will employee nonsense.

 

[laughing dog]

In my experience, retail establishments that are closed but with customers finishing their shopping usually lock the doors to keep new customers from coming in. In this case, customers were coming in and all of them should have been served in name of good customer relations. So, either these employees were having a bad day or inexperienced or inefficient.

The owners of retail establishments that I know will fire employees for upsetting customers or for bad PR.

IMO, these employees screwed up. IMO, if this was the first time they screwed up, I would not have fired them. But firing employees for screwing up is not necessraily racism.

 

[Jarhyn]

Dude, get with the program. It doesn't matter. White male Republican conservatives can handle it.

I am not Republican.

A lil handicap'll do ya some good. If they happen to get the upper hand once in awhile, let it go. It'll be alright. I'm not going to demand a level playing field. Hell, starting out at a disadvantage is nothing but a fun exercise for me. If you don't get served after hours and they do, find a way to persevere. And with a smile.

So-called liberals defending rank racism. Typical.

I dunno. I see the bigger issue here being that after they already turned away two customers, they still hadn't locked the door. It isn't "rank" racism to want to avoid bad headlines. It's kinda stupid, but most people are also kinda stupid. After all, we live in a world where some idiots watch FOX and believe that a kid being in the wrong neighborhood, or a driver being high on weed, or shutting a garage door, or just plain running in fear for their life is a good excuse to murder someone so long as they are black. I mean, if some people can be that shitty and ignorant, it would be unfair to assume that people trying to fight against that were incapable of being just as shitty and ignorant in different ways, especially since a lack of exposure and real world experience is the norm in both communities.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Even if this is legit, do you really think this makes up for all the other racism?

Really?

Pretty impressive, to see the posters who were the earliest to flock into here.

If as described, sounds like the owner panicked and people were unfairly fired. Others have noted though... you lock the door when business is closed.

 

[Derec]

Even if this is legit, do you really think this makes up for all the other racism?

It is legit and, but nice whataboutism.

Really?

The usual suspects are not disappointing, I see.

 

[Derec]

If as described, sounds like the owner panicked and people were unfairly fired.

No, the owners did not "panic". They are well known for racial nonsense like this - including the reparations event described in the article.

Others have noted though... you lock the door when business is closed.

If the employees have been told not to lock the doors until all the customers are out, then the employees again did nothing wrong. They did turn off the open sign.

 

[JohnG]

I guess you could call this reverse racism, but I really don't see being "too nice" to black people being a growing threat to society. It's probably not fair 2 people lost their jobs ( I don't know all the facts) but I don't see this spreading like a virus in white culture.

If anything, it's a misappropriated reaction to the actual racism that occurs.