Gee, That's Too Bad...

I really liked Red Lobster.

 

I liked their specials.

 

I liked their cheesy biscuits.

 

Not as much as I like Tony's on the Redondo Beach pier in Redondo Beach, California. But when you can't have the real thing (great seafood), Red Lobster will do as a fair substitute.

 

But now they are out. I cannot in good conscience patronize Red Lobster again. Not until, and not unless they do a complete about face on their treatment of one of their Tennessee employees, a Ms. Tori Jenkins, an African-American waitress who works at a Franklin, Tennessee instance of the Red Lobster restaurant chain.

 

Ms. Jenkins had the misfortune to serve dinner to bigoted racists who objected to having their food handled by a black woman. And they made this fact obvious by including a tip of "None" and a total of "N****r" on the restaurant receipt.

As posted on her father's Facebook page.

 

And it caught fire and spread across the internet tubes.

 

So what does Red Lobster do? They suspended this woman with pay for "violating company policy." The spokesman for Red Lobster said that it was against company policy of "publicly posting a receipt."

 

A thing that Ms. Jenkins did not do. Her father did it. He probably posted from his phone with or without her knowledge or consent. Now if Ms. Jenkins' father worked for Red Lobster, I can see how he would be suspended, but the child should not receive the punishment due to the parent. And mark me, she is being punished. Suspending a waitress "with pay" is an insult. One cannot live on what a waitress gets paid. They make their living wages from tips. No work, no living wage.

 

No, Ms. Jenkins was not suspended for a violation of policy, she was suspended for serving bigoted racists. She was suspended because she is a black woman working for a company that does not like to get this kind of publicity. So they suspended her and made matters even worse.

 

No, I will not eat at Red Lobster ever again.

 

I don't even like the color red.