Ricky Labit, a disabled offshore worker, said he had been a regular for eight months at the Manchuria Restaurant in Houma, eating there as often as three times a week.
On his most recent visit, he said, a waitress gave him and his wife's cousin, 44-year-old Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two adults.
"She says, 'Y'all fat, and y'all eat too much,'" Labit said.
Labit and Borrelli said they felt discriminated against because of their size. "I was stunned, that somebody would say something like that. I ain't that fat, I only weigh 277," Borrelli said, adding that a waitress told him he looked like he a had a "baby in the belly."
I like the verbiage of a sign they now have displayed in their restaurant: Food is for eating, not toys for your child or 20% is added.
You can read more here.
Some questions:
-Does a restaurant have the right to keep customers from coming back because they take advantage of the offerings of the restaurant?
-How would you have remedied this if you were the restaurant owner?
-Did Mr. Labit handle it correctly?
-Does our culture discriminate against those who are overweight? If yes, in what ways?
5 comments:
You realize Houma is where my family is from.
Kevin
-Does a restaurant have the right to keep customers from coming back because they take advantage of the offerings of the restaurant?
It's their business. Even were there not regulations about things, eventually their practices would become known and it would affect their business. I could go in and dump all their food on the floor and only get charged an extra 20%. If I were a vengeful type, it would appeal to me. Shucks, I must be a vengeful type. It appeals to me. But I would resist doing so if I could.
-How would you have remedied this if you were the restaurant owner?
Beforehand not afterwards.
-Did Mr. Labit handle it correctly?
Didn't read to see what he did. (lazy)
-Does our culture discriminate against those who are overweight? If yes, in what ways?
Everyone discriminates.
Kevin,
I did not know that. Did they ever eat there? If not they should and they should take a picture of the sign I quoted.
Roland,
I find it humorous that you are very honest in your responses... that is a compliment.
Point:
-Did Mr. Labit handle it correctly?
Didn't read to see what he did. (lazy)
j razz
Food is for eating, not toys for your child or 20% is added.
Being a former waiter at a Chinese buffet, amen, amen, amen.
I have no problem with the way the restaurant handled this. For that matter, they can handle it whatever way they wanted to. In the end, there are pros and cons either way; currently, they probably lost at least 2, maybe more, customers; or, they could have just let things go and made changes to their buffet line to only include the "high value" items a couple of times a week. I most likely would have chosen the latter.
Funny story from my waitering days: I worked in a college town, so the restaurant I was at offered a discount with a student ID, effectively making it an all-you-can-eat buffet for less than $5 (at lunch). While we had our fair share of "heavy-hitters" the most surprising big eaters were the itty-bitty college girls. One night a group from a sorority showed up (about 8 or 9) in their PJs (stretchy pants!). Within an hour, they had wiped the buffet clean and we had to call in a second cook to keep up with menu items.
Stretchy pants! That is a funny site to behold.
j razz
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