Posted on 10/26/2009 8:53:44 AM PDT by greatdefender
TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.
The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.
No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.
Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.
The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.
His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.
"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.
Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.
"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Uh, Whitten, the hotel is in New Mexico. People with Spanish lames have lived there for centuries. Asking someone named Marco to go by Mark is pretty stupid, if you ask me.
I remember a famous restaurant in LA in the late 80s where all the waitresses had to change their name to ‘Debbie’. (real kitchy, I don’t believe it lasted long)
Going by a different name while on the job is not the same as discriminating against employment- at that, it seems pretty obvious he isn’t discriminating in his hiring.
Not cool.
You are right, from a business perspective, it is stupid. (IMHO). But, unlike what some may charge, he isn’t discriminating in his hiring practices. In addition to the previous post, it reminds me of what Indian outsourced telemarketers do, they all come up with ‘American’ names like John and Stacy to go by, simply for the comfort level of their customers in the interactions.
It seems, based on his location, it would have more appeal, business wise, to make all his employees with non-Hispanic names change theirs to Hispanic.
...kinda like someone named “Barack” going by “Barry.”
about as stupid as asking Barack Hussein Obama to anglicize his name.
OTH, where is that pesky Long Form Birth Certificate?
+1
[Jerry’s apartment late at night there is knocking at the door]
JERRY: Who is it? Who is it?
GINA: It’s Gina.
JERRY: Who?
GINA: Martine’s girl friend.
JERRY: Martine?
GINA: You next door neighbour.
JERRY: Oh, Martin!
I had a particular Mexican friend growing up. He introduced himself as Mike in elementary school, and we called him Mike until we were Sophomores. I showed up the first day of school, and said, “Hey, Mike!” He promptly told me he was no longer Mike, but Miguel, and that I was never to call him Mike again.
He officially joined the local Mexican gang during the summer and no longer ate lunch or hung out with whites. They segregated themselves in a school that never had race problems. We just left them alone and let them be their “group”. They claim racism, but when inspected closely, they are the ones who ostracize themselves in our society.
If I’m staying at a hotel, what will impress me is if I order extra towels and actually get them. I won’t even care how the person bringing them says his name.
So this guy was a Marine? “Hey, have someone transport these mortar rounds to Company C, NOW! It’s an emergency! And don’t send anyone who pronounces his name ‘Mar-teen,’ either!”
Maybe if they carried Drake’s coffee cakes?
My Greek ancestors happily altered their names to fit in with American society. Demetrios became Jimmy, Costas became Gus, Stavroula became Stella etc. They were eager to be American and to be understood, so they were unperturbed by the changes to their first names. At home, they continued to be called by their original names but many legally changed their first names to ones that were anglicized. Whitten most likely has a point with not being in the market to waste money on bad publicity.
My take...
Changing names = Not OK
English in the Workplace = OK, if a person can speak the common language they should.
Just shut the doors and walk away. Or turn the place into a whorehouse. That’d fit in nicely and everyone’s name could be Juan and Juanita. Problem solved! (this is so easy!)
Sounds like a damned good manager to me.
I pay you to do a job, that requires you speak english, don’t want to do it, there’s the door.
Being a native New Mexican, I tend to agree this is stupid.
That said the “La Raza” “Mexican pride” thing is equally stupid.
Requiring people to speak English is simply good manners in the work place.
Tell me of stooges,earJam!
The slight difference is that most Hispanics in New Mexico are not immigrants — the border changed on top of them.
So keep the names, but speak Englsh.
Changing names is fine, people do this all the time in professional settings. There is nothing racist or wrong with this, I work with pleanty of folks from South East Asia, do you really think their given names are Dan or Doug? Hell no, but they realize the harder their names are to pronounce the more difficult they have with their careers.
Do you really think that stripper you were chatting ups given name was Asia?
Service industry is all about appearance and experience. When the commodity is the same across nearly all offerings, service is the only thing that differenciates.
This guys’s a moron, his employees likely have had family in the area for 400 plus years.
he needs to be managing a Telemarketing center in India
(your name is Sandra, my a*s!)
monty python had 5 university philosophy professors
all named “bruce”!
That argument falls flat with Marcos. And New Mexico has a deep hispanic heritage.
Sounds like a damned good manager to me.
I pay you to do a job, that requires you speak english, don’t want to do it, there’s the door.
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How about requiring non-Latino names? Is that good management as well?
IF you are trying to rebrand a dump hotel into a nice one, I’d say there is a good likelihood yes.
Hotel has a reputation as being a dump run lazy immigrants, and you wish to turn it into a respectable establishment, yea guess what? You need to change the perception and not having hispanic sounding names certainly would help to kill that perception.
Like it or not folks, this isn’t a case of racism as far as I can see, but good business.
"Listens Shi'tiqua. You're gonna have to change your name. Let's call you Brittney."
Yet another real story that sounds like it’s from the Onion. This guy’s an idiot.
I had an Indian tech support guy tell me his name was Billy Bob. I almost hit the floor laughing.
Please show where the article said that.
That part of New Mexico is not friendly to illegals. It's almost a certainty that these folks are locals from long established families.
Periodically I stop at a Chick Fil-A on the way home from work to pick up something for my daughter.
The young people working there are eager to serve, polite, pleasant, and nearly all minority (black and hispanic). I have asked to speak to the manager 3 times in the last year to commend the hiring manager for the exceptional staff and service.
Quite the opposite of a typical fast food experience. They get to keep their names.
If you are trying to rebrand a dump hotel into a nice one, get rid of the staff who are not meeting expectations and replace them with staff who will meet or exceed expectations.
It’s not in the name, it’s the level of service being provided.
JMO.
You're too kind. It's more like -
a) so people won't freak out that they actually have to speak to people not named "John" or "Sally" and
b) because, Americans especially, are either too lazy or too rude to learn how to properly pronounce names that aren't "John" or "Sally:.
i'm fine with that... but not the name changes...
just give them a number. I was known as 222 for over 6 years.simply the 22nd member of the 2nd crew.evryones treated the same and no offense can be taken.
I can't speak for you, but generally whenever I see a RUN DOWN, that's a polite way to say DUMP. And as to how such a hotel is run, well I've never seen a "run down" hotel that's been run well. They are "run down" for a reason, and its generally lazy and ignorant staff.
Agreed, Chik-Fil-A not only has a great product, but their service is absolutely unmatched in the quick-service industry.
he's not racist... but his actions are racial...
You said 'immigrant' - hispanics have lived in New Mexico for centuries. Also, it is my experience that most poorly run businesses are the result of bad management, not bad staff.
Winnuh! Best example of the post.
more like an A**hole and a rube.
Uneducated lout.
Speaking english on the job in the presence of non-spanish speakers is proper.
Asking someone to change his name is something a pinhead would come up with. I personally wouldn’t work for a man like that. You couldn’t pay me enough.
I wonder if it occurred to him that he was in “New Mexico”. He’s the interloper, not them.
What an idiot. He may be good at rehabbing and upgrading old hotels but his PR skills are sadly lacking...at least in this case. The State is named New Mexico for a reason.
He officially joined the local Mexican gang during the summer and no longer ate lunch or hung out with whites. They segregated themselves in a school that never had race problems. We just left them alone and let them be their “group”. They claim racism, but when inspected closely, they are the ones who ostracize themselves in our society.
A woman at our chuch did that, thought not for the same reason and not such an extreme case. For years she was "Kathy". Then out of the blue she started on insisting on "Kate". I still don't know the reason but it was very abrupt.
I have experience sort of related to this. I worked in the Neurology department at a medical school for several years. One year, one of our new residents (already a physician) came from Mexico (interestingly, he was a Jew). His name was Pedro and he went by Pedro. No problem. Pedro he was, except for one of our faculty members. He just couldn't bring himself to call him Pedro--he always called him Peter, as if it were beneath him to say Pedro. We all thought it was funny, including Pedro. The funny thing is, today, we (society) thinks this motel owner is an extreme right winger; however, back in the late 70's this doctor was an extreme left winger.
At the company I work at now, we have many ESL people (from India, China, Japan). When in common areas, my company requires them to speak English so that those who don't speak their language won't think they are talking about them. My company puts this into the sexual harrassment category.
#32. I totally agree. The employees reflect management’s attitude. Chick Fil-A is a christian business that is very employee and family oriented (note that they are not open for business on Sundays).
It may be stupid, but it’s his restaurant, and if the employees don’t like it, they can leave as some have done. They even have a right to protest, it shouldn’t change this man’s mind however.
-excuse me I mean his hotel.
When in common areas, my company requires them to speak English so that those who don’t speak their language won’t think they are talking about them. My company puts this into the sexual harrassment category.
_______
It’s kind of funny that we anglos hearing 2 spanish speakers talk to each other in their native language assume they are talking about us.
I can only hope that the 2 Spanish speaking ladies in the gym were talking about me. Of course, if they were, it probably went something like this “That anglo needs to spend a LOT more time on the treadmill.”
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