Posted on 05/20/2016 4:58:03 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
When a Spanish-speaking customer spoke Spanish to a Spanish-speaking employee, he was told Leon's doesn't do business in Spanish. He posted his experience to social media and soon the community was rallying around what critics called a racist — and illegal — employee policy.
On Tuesday, Joey Sanchez stepped up to the counter of Leon’s Frozen Custard, a 70-year-old Milwaukee staple, and listened to the customer in front of him place his order in Spanish.
The shop is located on the city’s south side, in a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population. Sanchez thought nothing of it.
Then he heard the server’s response.
“She whispered to him in Spanish, ‘I’m not allowed to speak Spanish to you,’ ” Sanchez told TV station Fox 6 Now.
Sanchez was shocked.
So when it came his turn to order, he, too, used his native tongue.
“I’m not allowed to speak Spanish to you,” Sanchez said the server repeated.
He posted his experience to social media, WISN 12 News reported, and soon the community was rallying around what critics called a racist — and illegal — employee policy. Customers on Twitter used the hashtag #BoycottLeons. And the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has even called on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to launch a federal investigation into the “English only” rule.
But Leon’s owner Ron Schneider has remained steadfast amid the uproar, staunchly defending the “English only” rule that he told Fox 6 Now has been in place for nearly a decade, noting that his wife and children are Hispanic.
“Hey, c’mon! It is America,” Schneider told the TV station. “We’ve spoken English for a long, long time.”
“We can’t be the United Nations,” Schneider told WISN 12 News. “They got translators. We don’t.”
Leon’s has been family-owned and operated in Milwaukee since 1942. The shop’s custards are made fresh daily. It has been featured in travel guides and magazines and in several TV specials.
PS; and that makes me angry.
The Leftist Agenda.
[snapping fingers] It's all about the base, about the base, no trouble..."
True. Well said.
Leon’s has the best frozen custard in Milwaukee and perhaps in the world.
It is about a block from Casimir Pulaski High school and was a heart of the south side of Milwaukee for years.
We still stop there when we go back home.
(I graduated from Pulaski and had many a Leon’s frozen Custard for lunch!!)
Glad to see them sticking to their guns. This was once an incredibly Polish neighborhood and the Polish never demanded Leon’s to speak Polish.
The Mexicans need to realize they are in the USA now and we speak English here. Or they can get out of our country and return to the hellhole that spawned them.
He's not in Kansasaria anymore.
when in Rome...
They are proud of their Spaniard roots.
we got thrown out of a restaurant (before we’d ordered) in Montreal for speaking english.
I’m sorry, there’s just nothing wrong with assisting a customer in his/her native tongue if you speak it too. If you don’t, then you don’t. This is a really silly policy - speaking a customer’s native language is often a pleasant surprise and great customer service. I’m in San Antonio and we speak Spanish to our clients who are more comfortable with Spanish. It harms NO ONE.
Especially in Barcelona. Catalan only.
But he does. What a stupid businessman.
Now, that is sensible.
“thus the requirement for spanish speakers in all stores and spanish writing on all products.”
Spanish, French and English. All the languages that comprise the NAU.
“...we speak Spanish to our clients who are more comfortable with Spanish. It harms NO ONE.”
I disagree.
You may be making a noble and personal effort to make your Spanish speaking clients feel comfortable, but our culture at large is doing these people a great disservice, by pandering to their reluctance to assimilate into the American culture.
I understand your point; however, refusing to provide service to people who need it, even though they may not have made an effort to learn English, flies in the face of my firm’s mission statement and core values.
PC will tear down this business. And some crappy corporate entity will take over in it’s place. Or nothing. Yeah America.
One of my grandfathers had a store in an area with many Eastern European immigrants, back in the 1950's. I have photos of his window with prominent signs saying Russian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Polish spoken here. It's just good business -- nothing to apologize for!
There they go with the old “racism” accusation again.
Yaaawn !!!!!!!!!
“...refusing to provide service to people who need it, even though they may not have made an effort to learn English, flies in the face of my firm’s mission statement and core values.”
Interesting. You freely admit to bending over backward for immigrants who refuse to make the slightest effort to assimilate into our culture. You even say that it’s the core mission of your firm to do so.
How do you justify aiding and abetting such divisive behavior? Is it because your bread basket is tied to it? I don’t understand how any patriot can defend such a policy. Do you not see that you’re actively working to keep these people separated from mainstream American culture, and that doing so simultaneously encourages the growth of a balkanized country?
E Pluribus Unum!
Best damn sundae ever. Will be in Milwaukee on Monday and plan to stop. The area has changed a lot. I grew up on 60th and Oklahoma. My grandparents lived on 23rd and Morgan. It is now like another country. I recently went with my son to St Luke’s clinic and was the only English speaking in the waiting area. I was able to get the receptionist to tell me that most are Badgercare (Medicaid) recipients.
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