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Race gap seen in restaurant hiring
Chicago Tribune ^ | February 24, 2010 | Oscar Avila

Posted on 02/25/2010 7:53:12 AM PST by ConservativeStatement

Kitchen worker Carlos Garcia envies the waiters who make more money and suffer fewer aches than those like him in the "back of the house." The very term, common in restaurants, speaks to a divide that is conspicuous yet often overlooked by diners.

The division of labor plays out in Loop steakhouses and Wrigleyville sports pubs: Taking the order or seating the clients is the girl next door, most likely white, while a cadre of young Mexican men construct the meal behind the scenes.

In a first-of-its-kind survey released this month, a Chicago labor advocacy group detailed the segregation of restaurants and the unequal pay and working conditions that exist between the front and back of the house. It found that nearly 80 percent of whites work in the front, nearly two-thirds of Hispanics in the back.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: aliens; discrimination; eateries; immigration; race; restaurants
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1 posted on 02/25/2010 7:53:12 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
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To: ConservativeStatement

Wonder what would happen if Carlos and other “back of the house” kitchen workers like him would actually learn English consistently?

Restaurants aren’t going to have seaters, greeters, and waiters who can’t speak the language of the customers.


2 posted on 02/25/2010 7:54:47 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Brown must be the new Black, back of the bus and all that ya know.....


3 posted on 02/25/2010 7:55:46 AM PST by sniper63 (Bang,Bang, Maxwell's Silver hammer........)
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To: ConservativeStatement

i noticed in a large east coast hospital, that most of the administrators are white and every maintenance person I have seen is black. just about every nurse is a pretty young white female (there is one male nurse around, tho).

I’ve never seen a white cleaner though...


4 posted on 02/25/2010 7:56:05 AM PST by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: ConservativeStatement

That’s the price of being illegal - or competing directly with illegal immigrant labor.


5 posted on 02/25/2010 7:56:14 AM PST by PGR88
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To: ConservativeStatement

If he’s legal, I sympathize.

If he’s not, I couldn’t give a smelly Obama.


6 posted on 02/25/2010 7:56:31 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: ConservativeStatement
I believe that's because spoken English is a prerequisite.
7 posted on 02/25/2010 7:56:44 AM PST by ibytoohi
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

When you allow millios of illegals into the country they drive down the wages of the lowest in our society. They don’t take jobs americans won’t do..they take pay the american’s can’t accept.
This isn’t a race issue..it is an issue of a govt’s failure to protect it’s most vunerable citizens.


8 posted on 02/25/2010 7:57:28 AM PST by Oldexpat
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To: ConservativeStatement

Is kitchen worker Carlos Garcia’s spoken English good and not with a heavy accent? Customer contact ability includes one’s manner of speech as well as grooming and intelligence. As a customer I don’t like to have to repeat my order due to bad communication with a waiter, unless I am a tourist in a foreign country and have to act like a polite invited guest. In Chicago, I’m the honored customer and want to be so treated.


9 posted on 02/25/2010 7:58:17 AM PST by RicocheT
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To: ConservativeStatement

***It found that nearly 80 percent of whites work in the front, nearly two-thirds of Hispanics in the back.***

I went to a Mexican restauraunt last week. The staff is all hispanic and the food was excellent!

Went to a steak house not far from it two weeks ago. Wait staff mostly anglo women. Steaks were great.

so what is the problem?


10 posted on 02/25/2010 7:59:51 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: ConservativeStatement
cannot realistically hope to become servers because they lack legal status or haven't mastered English.

well there you go! and i can't realistically hope to become an astronaut, engineer nor chemist because, while i passed algebra, i never mastered it...

11 posted on 02/25/2010 8:00:50 AM PST by latina4dubya ( self-proclaimed tequila snob)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Frankly, little Mexican guys are rarely cute and sexy enough to garner the tips a pretty, curvy white girl is going to get. Very few patrons of bars and clubs want to be waited on by a guy. Sorry, but that’s the way it is in the straight world.


12 posted on 02/25/2010 8:02:09 AM PST by ottbmare (I could agree wth you, but then we'd both be wrong.)
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To: camle

I’m from DC and grew up when the city was just coming out of segregation. All the maintenance people I ever saw were black. When I went to the U of Michigan I was shocked to see white janitors. I had no idea that white people did those kinds of jobs (I was a bit sheltered). There were still a lot of black women working in the kitchens in the dorm dining halls, though.

I agree that they aren’t going to have Mexicans in the front of the house if they can’t speak freakin’ English.


13 posted on 02/25/2010 8:03:36 AM PST by radiohead (Buy ammo, get your kids out of government schools, pray for the Republic.)
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To: camle
"i noticed in a large east coast hospital, that most of the administrators are white and every maintenance person I have seen is black. just about every nurse is a pretty young white female (there is one male nurse around, tho)."

Did you happen to notice whether or not the maintenance personnel had college degrees? Do you think it is safe to assume that the administrators and nurses have degrees?

14 posted on 02/25/2010 8:03:57 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: ConservativeStatement

You run a small resturant, who do you want greeting the customer? Do you want the cute, perky young lady, or the young man? I would chose the young lady, as your customer base will generally be men prefer looking at attractive, perky young women (Hooters, Chili’s, Appleby’s, TGIF, ect) meet, seat and serve the tables.

Sorry, but the heavier women and men will find themselves doing the kitchen and clean-up work. It’s not fair, it’s not equitable - but that’s life. As a business owner, I get to chose who gets to represent me to the public. If you don’t fit some arbitrary set of ‘norms’ for my business, you may not be offered a job, or the job you are offered may not be the job you want.

Conversely, if I run a factory where there is little or no public interface - I will hire solely upon qualifications, I don’t care what sex, race, religion or nationality you are. In that environment, it only makes sense to hire based upon capability.


15 posted on 02/25/2010 8:04:11 AM PST by Hodar (Who needs laws .... when this "feels" so right?)
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To: Hodar

Maybe the Hispanics should start their own restaurants, like the Chinese do. Then they can speak anything they like.


16 posted on 02/25/2010 8:06:54 AM PST by Venturer
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To: ottbmare

“Mexican guys are rarely cute and sexy enough to garner the tips a pretty, curvy white girl is going to get.”

Bingo.

With the exception of steak houses, wait staff are generally hot girls.


17 posted on 02/25/2010 8:07:25 AM PST by TheThirdRuffian (Nothing to see here. Move along.)
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To: Venturer

Maybe the workers in the back aren’t legal. Send them home if they have a problem.


18 posted on 02/25/2010 8:07:55 AM PST by TigerBait
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To: Venturer
Maybe the Hispanics should start their own restaurants, like the Chinese do. Then they can speak anything they like.

But they will go bankrupt. Ever been to a Chinese restaurant where the waiter didn't speak English? I haven't. Not saying that they don't exist, but I've never heard of one.

The primary difference between other cultures and the Mexican (parasite) culture is that everyone else understands that they are here, and need to learn English to compete and realize the American dream.

Mexicans seem to think they need to mold America into the corrupt third-world toilet from whence they came. They feel entitled to demand that 'we' adapt to meet their needs, instead of making an effort to 'fit in' with the rest of the country. Funny, almost every other nationality that has come to America realized this basic concept (Korean, Vietnamese, German, Italian, Norwegian, etc).

19 posted on 02/25/2010 8:11:16 AM PST by Hodar (Who needs laws .... when this "feels" so right?)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Liberals trying to wreck one of the few remaining industries where you can find an entry level job.


20 posted on 02/25/2010 8:12:00 AM PST by Jack Wilson
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