Posted on 08/13/2018 6:24:40 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
A Florida Denny’s has apologized after a group of black customers were turned away at the restaurant.
Elijah Henderson Jr. told News4Jax that he visited the Lake City Denny’s with a group of about 25 members from his church, and was immediately told by an employee that they would not be able to accommodate them.
Henderson said that there were plenty of other groups in the restaurant, and that he thought his group was being discriminated against.
"Is it the color of my skin? That's where I left it at. Is that a problem? Because everybody else was eating and drinking, and she was, like, 'I am not going to be able to accommodate you all,’” he told the station.
Henderson said that the employee claimed there was only one cashier and one cook working at the time. The employee no longer works at the Denny’s, according to News4Jax.
"There was another family that came in right after me, she was, like, 'You guys go ahead and have a seat. I will be with you momentarily,’” he said.
“They are wrong for how they treated us," he added. "Point blank, I don't care what you look like, or where you come from, I just want equality."
Denny’s corporate office said in a statement that the incident was “unacceptable.”
"We were shocked by the unacceptable experience our guests received recently at our Lake City, Florida, location, and sincerely apologize,” the statement said. “We simply do not tolerate discrimination of any kind in our restaurants."
Henderson also said that Denny’s chief operating officer called him to personally apologize.
"He was like, 'Well, I work with a diversity department.' I was like, 'Well, you guys have to do a little more work because it's not working,’” Henderson said. “’What you're doing may be working at corporate, but when it drizzles down and comes to the franchisees, it is not working.’”
In the video Mr. Henderson says, 'I don't know what you look like or where you come from'.
Since her race is not given as white and Mr. Henderson says he doesn't care what she looks like or where she comes from, my guess is the woman wasn't white and she may be a 'new arrival'.
Could they manage to accommodate group of 25 white people? I don’t think so. So it’s not a racial issue.
Did he call ahead so the restaurant could prepare for his party of 25?
Oh wait, he didn’t
I can understand why a restaurant would turn down a large party, especially when they did not call ahead so they can prepare for it.
Get the hell out!! Did they want a big table? What a joke— GETBOUT!!
I went to an IHOP a few years ago with a 90 year old relative and was told they couldn’t serve us. They only had one waitress and one cook that Sunday. We went elsewhere. The place has since closed.
I am white so I am not sure what the clown’s issues are.
Just by reading the story above, I said it’s fake news. Because I don’t believe at this time of age in America that a big restaurant franchise refuse servicing because of skin color
EVERY SERVER KNOWS:
1. No tip
2. Radically more requests, framed as outraged ORDERS
Is it really any wonder servers (including many black) balk just a little..?
It wasn’t the color of their skin, it was a large group of 25 people just walking in, without prior arrangement.
2 years ago
Napa Valley Calif WINE TRAIN
Boisterous urgban group gets on, gets drunk as hell
Very much noise from this one group
Many complaints
Consultation, reassurances
Much more noise
Many more complaints
Finally kick them off at next stop
$11,000,000 SETTLEMENT...!
One cashier and one cook. The place was understaffed. Regardless they should’ve sat that group of 25. Black, white, whatever. Seat them and. serve them. Even if it takes three hours.
That employee that refused them service may not have been racist, but he sure was stupid. Very stupid. He should’ve seen this coming. Stevie Wonder could’ve seen this coming. You gave blacks the special attention they demand or you will pay for it.
Were all the parties that were being served, thus proving discrimination, 25 people? I bet not.
Dennys is a magnet for this kind of thing.
“I can understand why a restaurant would turn down a large party, especially when they did not call ahead so they can prepare for it.”
Seems like they should have just told the party of 25 that it would be quite some time to seat them all together, but would be able to seat them a few at time, if they preferred that to waiting.
This wasn’t a family (he complains that a family was seated), it was a group of 25 people, without a reservation, and the restaurant probably did not have room for them. It has nothing to do with color.
Frankly, I think Denny’s is awful, in terms of both food and service, but a lot of people go there after church so it was probably crowded. I don’t know if the Lake City one is big or small but in any case, I don’t think they’d turn away customers unless they didn’t have space for them. But now everything becomes racial.
One of my first jobs was working in a Waffle House clone and was the only worker there on 2nd shift when a tour bus with 30 people piled in the door.
Waiter/cook/cashier and dishwasher, I had them all in and out of there in an hour.
Reginald Denny’s just isn’t what it used to be...
Yes, publicize that, please.
I saw it in a comment section of a local newspaper online. Then I watched for it and saw that the persons of color do deliberate terrible things to innocent, sweet waitresses and make them look bad to their managers. That is evil.
Something great big is coming and no one in the media will have heard of anything rumbling toward the big day. Coming out of nowhere. The silent Majority knows better. Every news story on violations of PC makes a roomful of good people shake their heads in disbelief. No one believes the BS any longer.
This has a large smell about it.
When you take that many people to a restaurant to eat, and the restaurant doesn’t do reservations, you might want to call ahead to see if your group can all be accommodated in a timely manner before showing up unannounced. I see Mr. Henderson and the rest of his crew lacks common sense.
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