If corporate was able to fire this employee, then it’s a corporate run store, and if they only had one server and one cook, that’s THEIR fault, not the poor server who got fired. If the reason the server gave for refusing them was legitimate, then she did them a favor. One cook and one server trying to feed a group of 25, plus whoever else comes in, would take HOURS. If I were a customer, I’d get really steamed if they were too short-staffed to get my food out in a timely manner, and didn’t tell me upfront, so I could decide whether or not to stay or leave.
Maybe she didn’t do it quite like that — warning the group that yes, they can be seated, but it will take an eternity that wouldn’t change no matter what color they were.
“One cook and one server trying to feed a group of 25, plus whoever else comes in, would take HOURS.”
With today’s work ethic, probably. But not 40ish years ago. See #16 above.