Skip to comments.
Patrons act over segregated dining (“Cracker” Barrel gave whites better seating and service!)
The New York Times via SMH ^
| May 5, 2004
Posted on 05/04/2004 10:20:25 AM PDT by dead
Washington: The country-wide Cracker Barrel restaurant chain has agreed to overhaul its training and management practices after the US Justice Department accused it of discriminating against black diners at about 50 restaurants.
A civil rights investigation found that black diners at Cracker Barrel restaurants in seven southern states were routinely given tables apart from whites, seated after white customers who arrived later, and given inferior service, the department said.
Managers allowed white servers to refuse to wait on black patrons, and blacks were given less favourable treatment than whites when they complained about service, investigators found. Interviews with dozens of employees suggested that managers "often directed, participated in, or condoned the discriminatory behaviour", the department said.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, a Tennessee-based chain that has 497 locations throughout the US and is known for its country-style cooking and folksy retail stores, denied the allegations contained in the lawsuit.
But the company agreed to several wide-ranging steps aimed at combating discrimination against blacks.
The agreement "moves Cracker Barrel forward in a direction we were already moving", a company spokeswoman said. She said that while Cracker Barrel did not believe the accusations were true, it had agreed to the six-point plan to avoid protracted litigation.
About 100 blacks are pressing discrimination claims and seeking damages from the chain in four lawsuits. One black diner said that when he complained that whites were getting better treatment, he was told he should go to a Burger King down the street.
"It's shocking that something like this still happens 40 years after the passage of civil rights legislation," said Heidi Doerhoff, a lawyer representing customers in Arkansas. "It harkens back to the back-of-the-bus treatment of African Americans."
TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crackerbarrel
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 ... 101-116 next last
To: MacDorcha
We had a Po' Folks back in the 1980s in town as well. Pretty good place to eat for the money. Wonder what happened to them?
21
posted on
05/04/2004 10:50:48 AM PDT
by
billbears
(Deo Vindice.)
To: Congressman Billybob
Second your observation. I have eaten in Cracker Barrels in every Southern State and the one in Mass. Except for the one in Mass the service has been unfailingly good.
22
posted on
05/04/2004 10:54:13 AM PDT
by
Little Bill
(John F'n Kerry is Swine, I want to see the Ms's tax returns!)
To: dead
Same problems down at "White Castle" and "Karla's Kountry Kitchen." I think I'll sue Burger King Their advertising is clearly discriminatory.
23
posted on
05/04/2004 10:55:15 AM PDT
by
1Old Pro
To: billbears
We had a Po' Folks back in the 1980s in town as well. Pretty good place to eat for the money. Wonder what happened to them? They still rahht c'here in @lanna
To: O.C. - Old Cracker
I don't care if you're from Mars. Just bring your wallet.ACK ACK!?
To: Leroy S. Mort; billbears
Ya'll remember Skeeter's Big Biscuits? I think they folded, but they sure made some tastee biscuits and gravy!
To: Lee'sGhost
Two words. "If true".
I was sitting in a Cracker Barrel restaurant about three years ago with Mrs. Bond, and I remarked that they were living on borrowed time. With the word "Cracker" in the name and all that "explosion in an antique store" cute stuff on the walls, it was only a matter of time before they were the subject of a racial extortion.
I have never been to a Cracker Barrel and not had to wait. Of course, I am usually there on a week-end when everyone else in the world is on the road as well. At the restaurants, you leave your name with the waitress, and wander around the store, and come up when your name is called. Now am I absolutely sure that my name was called in the order I gave it? If a regular came in, is it possible that they were bumped up ahead of me because they are, in fact, a regular? Do I give a hoot?
But if I was in the business of stoking racial resentment, I would care a great deal, wouldn't I?
27
posted on
05/04/2004 11:04:30 AM PDT
by
bondjamesbond
(Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
To: Little Bill
Second your observation. I have eaten in Cracker Barrels in every Southern State and the one in Mass. Except for the one in Mass the service has been unfailingly good. I respectfully suggest that you're probably white.
To: usadave
I worked in a restaraunt at one point in grad school, and I can attest that the waitresses believed firmly that blacks were lousy tippers. Students, too, were considered notoriously bad tippers as were single women dining alone or groups of women. Waitresses tried to avoid all of the above, and even took turns in a sort of 'table from hell' rotation whereby they shared the pain. I remember once, a group of women unexpectedly left a large tip, and the one who paid the bill said to the waitress on the way out: "you were great. I spent 10 years as a waitress, and I know what it's like to have a table full of women divide up a 10% tip and leave you short about half of it...."
29
posted on
05/04/2004 11:08:04 AM PDT
by
CatoRenasci
(Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
To: dead
Betcha JJ is running yet another shakedown.
To: dead
31
posted on
05/04/2004 11:10:53 AM PDT
by
hattend
To: Congressman Billybob
Thanks for the insight to a little common sense. I enjoy stopping at CB on my road trips and I have never once seen any sign of anyone getting mistreated.
32
posted on
05/04/2004 11:11:01 AM PDT
by
darkwing104
(Let's get dangerous)
To: Congressman Billybob
We make NO attempt to get into a CB in Tennessee after UT has played a home football gameWell, next time you're stuck in Knox Vegas during a Vols game, just come on over and I'll whip you up some chicken 'n dumplin's and hashbrown casserole. Or maybe Uncle Herschel's breakfast.
To: dead
34
posted on
05/04/2004 11:12:08 AM PDT
by
hattend
To: SedVictaCatoni
I smoke, too, as do my Black friends and in laws.
35
posted on
05/04/2004 11:13:05 AM PDT
by
Little Bill
(John F'n Kerry is Swine, I want to see the Ms's tax returns!)
To: CatoRenasci
When I went to school in Arizona, my mother my sister and I ate at Denny's. Seated right away and got excellent service and this with my mother who is of a dark coloured persuasion with a white waitress. Then I went to eat with a group of black kids and well I've never witnessed such crude treatment in my life. When I called to complain about the service, the manager started ranting and raving about negroes and I said 'thanks' and hung up *LOL*
That's not the first time I've heard that about black people being bad tippers. This is just my opinion but I really think there's a mentality of paying money to people who they perceive as getting paid ALREADY. As for students (who are often lacking in finances) people should understand that. If I can't tip someone extra, I usually say it up front that I have no extra money to tip.
36
posted on
05/04/2004 11:15:49 AM PDT
by
cyborg
To: Little Bill
Smoke?! How evil of you :)
37
posted on
05/04/2004 11:16:29 AM PDT
by
cyborg
To: Semper Paratus
You lost me on that one.
38
posted on
05/04/2004 11:17:04 AM PDT
by
O.C. - Old Cracker
(When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
To: Congressman Billybob
Given that CB settled with the federal government for a printed notice, and NO fine, as a lawyer that suggests to me that the evidence was very weak, so CB settled on a no-fine basis.I have to disagree. The primary purpose of these types of civil lawsuits, is not to raise money for the Federal government, but to obtain remedial action from the accused. Like a plea bargain in a criminal case, a quick disposition in these types of civil rights actions is often the best way to avoid a large civil penalty, which is probably what the Feds would have sought if CB's response was to flip the middle finger.
To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Haven't been the movies in a few years?
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 ... 101-116 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson