Posted on 08/27/2013 7:04:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
After waiting patiently for two hours to be seated, a group of 25 black family members and friends were recently booted out in the rain from a Wild Wing Café in North Charleston, S.C., because a white customer felt threatened by their presence.
News of the incident, which is now spreading on social media, was first made public via a Facebook post on Aug. 22 after the company failed to respond to a complaint made on behalf of the offended customers three weeks ago.
"I will never go to Wild wings cafe in N. Chs again! We (Party of 25 family and friends) waited 2hrs, patiently and were refused service because another customer (White) felt threatened by us," noted Mike London in the Facebook post. "This type of racial discrimination is unacceptable and we have to put a STOP TO IT. The manager looked me dead in the face and said she was refusing us service because she had a right to and simply she felt like it. DO NOT SUPPORT THIS ESTABLISHMENT... PLEASE SHARE THIS POST…We need your help," the post continued.
The post was quickly followed up with a telling photo of the group standing outdoors shielding themselves from the rain with umbrellas.
In an interview with WNEM about the incident last week, Michael Brown said the group was celebrating a going away party for his cousin when the shift manager of the restaurant approached them and told them that there was a "situation."
"She said there's a situation where one of our customers feels threatened by your party, so she asked us not to seat you in our section, which totally alarmed all of us because we're sitting there peaceably for two hours," Brown told WNEM. "Obviously, if we were causing any conflict, we would have been ejected out of the place hours before," he noted.
He explained that during his conversation with the manager, a member of the celebrating party decided to record what was happening and the manager responded by refusing to seat them entirely.
"I asked her I want to be clear with you," said Brown. "I said so you're telling me I have to leave. She said I have a right to deny you service. I said so you're asking me to leave because you're upset because he was recording you, after we've waited for two hours, and after you've already pretty much discriminated on us, and she answered 'yes.'"
Since the matter became public, however, the company has been facing public scorn and has responded to the incident a number of times.
"With regard to the ongoing discussion about a customer complaint, we at Wild Wing Cafe are completely aware of the fact that we dropped the ball in communicating swiftly to a loyal customer. We take full responsibility for our lapse in response time, had the opportunity to call back and have no excuses for not doing so in 3 weeks," noted the company in a post on their Facebook page on Aug. 24.
"We have never tolerated racism from our employees and won't tolerate it on our Page either. Our biggest concern has always been our customers and our staff. We have always insisted on hearing all sides to an issue and treating people with respect... and this time is no different," it continued.
In a follow-up post on Sunday, the company further noted that they are now conducting a thorough investigation into the incident while apologizing again.
"We are conducting a thorough investigation and are taking the appropriate action. In the meantime, we are in regular and productive conversation with the individuals and we hope to keep all involved fans and friends of WWC," the company noted.
"We realize these are topics that engender emotional reactions. We truly believe that actions speak louder than words and we hope all are open to let ours speak for us as we move through this situation. We are committed to not repeat the mistakes that have been made and to make sure anybody who walks in the doors of WWC is treated with love, respect and care," it said.
I’m with you. This thread is very disturbing.
This from the company's website.
Now, just looking at this particular group of people. And having been around just such particular “groups” in restaurants most all my life, I see a little problem here. You actually think this bunch is a “one check” type? I would guess, and I could be wrong, that there is a minimum of, oh probably 8 checks in this group. And I would be willing to bet that 1 flavor per order would be just too dad gum hard to wrap their heads around.
Does it sound like I'm stereotyping this particular group? You would be right. Does that mean I am wrong? I would say with about 90% certainty, no.
Definitely not a bunch of gang bangers. Restaurant is in deep kimchee.
Thank you. I can’t believe it has not been pulled. I sent an abuse but I guess they are too busy or agree with the thread.
The aren’t dressed like total thugs, but I don’t think they look all that decent either.
The women are either obese or dressed like hoochie mamas or both.
Most of the men look like tough guys. Maybe not thugs, but not mild mannered accountants either.
Also, there are only 17 pictured. We don’t know what the other 8 looked like. Could be they were intentionally left out of the picture because of their less respectable appearance.
Finally, even people dressed much better than this can get out of hand, especially when in a very large group. Just last night, I was picking up a friend at the train station, in a VERY affluent white neighborhood and the nearly all white, bar hopping crowd were being very rowdy and loud.
I’m suspicious of the story, but the pic looks like a pretty mainstream bunch of respectable people. Not exactly a bunch of Crips and Bloods.
If you and your party had to wait two hours for service and then were told that you had to leave I'd expect that I'd not see any happy, smiley white faces either. The manager screwed up (badly) and should be moved out of contact with customers to a position way back in the kitchen (maybe hauling garbage sacks to the dumpster).
Personally, I would not have hung around for two hours! After a half hour I'm out'a there.
Regards,
GtG
Very few restaurants can handle impromptu parties of 25 without inconvenience to someone. As someone who spent working 15 years in the restaurant biz, I can tell you that the black customers i have had with complaints have been awfully quick to impute racist motives to what were merely policy disputes or simple, honest errors.
THAT, to me, to assume that a white is a racist simply because they did something you don't like, is as offensive to me as anything I could say to a black person. And it's thrown around like it's nothing.
I've lived in the deep south for 35 years, and I've met very few people who would do anything other than bend over backwards to treat black people fairly. So the idea that there are these legions of white racists out there, just looking for confrontation with blacks, doesn't ring true to me. Maybe white people just can't help it?
I am in complete and utter shock by the behavior of some on this site. We MUST have a bunch of new FREEPERS here with zero respect or discipline for others. Can you believe what they are saying from a picture??????? Lord it is hard to believe. I hope not a one of them is a Christian.
Also, there are only 17 pictured. We don’t know what the other 8 looked like. Could be they were intentionally left out of the picture because of their less respectable appearance.
Finally, even people dressed much better than this can get out of hand, especially when in a very large group.———————————————
Another good catch. Around 1980 I sold commercial real estate. A bunch of guys from the office, all in three piece suits and with our wives and girlfriends, went to a mexican place after work and proceeded to down Tequilla shots. We almost got kicked out and rightly so.
I’d say they pretty much look normal.
If the black families on my block decided to have a get together thats about how they would look - except the crowd would be bigger.
And yeah, the black guys, even the old dudes, would look a little tough - since most are retired 82nd Airborne.
The feral gang bangers hang out down on the Murk and look a lot different.
Yea, well that pretty much says it all right there.
Why in the hell should anyone have to “bend over backward” to accommodate any particular group of people? I know what you are saying and yea I do see it all the time. That doesn't make it right. Maybe the place just didn't feel like kissing a little ass that night?
No one is more critical of the devaluation of the word “racism”, overused and misapplied, than I am, but I am open minded enough to see that this group might have a case.
Disagree. This is straight ahead racism, both the actions of the restaurant and many of the responses here. That’s why I always differ when people say “slavery ended x years ago, get over it, etc.” Because as long as the sight of people is repugnant/frightening to you, you are in the thrall of racism.
I agree. They look like ordinary people I see every day.
“About when did that change?”
That’s a good question, but I can’t put a year or day to it. It’s more an evolution of heart and mind stemming from disappointment, not just in bad behavior from the black culture, but from the way America has ignored it. I don’t mean this answer to be a cop out. ...When did I stop being color blind, or trying to be color blind? I wish I could say never.
“He explained that during his conversation with the manager, a member of the celebrating party decided to record what was happening and the manager responded by refusing to seat them entirely.”
So they did not get ejected because a white customer complained. They got ejected because they decided to start recording the conversation with the manager, most likely because they had already decided to start playing the race card. I’d boot em out for that too.
I am surprised that any venue below the status of “21” would turn away 25 people - especially on the complaint of one person. I will never forget having a New Year’s Eve dinner in a deluxe restaurant ruined by screaming, rowdy, verging on violent children. I asked the manager to say something to the parents, to rein in their little terrors, but he refused, even though it was disrupting the entire restaurant.
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