There is a McDonalds in my neighborhood which I have been patronizing for about 10 years. I go there about 3-4 times per month. In all those years the store has always been extremely well-run, clean, convenient and my order has not been screwed up even once. FYI, I rarely order anything in the standard configuration – I don’t like pickles, onions, etc. When I go inside I am always greeted in a friendly way by a smiling employee in a spotless, pressed uniform. The parking lot is clean, the trash receptacles are frequently emptied and the tables are always clean.. They even practice proper flag etiquette – Old Glory doesn’t fly in the rain there which is really exception these days. Overalll, the McDonalds in my neighborhood is very well run. It is owned by a partnership between Ed Bailey and McDonalds called Baibrook – which has a truly awful web site. Baibrook has over 60McDonalds locations in the Dallas area.
Mr. Bailey is an icon for the American success story. And McDonalds is an icon for American business success.
My neighborhood has a mix of poor and middle-class. It is has significant populations of Hispanics African-Americans and Whites, plenty of teen-agers and plenty of retirees, apartments condominiums and homes. There is no shortage of available labor for a business like the McDonald’s in my neighborhood.
I’ve noticed something odd about the McDonald’s in my neighborhood however. And in thinking about it, something insidious comes to mind.
In my experience (I’ve been paying attention for several years now), 100% of the non-customer conversation is in Spanish and 100% of the employees are Latino. The moment the employee stops speaking directly to the customer, they begin speaking Spanish. That is not exactly a huge problem for me, but it is improper language etiquette.
The bigger problem is that it totally eliminates the possibility for success of any non-Spanish-speaking employee. I have noticed once or twice a non-Spanish-speaking African-American or elderly employee there, but they never last long. In an environment where employees are directed and supervised in Spanish, how can a non-Spanish-speaking employee be successful? Why would anyone hire someone they knew, in advance, would not be successful? Why would anyone even apply for a job in an environment which conducts business in a language an employee didn’t understand?
The rhetorical answers to the above questions, of course, are they wouldn’t and they couldn’t.
What that means to me is that the Spanish-speaking workplace environment of my neighborhood McDonald’s precludes employment by non-Spanish-speakers. And, since most Spanish-speakers are Hispanic, a workplace environment which precludes employment by non-Spanish-speakers is effectively, if not factually, discriminating if favor of Latinos and against non-Latinos. The practice of Spanish-speaking in the workplace creates a self-perpetuating environment of employment discrimination.
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Many of the FF places are like that in the Austin area
bk (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 11:28AM EST (link)No problemo
proudmarinemom (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 11:36AM EST (link)This is the way it is all over, but there is nothing to prevent other employees from learning a little Spanish. Not suggesting they should have to do so, but having worked as a hotel maid in Switzerland where I was required to speak German, I managed. I had studied High German in high school and college, but honestly, all I needed to know was “staubsauger” (vacuum cleaner), “waschmittel” (detergent) and “lingerie” (laundry), all of which could be communicated by pointing to those items. Incidentally, the phrase “Necessitamos mas papas fritas, por favor” should not stump a non-Spanish-speaking employee. Everybody knows I’m talking about those golden french fries. Mmmm.
No, the hiring practices are not discriminatory.
acat (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 12:48PM EST (link)Although the employees may be practicing some reverse-discrimination. It’s the same at a lot of the fast food places in the Chicago suburbs too – English in the front, Spanish in the back.
It’s fun to practice up and order en Espanol. Especially at lunch rush when there’s a line. There is an apparent belief that “the gringos can’t understand” and it’s fun to watch when that assumption gets re-evaluated. “What did the gringo hear?”
It’s not just fast food, either. Former co-worker hired a crew to do some work on his house. They all spoke Spanish. So did he, but he never let on. The crew did a good job, but spent most of the week bragging about their exploits and cussing – all in Spanish – but, when he paid at the end, he thanked them in fluent Spanish, pointing out little details of the work that he liked so they got that he’d understood every word. They were obviously flustered, and had the decency to apologize.
Mew
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Caveat Suffragator
Same here for Filipinos.
Achance (Diary) Friday, October 30th at 12:56PM EST (link)All the intraoffice conversation is in Tagalog if you let them. The State had some real problems with the White employees thinking, probably rightly, that the Filipinos were ganging up on them and talking behind their back in Tagalog. We never had to go much further than admonitions to limit unnecessary “social” conversation; they got the message, but it can be a real issue.
Since we spend some time in Mexico most years and a good bit in Mexifornia too, I know enough Spanish to call BS on them when they start talking about the stupid gringo, but I refuse to speak Spanish when I know they understand English. They can either speak English or do without my business.
In Vino Veritas