British family demand not to be served by hotel staff ‘of colour’
By Emer McLysaght
Rtiz Carlton Hotel in Naples Florida
A WAITER IN the US has filed a lawsuit after a British family asked not to be served by anyone of colour with an accent.
40 year old Wadner Tranchant worked at the luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida. On 12 March 2010 he was told not to serve a British family in the hotel restaurant. The Rodney Morgan family had checked into the hotel on 28 February and had asked not to be served by “people of colour” and anyone with “foreign accents”. The request was allegedly entered into the hotel’s computer system at the request of the manager.
Tranchant filed a lawsuit alleging he was discriminated against, but he and his employer have been ordered by a judge to go to arbitration to resolve the complaint. His lawyer has expressed disappointment that that a jury will not have a say in the matter.
After the lawsuit was filed the Ritz Carlton issued an apology:
The Ritz-Carlton does not tolerate racially offensive comments or discriminatory treatment of our employees, and our data systems are not to be used to allow discriminatory requests by guests.
For more information read this story>
Comments (20 Comments)
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Jonathan McCoy 08/04/11 Report this commentThey should have been politely told to make other arrangements for their stay.
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Kathleen O Toole Tighe 08/04/11 Report this commentI cant believe the hotel actually in put that request into their system
Who ever this family spoke to when they made their request should have told them that it wasnt acceptable for such a request !
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Barry 08/04/11 Report this commentAgreed, very concerning that the hotel even entered such a request on it’s system, they should have told the family to feck off.
To be honest the waiter is right to pursue the matter,
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Gis Bayertz 08/04/11 Report this commentThat’s almost unbelievable. So were they looking for someone with an English accent in Florida???? They obviously haven’t left the 19th century yet…….idiots!
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Eileen Roche 08/04/11 Report this commentIf these utter snobs get away with this, it will be..don’t wan’t an american serving us, french with an accent , german with an accent , irish with an accent etc etc. The manager was very wrong in allowing this to happen.
Let me serve that couple some day, ” ah me dalings top o’ da morn ti ye, hav da nice cup o’ char while a go kick da chicks as and get ye a couple of da finest brown eggs, then a hope ye choke on em ” Ah well ..can dream can’t I.
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Dave Ward 08/04/11 Report this commentRich arrogance in all it’s ugly form
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Mark McGrail 08/04/11 Report this commentNuts. Serious OG by the Hotel.
Reception should have called manager, Manager should have called HQ. HQ should have told Guests to stay somehwhere else, like the 1800’s . They could have done that without anyone having to show an ounce of integrity or decency. Doing the right thing would not have even required having a moral compass…
Or the manager could have told them that they would not accomodate their request. No way anyone would get sacked over that….
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Frank Oxley 08/04/11 Report this commentUtterly and completely stupid people! I think the Court or whatever will find them guilty of every syllable they spoke!
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Marianne Hennessy 09/04/11 Report this commentthink this article also encourages a bit of reverse snobbery. i.e. hate people because they are wealthy. just because someone has money doesn’t automatically make them a worse person.
they did act racistly though. no doubt. but i’m sure poorer people can be just as racist.
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Gis Bayertz 08/04/11 Report this commentI second that
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Mila Ekid 08/04/11 Report this commentOf all places in America, these British family chose to go to Florida? This state
Population is mixed race. Why not go to an all White state to serve them their luxury? We are in a new Millenium where there is more education regarding race and not ignorance.
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Joan Featherstone 08/04/11 Report this commentJonathan, Barry, Kathleen etc, I think the hotel should have told them to feck off when they booked, who needs assholes like them staying at your hotel. Is this real, do these people really exist in this day and age, they are sooooo off the wall as far as I’m concerned?????
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Lorraine conroy 09/04/11 Report this commentEverybody is so quick to condemn the awful thing that was allowed to happen here, get over what you cannot change and aim to change public opinion in your own area. Racism is more rampant than we think, and for the life of me I’ll never understand why. This is proof that there exists a certain person who actually believes that a person of colour or with an accent is of a lower calibre.
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Eire 08/04/11 Report this commentWas it Prince Philip by any chance? sounds like something he would say what with been German & married to the queen I bet it was him & that Liz & Philip are using an alias down in Florida before coming to our emerald Isle next month
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RoleYourOwn 08/04/11 Report this commentProblem with Germans?
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Michael Cuthbert 08/04/11 Report this commentThough Phil was Greek. That a problem? Oh the irony…
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Dan Delaney 09/04/11 Report this commentYeah Michael…it’s the Queen that has German ancestry and her dear husband, Phillip, has Greek blood in him…somewhere.
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hugh doddy 08/04/11 Report this commentI is black and this is proper raycist.
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Danny Winch 08/04/11 Report this commentOne problem – your profile picture shows that you’re white.
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Fabiana Mizzoni 09/04/11 Report this commenthahaha hugh!
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David Conroy 09/04/11 Report this commentThey were in Florida. They’re British. Surely they were the ones with foreign accents?
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Dave Finn 09/04/11 Report this commentTo all of you putting thumbs down when someone calls this racism for what it is, you should be aware that i know people working as cabin crew for British Airways who were told by passengers that they did not wish to be served by them on account of their irish accents and that they werent British. Its different when YOU are the victim of racism, isnt it, you hypocritical b******s.
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Darren McCormack 09/04/11 Report this commentTo be honest, I’m sick of the rude, sour puss foreigners that you just can’t get away from these days. They’re in every pub,restaurant and shop with they’re disgruntled attitude and they can’t even bring themselves to be civil or polite in most cases. And in my case I’m talking about eastern europeans in general. Maybe this family arived at the hotel and just saw more of the same type of poor customer service attitudes that are so common here now and decided they had had enough and wanted a decent holiday.That’s my opinion, its an observation. For all you that might call me racist – My remarks here are in light of my experieces with white eastern europeans so race doesn’t come into it for me. But I can see how this family may certainly have had as much as anyone can take of the rude attitudes of so many of the foreign staff these days. As for Irish going everywhere, well first we are in general known as a polite and friendly lot and secondly, if we do indeed flood into places and act like trash – why shouldn’t the locals tell us to scram?
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Bob Coggins 09/04/11 Report this commentMaybe they are only unfriendly to you because they think you dont like them??!
I meet loads of foreign nationals daily and they are as friendly and hard working as irish used to be, and are becoming again…
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David Conroy 10/04/11 Report this commentActually many of these positions were available to the new arrivals because fewer Irish were prepared to fill them when the money was easy. Also, I am pleased to see good service coming back again, after years of watching (largely Irish) staff filing their nails, chatting among themselves and texting when customers were waiting to be served. Perhaps your experiences were different.
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Tomás Kavanagh 09/04/11 Report this commentAny relation to the British Queen?
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Mata Mata 09/04/11 Report this commentIf they are paying they can make the request , but they may not always get it.
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P.c 09/04/11 Report this commentId say the queen and her ‘supior”family wud hav the exact same racisct and sectarion motives
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Thomas 08/04/11 Report this commentThe customer is always right. This guy should just drop it. It’s not like he was asked to do extra work.
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Michael Cuthbert 08/04/11 Report this commentThomfoolery…
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David Conroy 09/04/11 Report this commentTo be fair, anyone who risks ridicule with such a comment in the name of a good debate deserves our admiration.