Restaurants Are Totally Racist, Study Finds
One of the cliches of comedy (even though it’s actually one of those tragic things) is that black people can’t get cabs, a kind of nod to the systemic racism that white people like to pretend is a thing of the past.
But a new study has proven that restaurants don’t treat all patrons the same, and that race is a large part of how a customer experiences a restaurant. The study came out of North Carolina State University, and concerns the effects of race on restaurant service. Researchers examined 200 servers in 18 full-service chain restaurants, all located in central North Carolina. What they found was that among the servers polled, 86% of whom were white, 38.5% reported judging customers based on race.
A further 53% of servers reported seeing service described as “inferior” being given to non-white customers, and the customers were (in the servers’ descriptions) believed to be poorly behaved and less generous with gratuities, according to the answers provided by servers. Only 10.5% of those surveyed reported never seeing any sort of race-influenced interaction in their restaurant careers.
Study co-author Sarah Rusche explained:
“‘Tableside racism’ is yet another example in which African-Americans are stereotyped and subsequently treated poorly in everyday situation… Race continues to be a significant barrier to equal treatment in restaurants and other areas of social life.”
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About the Author
Kim LaCapria Kim LaCapria is a writer and editor based in New York. A longtime information junkie, she began blogging full-time at the Inquisitr in 2009. Prior to that, she worked as a marketing assistant in the cosmetics and skincare industry. In addition to her writing for fortytwotimes, she also writes for Medacity and The Inquisitr. Kim is also a contributor for SocialNewsDaily, Indyposted, and TotallyMoney. In the past, she contributed to Lipstick and Luxury and managed social media accounts and blogs for several small and mid-sized businesses.
