This place is not too far from me - maybe 20 miles. I’ve probably driven by it on my way to/from Wisconsin. It was nice to see the Zion police chief’s statement condemning it. Zion is a very blue-collar town. If something like this were going to happen, it doesn’t surprise me that it happened there as opposed to many other suburbs around here.
Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that something like this happened. Sort of goes along with a story I read about 20 minutes ago about a black waitress in Virginia who was denied a tip by a young white couple because, "They don’t tip black people, " per what they wrote on their check, even though they complimented her service.
Good for DQ. People need to learn that there are consequences to their vile behavior.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Many are feeling very emboldened these days. Im thankful corporate snatched his franchise.
Their actions are always “inexcusable” after they get caught.
What is wrong with some people?
Fully agree owner’s actions were inexcusable. But were there other staffers now out of a job because of one guy’s inappropriate language? Is that appropriate? I’m not sure the Dairy Queen response was appropriate.
For those that cheer the response, would they urge closing any restaurant that disparaged whites? Asians? Hispanics?Democrats? Republicans? Hillary Clinton? Don Trump? Plumbers? Policemen? Secretaries? If the answer is yes, then I give those people credit for being consistent. But if slurring any of those other groups don’t come with cries to “close the restaurant!”, then those people are inconsistent, and their sense of right and wrong is skewed.
@younghoss This was a franchise, not a family owned chain, single shop. The owner is fully bound by the rules of his franchise agreement, and I imagine there was language in that agreement which allowed DQ to rescind the agreement if broken. So yes, I agree with DQ. They were well within their rights. The owner fully aware of his franchise rules, shouldve thought about putting employees out of work before he opened his mouth.
I know someone who broke a franchise agreement, and it was a profitable franchise, and the company promptly snatched his franchise as well.
It’s very appropriate. That’s because Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns it. Preventing a boycott is good business. It’s not a moral issue. We’re all subject to the stupidity or wisdom of our employers.
Is there a long history of discrimination against plumbers? An epidemic of unarmed plumbers being pulled over and shot for Driving While Plumbing? A lot of secretaries not getting hired for secretarial positions because they look like secretaries? Republicans not getting job interviews because their names sound Republican?
Conflating unrelated groups in a straw man fallacy really doesn’t help whatever argument it is you’re trying to make. But yes, if a restaurant disparaged any protected group then I would support some sort of corrective action. FYI, plumbers and secretaries are not protected groups.
My question is NOT about the legal rights of DQ to shut them down. My post was more aimed at those who cheer its being shut down, but may have been silent when other franchises weren’t… Do they believe in equal rights? That was the crux of my post.
What I was trying to express was a general sense of right and wrong for slurring people. Some would call it equality. Some would argue we should only do anything about slurs if there is a long history of discrimination. Some might say it only counts if those slighted are legally protected minorities.
I have to disagree. I think it would be equally wrong to hassle customers because they are secretaries or cops. I think it would be wrong to hassle customers that were Bernie supporters or Trump supporters, just because of their political leanings.
I just can’t agree with those that might say closing this shop is acceptable because a biracial woman was slighted but would not call for its closing if it had been if it had been a caucasian.
Some may think me right, others may think I’m wrong, but I am consistent. I don’t say slurs should be punished or tolerated depending upon what group is slurred.
So a billionaire master of the universe slurring, berating or mocking a homeless person is the same as the homeless person slurring, berating or mocking the billionaire? Context doesn’t matter?
First of all it was the owner, not an employee. I imagine DQ has a clause in its franchise contract about a store that brings disrepute on the whole corporation. It’s a private company and can discipline its franchise owners consistent with its franchise agreement as it chooses.
I’m cynical enough to believe it’s highly doubtful that DQ closed the restaurant due to the owner’s (repeated) racist actions.
They closed it because those actions reflected badly on the brand. They closed it because it’s easier for a giant corporation to lose - temporarily, I bet - one small location than to deal with demonstrations, boycotts, and social-media-propelled negative nationwide publicity.
Still, a hater loses his power. Not a bad result.
The boycott wasn’t because the biracial woman was slighted. And what are some examples of shops where the franchise owners have insulted whites because of their race and no one contacted the company to call for its closing? Is your example called The Strawman Company?
Legally protected groups are legally protected precisely because there is a history of widespread discrimination against them. Race, religion, sex, age, etc. Your argument is a straw man because there is no history of widespread discrimination against secretaries and Bernie supporters.
Try your argument again with a group that does have a widespread history of discrimination but is not legally protected. LGBT for example. Most would agree that disparaging someone for being LGBT is equally as bad as a racial insult. And yes, if you were insulted for being white that would register the same on my outrage meter too.
Regardless, I do think closing the franchise is an unusually strong reaction. The usual script calls for apologies and store credit for free meals and everybody hugs it out.
BTW, cops in uniform have been insulted at restaurants and those incidents did trigger a lot of outrage.
@younghoss:
Your argument is what I hear a lot on some websites talking about anti discrimination laws, gay rights and the like, and the usual litany is “why do people want special rights? As a white guy, I can be insulted for being white, I can be denied service, or I can be denied service for being conservative or Christian or whatnot”…and it is a bogus argument trying to argue that discrimination is okay.
First of all, arguing things like being a political supporter of someone, or liking baseball, or whatnot historically are not things that are inherent to who someone is. You can walk into a store and unless you are wearing a 'political message or whatnot, they won’t know; walk in a store as a black person or hispanic, it is out there, you can’t hide it. The argument about being a Christian is completely bogus, first of all unless the person goes around wearing a gigantic cross or a T shirt with some religious statement on it, how would anyone know? Secondly, religion is protected, if you walked in a store wearing a crucifix somehow identifying you as Catholic let’s say (to the owner), and they berated you for that, it would be protected. Same if you were berated for being white, if you walked into a DQ and the owner was black and called you a cracker or worse when you got into an argument, they would be in trouble.
The reason DQ is right is because there are certain things that historically have led to people being discriminated against, in all kinds of forms, while a store owner berating a customer or using a racial slur pales against the KKK burning a church down, it still is ugly and it is basically violating someone’s sense of dignity and self worth. And I suspect if I got into a fight with someone from down south who came into a DQ I owned, and I called them a redneck or cracker, I would bet DQ wouldn’t be so happy either. Among other things, franchises are a lot less subject to corporate control than a company owned location, all they have is the franchise contract to protect themselves. If they let this owner keep his franchise, it would directly say 'DQ doesn’t care about the customers" and would hurt the whole organization. This wasn’t an employee of the franchise, more importantly, it was the owner, if an employee did this and the owner immediately fired them, they wouldn’t have been closed, but the owner of the store cannot be fired other than remove his franchise. If this had been a corporate store and an employee or manager did this, they would be summarily fired, I guarantee you that.
And no, it isn’t a one way street, show me where a white person went into a store, got into an argument, and was demeanded and denigrated, you would have a point, but when I challenge people on this no one can come up with an example.
BTW, as a business owner, franchise or not, it also is absolutely stupid to thing that berating customers like that is not going to affect your business, calling a potential customer a slur because they are LGBT, calling someone a racist term, or whatnot, isn’t exactly going to give your business a positive image. The DQ owner, if as someone said this was a blue collar area, probably figured (wrongly I would bet) that few people in his area would care, it is a common mistake, assuming others are like you. More importantly, in this day and age of social media and the internet, you won’t get away with it. 25 years ago this happened it would be on page 65 of the local paper as a local dispute, today it is reached by millions almost instantaneously. One of the first rules of owning a business is that your personal feelings and beliefs take a second position when you operate it, that one conflicts with the goal of having a customer base that comes back again and again, doesn’t matter whether it is a racial slur or just being nasty to people, it turns away customers when customer’s dollars are all the same shrug, and if you insist on expressing your beliefs, you will pay penalties for it, either in lost customers, lost franchise agreement and/or legal action if your beliefs contradict civil law.
Edited out political comments
ED
You’re assuming the franchisee would have gone along with that. This may not be the first time something like this happened. While this is a strong reaction, we don’t know what preceded it.
I do feel for the employees. But I’m not sure what else DQ could have done, if the contract doesn’t provide for replacing the franchisee (and not allowing the franchisee to get the profits) under the circumstances.
I don’t understand this one.
I think a big factor for DQ was that it was the franchise owner who went on a racist tirade, not just an employee or manager. He forgot part of her order and started using racist slurs because she asked for a refund for that part of her order. Who treats customers like that?!? He also used the slurs in front of her young children and lied about it to the cops later (he freely admitted it to the first cop who came by, then must have realized he was in for some trouble and lied to the second cop who came hours later. Turns out it was the same cop both times!)
I bet it wasn’t his first offense with DQ central. But even if it was, he violated the terms of his franchise and they pulled it away from him. Good for them.
My bet is it wasn’t his first offense against people, period. Rarely does it happen that someone gets caught the first time they behave in such a manner. I’ll bet people could come out of the woodwork with examples of other offensive things he’s said. I’m thinking he was a real joy to work with… NOT!