Dennys Restaurant It Is A Franchise Owners Name Is Shakeel Rizvi Employee Name Mostufu Boulahssas ripoff my husband and I were ignored service by the server and four white women walked in after us and were greeted and waited on which they refused Fairfax County Virginia

Lee, that was an excellent summation. I waited tables for twelve years and noticed, in general, that the black customers were very poor tippers. And, beyond that, they were often the most difficult customers. The slightest inconvenience would have them declaring their entitlement to a free meal.

But, of course, this wasn't always the case. I remember a few groups of black customers who were FAR more of a pleasure to serve than most white tables.

I couldn't say what the issue is exactly. Cultural differences, cheapness, unrealistic expectations, who knows. But waiters and waitresses are generally the most liberal crowd going, FAR from being a pack of ignorant racists, yet I haven't found a single one who denies the "most black people are bad tippers" phenomenon.

And, of course, there are PLENTY of white people with absolutely no clue as to how to conduct themselves in a restaurant.

Lee, that was an excellent summation. I waited tables for twelve years and noticed, in general, that the black customers were very poor tippers. And, beyond that, they were often the most difficult customers. The slightest inconvenience would have them declaring their entitlement to a free meal.

But, of course, this wasn't always the case. I remember a few groups of black customers who were FAR more of a pleasure to serve than most white tables.

I couldn't say what the issue is exactly. Cultural differences, cheapness, unrealistic expectations, who knows. But waiters and waitresses are generally the most liberal crowd going, FAR from being a pack of ignorant racists, yet I haven't found a single one who denies the "most black people are bad tippers" phenomenon.

And, of course, there are PLENTY of white people with absolutely no clue as to how to conduct themselves in a restaurant.

Lee, that was an excellent summation. I waited tables for twelve years and noticed, in general, that the black customers were very poor tippers. And, beyond that, they were often the most difficult customers. The slightest inconvenience would have them declaring their entitlement to a free meal.

But, of course, this wasn't always the case. I remember a few groups of black customers who were FAR more of a pleasure to serve than most white tables.

I couldn't say what the issue is exactly. Cultural differences, cheapness, unrealistic expectations, who knows. But waiters and waitresses are generally the most liberal crowd going, FAR from being a pack of ignorant racists, yet I haven't found a single one who denies the "most black people are bad tippers" phenomenon.

And, of course, there are PLENTY of white people with absolutely no clue as to how to conduct themselves in a restaurant.

Lee, that was an excellent summation. I waited tables for twelve years and noticed, in general, that the black customers were very poor tippers. And, beyond that, they were often the most difficult customers. The slightest inconvenience would have them declaring their entitlement to a free meal.

But, of course, this wasn't always the case. I remember a few groups of black customers who were FAR more of a pleasure to serve than most white tables.

I couldn't say what the issue is exactly. Cultural differences, cheapness, unrealistic expectations, who knows. But waiters and waitresses are generally the most liberal crowd going, FAR from being a pack of ignorant racists, yet I haven't found a single one who denies the "most black people are bad tippers" phenomenon.

And, of course, there are PLENTY of white people with absolutely no clue as to how to conduct themselves in a restaurant.

I waited tables in my past off and on for 11 years. Here are some observations:

It is true African-Americans do not tip well. Am I saying none do? No. But at the same time, it's similar to someone who delivered papers in their youth. If the Goldsteins didn't tip well, Jews didn't tip well.

I may have had only 4 black tables that night, and if 3 didn't tip me well, obviously blacks don't tip well.

Meanwhile, I may have had 15 white tables, and if 3 didn't tip well, it was only 20%.

But facts are facts whether it's because they don't know any better, or they hate whitey, or some other reason, it's true. I had a party of 17 with a check of $170 or so. One of the gentlemen approached me after I was done waiting on them and shook my hand and thanked me for the wonderful service and there was something on the table for me. I went over there, there wasn't a penny. I told him this. He turned to his son and said, "Did you take that?" And he walked away without leaving me a dime. A nice couple at the next table felt bad for me and offered me a five. I thanked them but declined. I reported to the gov't that I made $17 on that table (it's the law) and was taxed on that.

Does this make every black family cheap? Nope.

Meanwhile, I worked not far from Fort Dix and had military (usually white) come in all the time. They were the cheapest people I ever saw. I was told they were on a tight budget and all, but they could afford 3 beers at $3.50 each, but couldn't afford to leave me more then a dollar or two on a $25 check. Hey, I appreciate all they do for our country, but I still have bills to pay. If they came in and bought a $9 dinner with water to drink, maybe the budget was tight. But not with a steak and 3 beers.

I told people I worked with about this and they were all pissed at me saying things like "my uncle is in the military" and more and all I could think was, their uncle didn't tip either. The worst was when it was 3 officers very well dressed each leaving me a dollar on an average check of $15 to $20.

Asians tip pretty well. I think it's because you rarely get bad service at a Chinese restaurant so they are used to tipping.

Teenagers usually tip well if they work in restaurants. If not, it's a 50/50 proposition, white or black.

I didn't wait on too many Arabs so I cannot judge them.

Bottom line, anyone denying Blacks tip poorly just won't admit it, but at the same time, it could be the small sample size, 3 out of 4 for example. If you waited on 20 tables that were Black, then maybe you could judge better. And if you do, please share.

I read your response about "Ghetto Blacks,: ans you being a server. My suggestion to you, is to 1st STOP BEING IGNORANT, 2nd Get a better education, so that you won't HAVE to be a waitress, and 3rd.....GET A LIFE. African Americans ARE NOT the only people who complain about service in a restuarant. It's 2005, and it's people like you, who, take us back to the 70's

While on Kauai last month we stopped in at an somewhat upscale burger place in the Po'ipu Mall (Northeast corner of the Mall for you that have been there before), as many may not be aware most Hawaiians really do not like "mainlanders" very much at all. They like the money we bring to them but treat us like crap as a general rule once we get there. Anyway it was the middle of the afternoon so the place was just about empty with two "Hawaiian" waiters working. (I am still not quite sure what a real Hawaiian is as they say there are only about 1500 real Hawaiians left) They would not come out from the back and seat us so we got menus and sat ourselves. After about 10 minutes of watching them drink ice tea and joke around I caught one of them looking at us and waved "nicely" for him to come over, he turned his back on us and laughed. We looked at each other and realized we were being denied service because we were white, tourists and not Hawaiian. BOTTOM LINE: We got up, walked up to the waiters advised them that they had very poor service (without raising the race card) and would not ever be back and went across the Mall to a very nice place and spent $80 on an early dinner and left a 20% tip. THE ONLY WAY TO HURT A PLACE WITH BAD SERVICE IS TO HURT THEIR POCKETBOOK! We do not have to eat someplace that treats us like crap, PERIOD! If Denny's (which have been drug into court over this before) treats you bad, walk out, go across the street or across town to their biggest competitor and spend a lot of money, that will hurt them better than all the whining in the world!

apologize--I miswrote Michaels name as Roger

From "South Pacific"

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year..

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people your relatives hate

you've got to be carefully taught

I'm not sure why this song reminded me of Rog--oh well

Donna, as Dr. Phil says, your dog don't bite. Making excuses for poor restaurant behavior only enables self-victimization and makes it "blame whitey" as a crutch. You being white does not matter a whit and does not add compellency to your argument.

To say blacks tip badly because they could not even eat in certain restaurants illustrates the false argument known as CONFUSION OF CORRELATION AND CAUSATION. "Blacks used to be denied seating at restaurants years ago thus blacks today tip badly as a consequence of these events." Balderdash!

I have also notices the rude shrill loudness of some black groups in restaurants, filling the place with loud whoops, hyena laughing, even using the "MF" word when children and elderly are around. Yes, whites also do that, especially teens, but by and large blacks tend to be very unruly in restauarants. As a busboy in my teens, I witnessed these events. The only other loud group I can generalize is many Arabs...some even argue loudly to BARTER a price for their meal as if the bill can be negotiated. I am not kidding; I have seen it.

As for the person who favors slave reparations, that will never happen because white backlash against blacks will occur recalling the worst days before Jim Crow. Not lynching, but resentment and anger which will split whites and blacks further and stymie all progress being made now for at least a dialogue....and if reparations somehow DO become a reality, I ensure you that nationwide, all the American whites, Asians and some most Hispanics will boycott paying and filing their income taxes if a single penny goes to reparations. How is the government going to audit 200 million people?

I agree with the responder who made the point that african american friends, eurapean friends, teenager friends, totally would be honest about how horrible it was when even their own group would not know or understand the norms on tipping. Do not blame this probem on african americans-there is plenty of blame to go around

I worked at a casual dinning restaurant for a while in a very upscale part of town. The majority of clientelle was white but most of the black people who came in where well educated and had money. Still, the black people in general sucked at tipping and usually seemed very s****.> The amusing part was that 4 out of the 30 servers were black, and they could not stand to wait on the black people either. Mainly because of poor tipping (after all we are their to make money) and second for attitude and running you to death.

As white servers we generally did not express our opinions about black tables because the black servers were and still are our freinds and co worker. It was not a racist enviroment, but man did the black servers b***h about waiting on black tables which I always found amusing.

More and more restaurants are now making sure that the "tip" given at any table is SHARED among the wait help and busboys, and its so common place that being in wait help doesn't mean you sometimes earn your minimum wage amunt per hour.

Your part of 20 that spent $700 on a meal and you tip $150 could be split among the 2 wait help, the four servers that served yoru guest your food, and whomever the restaurant decides to split it among.

So your server could be busting her/his @$$ for the 2-3 hours you take up of their time, only to get $10 at most from that tip you just gave. Break it down, that $2-$3 per hour she just earned.

Large parties are assessed a minimum tipping amount for many reasons, and those reasons have to do with, the amount of "space" you are taking up, thereby reducing the turnover rate for that section of the restaurant/ the more employees that would be needed serve your party, the more busboys to clean up and of course rearrange the tables back so they can the next smaller parites in or prepare for another large party.

Dont like it? Eat at home.

I realize that the main theme of this report is race, but I need to throw my 15% into the hat.

What makes people think that they DESERVE a tip? A tip is something I give based on the service I receive (not the food, that's the cooks problem, not the server). Owners of these resturaunts pay incredibly lousy wages to the staff with the understanding that the customers are going to make up the difference.

I take my wife out to eat for the pleasure of having a good meal in a nice atmosphere. I will generally tip in the 15-20% range. However, if I get lousy service, that decreases my enjoyment and the server is going to get a lousy tip. And if you come to me with the attitude that you deserve a tip, you wont get one period.

I was a foodserver at 3 different restaurants over 20 years

I think the original complaint rings true--I feel bad for them.

There are other related issues such as the financially devastating reality for waiters that generally speaking some groups don't tip the accepted amount--some minorities,europeans,teenagers,there are many but in this case we are discussing black people

yes,unfortunately there is a problem in the area of receiving the accepted correct gratuity amount from black people generally

one reason could be that they have only been allowed to eat out for about 35 years,they had to fight to be able to go to restaurants.

Who teaches you to tip and how to apply the 15 per cent or 20 per cent--your parents

I feel that this is a problem that time will remedy

I used to do very well with tables with african americans(i'm caucasian) in many instances.
I would make it a habit to use the term "sir" and "mam" very frequently with sincere respect.

Also,there is no question that many waiters are not able to hide negative predjudice feelings,and it really hurts the client to see it.So it becomes a cycle,which is too bad.

I need to preface my comments with a couple things. First, I have no reason to doubt the validity of the original report. I think that the circumstances may have been selectively characterized, but the underlying claim could very well be valid.

Second, I am entirely NOT racist. A quick review of my previous posts will elicit that I am about as liberal as they come. I even support the idea of slavery reparations.

Unfortunately, however, I have seen the above comments (by the server) in action. Not just once or twice either, but systematically and virtually without fail depending on the establishment.

I worked as a server for several years in a very upscale restaurant (more "trendy" than "fancy"). The black people that I waited on were either extremely pleasant or extremely displeasant; I couldn't really say if there was more of one or the other. And sure, whites run the spectrum from very nice to very mean as well. The difference is that virtually all of the black customers were at the margins; there was no in-between.

My wife worked at a steakhouse with an Applebee's kind of feel to it. Her experience, and the expereice of her co-workers, was entirely different from mine.

There was no atmosphere of racism. Several of the employees were black and were just as much a part of the "team" as anybody else. But, to a tee, all of the servers knew that, if you were sat a group of black people, you were going to have a rough time. You knew that your customers would be demanding, rude, condescending, and hostile. The slightest of inconveniences brought out demands for compensation. And, as pointed out by the previous poster, the tips were generally terrible.

Why is this so? I have no idea. I refuse to assign an inherent trait as the root of the problem. It could be a cultural thing. Who knows. All we do know is that it isn't good for anybody. The black family with huge expectations that cannot possibly be met will invariably end up displeased. The poor server who has to put up with their shoddy attitudes and poor tips certainly isn't happy either.

Just remember: the server that you may be inclined to treat like the scum of the earth is just as much a victim of societal inequities as you.

Just some food for thought. Please don't make a scene if it isn't hot enough. Your bill will not be comped.

I feel bad for the people who were waiting to be seated, no matter what color you are. No one should be treated with such disrespect. Is it possible that your husbands actions may have set the waitperson or host into a mode where he maybe didn't want to deal with you? i am not saying that it is right, but sometimes personalities conflict, and you probably would have been better off with a different waitperson anyway.

Maybe even notified a manager of what was going on, but it's been my experience when I was employed at Denny's that the manager will side with employee to fight a possible lawsuit.
To the waiter of 5 yrs, you really need to be re-trained with respect to how to treat customers respectfully and reguardless of color. You obiviously have some issues and you could actually get your company sued.You really need to re-read all that paper work that you signed when you became a waiter pertaining to discrimination.

All Accusations of discrimination are not TRUE!!! All Accusations of discrimination are not FALSE!!!

As for me, I went to "we can" training which teaches you many ways of discrimination and how it is concealed by violators. I witnessed many racist events at southington,ct dennys, i reported them to management, only to have them discredit me by saying it created the story because I didn't like the discriminator.

So I did try, I needed my job, I still feel wronged that my complaints were disabled.The major discriminator still works there,last I knew she would scream like she was in pain from an old back injury, when black people were seated in her station.

The discriminators will find a way to continue what they do.

After 9-11, Indian Arabic decent people were highly discriminated against by another co-worker. I voiced my disgust at his comments, only to get called the names he was calling them. No one wants to "get involved".

To all the people who believe that discrimination does not exist, You are wrong!
To all of you who ignore people who make discriminating comments, gestures, etc, Did you know that by not acting against the discriminator, that you are enabling the discriminator? By enabling him/her you may become a party to the crime! It doesn't pay to turn the other cheak.
PS I am white

I will let everyone in on a little secret here. I have been a server for about five years. The other night there was a family of 4 black people sitting at a table in my section. The table had been pushed together earlier that night for a large party so I had not noticed that it had been seperated from the joined tables. This, mind you was an honest mistake. However, when I went up to the table, they told me that I would not be recieving a tip because I had "been ignoring them." This was not true at all.

This instance just shows the type of "woe is me, black people are oppressed by white people bull crap attitude." Honestly after being a server for this long, I am tired of dealing with the "ghetto-type" black community.

They expect that they are your only table -- and then after running you back and forth to get them endless refills on strawberry lemonade and sweet tea -- leave you a LESS than ten percent tip.

Well you know what? Its not worth it...so maybe you need to get with your "black people" and teach them respect and how to tip (five dollars is NOT a universal tip idiots) before ranting about being "ignored." Honestly,in all reality you are the ignorant ones.