Fast Food restaurants need racial bias training classes with all their employees to teach them to respect everyone- not just their race. In 2018, we are hearing about too many things and seeing so many changes like the #MeToo movement to be worrying about how the employees at restaurants and fast food chains will treat us when we place an order.
Starbucks Employee Called 911
Early in 2018, according to CNN, two black men who were waiting for someone to have a meeting at Starbucks asked to use the bathroom, and because of this harmless question, the employee called the cops on them. The two men were not aware that the cops were called to take them into custody, so they were just as shocked as the other customers when cops showed up and put them in handcuffs. The man they were waiting for came to the store trying to understand what was going on and said they were waiting for him to discuss housing options they were looking at. No one could comprehend why this woman called the cops on these two men who wanted to use the bathroom. It is not unusual for people to come to Starbucks to use the restroom. There was no other reason for her to call the cops beside the obvious; they were black.
Starbucks Closed Down 8,000 Stores
To educate their 175,000 employees, Starbucks decided to close their stores and conduct racial bias schooling to help stop discrimination in their stores. The workers will go through a training program designed to address various bias issues and make sure everyone is safe and welcome inside a Starbucks store. In this article, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson commented, “I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it. While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution. Closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities.” Starbucks started something healthy and good that other stores should implement into their daily routines. Starbucks and other retail fast food companies understand the seriousness and realize they have to learn from this, so once Starbucks completes their training, they can make the education materials available to other companies.
Taco Bell Employee Refuses Customer
The customer, Alexandria Montgomery, captured a video to show the employee in Hialeah, Miami, telling her that no one in Taco Bell can help her because no one speaks English. Alexandria asked to talk to the manager, in which the employee Luisa replies in a rude tone, “She is in her house sleeping.” Luisa then asked her to move because there are cars behind her. So many people are racially biased without realizing it. Even if you are in a Spanish speaking part of town, no one should be treated differently. Taco Bell should enforce this virtue on their employees and have policies and classes for their employees and managers to take to prevent an incident like this from happening in the future.
Being Classless Is NOT Okay
All fast food restaurants need to implement training for their employees at least once a month. It should be something that becomes a rule and policy when working in the food industry. I believe there should be a test for new employees to pass in order to be hired. I believe in mock interviews, having them on probation for three months, and applying a newer way to have undercover shoppers test their reactions. I propose a system like this to watch the employees closely and inspect them to make sure what needs to be done is being done. Should the food industry implement this change everywhere? Is racial bias training the only thing this industry can do? I believe way more can be done, but where it is at right now is a small start to a bigger change coming.
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