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The Great Blog Shift + Brazil Churrascaria
No, it's not exactly the Great Vowel Shift, but I finally laid my livejournal to eternal rest. It was a major pain in the neck, but it had to be done. The old layout was ugly as my great-grandmother's glutimus maximus. Plus I had this domain which basically was just sitting there waiting for hackers to hack into.
Another bout of major spring cleaning today. I fear my nose will never recover from the trauma. I swear the dust bunnies have upgraded their weaponry and are now armed with a lethal arsenal of toxins specially designed to send my olfactory secretory cells into a pile of convulsing goo. Not pretty I assure you.
There's a big brouhaha in the papers regarding this restaurant called Brazil Churrascaria. Apparently, there are many irate customers yelling that they have been discriminated against. There was yet another complaint in the papers today. How disgusting. While some may be tempted to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, I hardly think there can be smoke without fire. Policy schmazy. Discrimination need not be spelt out in the mission statement, and hardly ever is. Did the idiot manager still think he could have got away with official policies similar to Jim Crow laws? Surely not. There are however, more subtle ways of discrimination, and those are the kickers.
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Article 1: (Straits Times)
Jan 29, 2005 Expats welcome, no reservation required
MY FRIEND and I decided to dine at Brazil Churrascaria on a Friday a fortnight ago. I was early for the appointment and, at the entrance, I was told by the lead waiter that the restaurant was fully booked and it would be impossible for me to get a table. He handed me a name card and advised me to call to reserve a table the next time. I was told they did not have a waiting list. I walked away, cursing myself for not making a reservation and looked around for an alternative.
However, my friend, an expatriate, went to the restaurant and was ushered immediately to a table. When he called me on my mobile phone to tell me he got us a table, I was shocked. The lead waiter recognised me when I returned to the restaurant. I demanded to know why expatriates were given preferential treatment and he shrugged his shoulders. I told him I would get to the bottom of the matter. Later he came to apologise but the damage had been done.
Is it a common practice for a restaurant to choose its customers based on their race? To me, it looked like the restaurant was practising a modern-day caste system. Never in my wildest nightmare could I imagine I would be a victim of discrimination in my own homeland. This is because we pride ourselves as a society which treats people of all races, languages and religions equally.I decided I would never patronise such a restaurant again, no matter how good the food might be.
Long Tien Kian
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Article 2: (Straits Times again... one of these days I'll get myself sued for infringement)
Jan 30, 2005 Sixth Avenue eatery denies favouring Westerners over locals
By Tracy Quek
SORRY, we're fully booked, the head waiter told him. Disappointed, 37-year-old Mr Long Tien Kian left the Brazil Churrascaria restaurant in Sixth Avenue, kicking himself for not having made a reservation. But less than three minutes later, he said, his dining companion, 40-year-old Dutchman Heinze Elzinga, arrived separately at the restaurant and was immediately shown to a table.Outraged that the restaurant had apparently given preferential treatment to an expatriate, the business manager wrote to The Straits Times' Forum page about his experience and his letter was published yesterday.
'To me, it looked like the restaurant was practising a modern-day caste system,' wrote Mr Long, who was at the restaurant on Jan 7.
When contacted yesterday, restaurant chairman David Gabriel, 60, who said he was not there that night, denied there was a policy favouring Westerners over locals.He claims Mr Long's friend arrived 10 minutes later and that during that time there had been a last-minute cancellation.He said: 'There was a cancellation and the customer who happened to be there at the right time was shown in. 'We have never, and never will, discriminate against locals. Why should we? More than half of our customers are Singaporeans.'
Mr Long told The Sunday Times that he doesn't buy the restaurant's explanation.'My friend arrived less than three minutes after I left. It's hard to believe that within that time, there was a cancellation,' said Mr Long.He had eaten at the restaurant, which offers different types of meat grilled on skewers, once before with his wife.Despite his annoyance, he and Mr Elzinga, his former boss, stayed for dinner because he wanted the Dutchman to try the food. Said Mr Long: 'But now, I don't think I want to go back.'
Already the incident has be come a hot topic on the Internet.On websites such as sammy boy.com and hardwarezone.com, netizens posted angry, and often unpublishable, comments.'For any restaurant or store that has such practice... all of us will boycott the place till it closes down,' said one sammyboy.com user. 'Hit them where it hurts.'
[...]
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In the balls perhaps??
Another bout of major spring cleaning today. I fear my nose will never recover from the trauma. I swear the dust bunnies have upgraded their weaponry and are now armed with a lethal arsenal of toxins specially designed to send my olfactory secretory cells into a pile of convulsing goo. Not pretty I assure you.
There's a big brouhaha in the papers regarding this restaurant called Brazil Churrascaria. Apparently, there are many irate customers yelling that they have been discriminated against. There was yet another complaint in the papers today. How disgusting. While some may be tempted to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, I hardly think there can be smoke without fire. Policy schmazy. Discrimination need not be spelt out in the mission statement, and hardly ever is. Did the idiot manager still think he could have got away with official policies similar to Jim Crow laws? Surely not. There are however, more subtle ways of discrimination, and those are the kickers.
------------------------
Article 1: (Straits Times)
Jan 29, 2005 Expats welcome, no reservation required
MY FRIEND and I decided to dine at Brazil Churrascaria on a Friday a fortnight ago. I was early for the appointment and, at the entrance, I was told by the lead waiter that the restaurant was fully booked and it would be impossible for me to get a table. He handed me a name card and advised me to call to reserve a table the next time. I was told they did not have a waiting list. I walked away, cursing myself for not making a reservation and looked around for an alternative.
However, my friend, an expatriate, went to the restaurant and was ushered immediately to a table. When he called me on my mobile phone to tell me he got us a table, I was shocked. The lead waiter recognised me when I returned to the restaurant. I demanded to know why expatriates were given preferential treatment and he shrugged his shoulders. I told him I would get to the bottom of the matter. Later he came to apologise but the damage had been done.
Is it a common practice for a restaurant to choose its customers based on their race? To me, it looked like the restaurant was practising a modern-day caste system. Never in my wildest nightmare could I imagine I would be a victim of discrimination in my own homeland. This is because we pride ourselves as a society which treats people of all races, languages and religions equally.I decided I would never patronise such a restaurant again, no matter how good the food might be.
Long Tien Kian
------------------------
Article 2: (Straits Times again... one of these days I'll get myself sued for infringement)
Jan 30, 2005 Sixth Avenue eatery denies favouring Westerners over locals
By Tracy Quek
SORRY, we're fully booked, the head waiter told him. Disappointed, 37-year-old Mr Long Tien Kian left the Brazil Churrascaria restaurant in Sixth Avenue, kicking himself for not having made a reservation. But less than three minutes later, he said, his dining companion, 40-year-old Dutchman Heinze Elzinga, arrived separately at the restaurant and was immediately shown to a table.Outraged that the restaurant had apparently given preferential treatment to an expatriate, the business manager wrote to The Straits Times' Forum page about his experience and his letter was published yesterday.
'To me, it looked like the restaurant was practising a modern-day caste system,' wrote Mr Long, who was at the restaurant on Jan 7.
When contacted yesterday, restaurant chairman David Gabriel, 60, who said he was not there that night, denied there was a policy favouring Westerners over locals.He claims Mr Long's friend arrived 10 minutes later and that during that time there had been a last-minute cancellation.He said: 'There was a cancellation and the customer who happened to be there at the right time was shown in. 'We have never, and never will, discriminate against locals. Why should we? More than half of our customers are Singaporeans.'
Mr Long told The Sunday Times that he doesn't buy the restaurant's explanation.'My friend arrived less than three minutes after I left. It's hard to believe that within that time, there was a cancellation,' said Mr Long.He had eaten at the restaurant, which offers different types of meat grilled on skewers, once before with his wife.Despite his annoyance, he and Mr Elzinga, his former boss, stayed for dinner because he wanted the Dutchman to try the food. Said Mr Long: 'But now, I don't think I want to go back.'
Already the incident has be come a hot topic on the Internet.On websites such as sammy boy.com and hardwarezone.com, netizens posted angry, and often unpublishable, comments.'For any restaurant or store that has such practice... all of us will boycott the place till it closes down,' said one sammyboy.com user. 'Hit them where it hurts.'
[...]
---------------------
In the balls perhaps??
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