McDonald's hiring practices are discriminatory

I found this article from some Journalist I think he is, which raises some very interesting racial discrimination issues. Please bear in mind these are only his views based upon his observations, and are not necessarily refection of fact, I have reproduced the full article here so you can make your own mind up.

There is a McDonalds in my neighbourhood which I have been patronizing for about 10 years. I go there about 3-4 times per month. In all those years the store has always been extremely well-run, clean, convenient and my order has not been screwed up even once. FYI, I rarely order anything in the standard configuration - I don't like pickles, onions, etc. When I go inside I am always greeted in a friendly way by a smiling employee in a spotless, pressed uniform. The parking lot is clean, the trash receptacles are frequently emptied and the tables are always clean.. They even practice proper flag etiquette - Old Glory doesn't fly in the rain there which is really exception these days. Overall, the McDonalds in my neighbourhood is very well run. It is owned by a partnership between Ed Bailey and McDonalds called Baibrook - which has a truly awful web site. Baibrook has over 60 McDonalds locations in the Dallas area.
Mr. Bailey is an icon for the American success story. And McDonalds is an icon for American business success.
My neighbourhood has a mix of poor and middle-class. It is has significant populations of Latinos, African-Americans and Whites; plenty of teenagers and plenty of retirees; apartments, condominiums and homes. There is no shortage of available labour for a business like the McDonald's in my neighbourhood.
I've noticed something odd about the McDonald's in my neighbourhood however. And in thinking about it, something insidious comes to mind.
In my experience (I've been paying attention for several years now), 100% of the non-customer conversation is in Spanish and 100% of the employees are Latino. The moment the employee stops speaking directly to the customer, they begin speaking Spanish. That is not exactly a huge problem for me, but it is improper language etiquette.
The bigger problem is that it totally eliminates the possibility for success of any non-Spanish-speaking employee. I have noticed once or twice a non-Spanish-speaking African-American or elderly employee there, but they never last long. In an environment where employees are directed and supervised in Spanish, how can a non-Spanish-speaking employee be successful? Why would anyone hire someone they knew, in advance, would not be successful? Why would anyone even apply for a job in an environment which conducts business in a language an employee didn't understand?
The rhetorical answers to the above questions, of course, are they wouldn't and they couldn't.
What that means to me is that the Spanish-speaking workplace environment of my neighbourhood McDonald's precludes employment by non-Spanish-speakers. And, since most Spanish-speakers are Hispanic, a workplace environment which precludes employment by non-Spanish-speakers is effectively, if not factually, discriminating if favor of Latinos and against non-Latino s. The practice of Spanish-speaking in the workplace creates a self-perpetuating environment of employment discrimination.
 
Looks like they won't be hiring (or firing) in Iceland.
 

mr google

Banned
Please bear in mind these are only his views based upon his observations, and are not necessarily refection of fact, I have reproduced the full article here so you can make your own mind up.
.

In my opinion, if this is a true story then there is not much to say. It looks like it's clearly racial discrimination in the work place and this is clearly wrong. However, I hope that anyone that reads this story doesn't use it as an opportunity to stir up racial hatred or spread any racist opinions that have nothing to do with this story.

Looks like they won't be hiring (or firing) in Iceland.

Do you mean Iceland the frozen food retailer? :dunno:
 

mr google

Banned
Ok. Now that makes sense. I think it would have been a good idea to have included the Iceland link in the original post. :thumbsup:
 

StanScratch

My Penis Is Dancing!
In my area, I mainly see white people working at McDonalds. Mainly, because this community is mostly white.
There might be a correlation in there somewhere.
 

StanScratch

My Penis Is Dancing!
In my area, I mainly see white people working at McDonalds. Mainly, because this community is mostly white.
There might be a correlation in there somewhere.
 
From my experience I've noticed that McDonalds seems to discriminate against hiring people that won't screw up your order.
 
100% of the non-customer conversation is in Spanish and 100% of the employees are Latino...That is not exactly a huge problem for me, but it is improper language etiquette.

How is that improper language etiquette for them to speak to each other if the people having the conversation both speak Spanish? Sounds like the author reveals his prejudice against Spanish speakers.

How can a non-Spanish-speaking employee be successful? Why would anyone even apply for a job in an environment which conducts business in a language an employee didn't understand?

He already answered his own question...

The moment the employee stops speaking directly to the customer, they begin speaking Spanish.

If the employees can speak English, which the author has implied that they do when dealing with customers, why wouldn't they be able to communicate in English to other English speaking employees?

Nice try, but you fail. Thank you, please come again.

Let me let you in on a little something about Spanish speakers, since apparently there are a lot of people that just have no clue or interaction with Latinos and/or Spanish speakers. A lot of them are either immigrants themselves or they have many family members that are. Most young Latino people have at least a grandparent that was an immigrant. What that means is that they most likely were raised speaking Spanish and that Spanish is spoken in the home. Even though they can speak English it is more comfortable for them to speak the language (Spanish) that feels more natural and experienced to them, so they prefer to speak it with other people when they can.

Why would someone have a problem with that?
 

Legzman

what the fuck you lookin at?
I found this article from some Journalist I think he is, which raises some very interesting racial discrimination issues. Please bear in mind these are only his views based upon his observations, and are not necessarily refection of fact, I have reproduced the full article here so you can make your own mind up.

There is a McDonalds in my neighbourhood which I have been patronizing for about 10 years. I go there about 3-4 times per month. In all those years the store has always been extremely well-run, clean, convenient and my order has not been screwed up even once. FYI, I rarely order anything in the standard configuration - I don't like pickles, onions, etc. When I go inside I am always greeted in a friendly way by a smiling employee in a spotless, pressed uniform. The parking lot is clean, the trash receptacles are frequently emptied and the tables are always clean.. They even practice proper flag etiquette - Old Glory doesn't fly in the rain there which is really exception these days. Overall, the McDonalds in my neighbourhood is very well run. It is owned by a partnership between Ed Bailey and McDonalds called Baibrook - which has a truly awful web site. Baibrook has over 60 McDonalds locations in the Dallas area.
Mr. Bailey is an icon for the American success story. And McDonalds is an icon for American business success.
My neighbourhood has a mix of poor and middle-class. It is has significant populations of Latinos, African-Americans and Whites; plenty of teenagers and plenty of retirees; apartments, condominiums and homes. There is no shortage of available labour for a business like the McDonald's in my neighbourhood.
I've noticed something odd about the McDonald's in my neighbourhood however. And in thinking about it, something insidious comes to mind.
In my experience (I've been paying attention for several years now), 100% of the non-customer conversation is in Spanish and 100% of the employees are Latino. The moment the employee stops speaking directly to the customer, they begin speaking Spanish. That is not exactly a huge problem for me, but it is improper language etiquette.
The bigger problem is that it totally eliminates the possibility for success of any non-Spanish-speaking employee. I have noticed once or twice a non-Spanish-speaking African-American or elderly employee there, but they never last long. In an environment where employees are directed and supervised in Spanish, how can a non-Spanish-speaking employee be successful? Why would anyone hire someone they knew, in advance, would not be successful? Why would anyone even apply for a job in an environment which conducts business in a language an employee didn't understand?
The rhetorical answers to the above questions, of course, are they wouldn't and they couldn't.
What that means to me is that the Spanish-speaking workplace environment of my neighbourhood McDonald's precludes employment by non-Spanish-speakers. And, since most Spanish-speakers are Hispanic, a workplace environment which precludes employment by non-Spanish-speakers is effectively, if not factually, discriminating if favor of Latinos and against non-Latino s. The practice of Spanish-speaking in the workplace creates a self-perpetuating environment of employment discrimination.

Another reason we need to do more about illegal immigrants!
 
I vote this the dumbest thread of 2009!!
 

mr google

Banned
Having thought about it some more and read other members replies I take back what I said. There is no real evidence of racism at all. This Journalist has cleverly implied racism but produced no real evidence of it. He sounds like a good journalist. If he had worked there and experienced racism then he’d have story. Fairchild, StanScratch, D-rock, calpoon & Facial_King are right. There is no story. This is just a customer's opinion.
 

maildude

Postal Paranoiac
I like the Filet 'O Fish with extra tartar sauce. And the McNuggets with honey mustard sauce. But only if they're prepared by a member of the legion of North American native tribes.
 
I like the Filet 'O Fish with extra tartar sauce. And the McNuggets with honey mustard sauce. But only if they're prepared by a member of the legion of North American native tribes.

Worst thread, but contained within it a possible Post of the Week!

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh
 
Yeah....discriminatory in that they usually only hire uneducated morons....we need more people with JD's, MBA's, and Ph.D's working for McDonald's.:crash:
 

jasonk282

Banned
Give me back my Filet-O-Fish!

So if they speak English to the non-spanish seaking public, do you not think that they would speak broken english to the non-spanish employee. I have hired puerto ricans before and they spoke english to everyone but others that spoke spanish and no one cared. Also in order for them to get hired they have to fill out a I-9 form with two proofs of ID and it gets turned into the state govermnemt so I really doubt that McDonald's( the world biggest fast foodplace) would place illegal immigrants in their establishments.
 
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