Service Industry Workers of Chicago, Do You Experience or Witness Racism in Your Workplace?
I’m asking this because I just started a new job at a long-standing Italian restaurant in the city, and already 3 people have made very casually racist comments (one of them very frequently) about people in the restaurant or about racial groups in general. One guy said something to the effect of “Minnesota is shit now because of all the Somalians,” one said what I believe was an Italian racial slur about black people and said they were crazy and smash your shit, and another kept calling the back of house workers “lazy, you know those people” (all of them are Hispanic), as well as a host of other things, even about other Italians.
There is also a very clear skin color and language divide between FOH, BOH, and even bussers. The bussers are treated as second class FOH and not tipped out their full amount—I was trained to do the same.
I have been serving in another state, and none of the restaurants I’ve worked in have been like this. Sometimes people work BOH who don’t speak English, but I haven’t noticed them being treated or spoken about disrespectfully.
Anyway, is this something you’ve recognized as a service worker? Is this something endemic to Chicago Italian restaurants? Is it just this place? It’s struck me by how casual it’s been—I’m not in these people’s confidence at all, it’s my first day. I have responded mostly by going “um, I don’t think that’s true,” but I want to say more, only of course saying more does nothing if every single FOH person holds these beliefs. I definitely don’t want to work here long term anymore, so I’m hoping this isn’t a common thing. I don’t want to leave because of racism only to find it is everywhere.
Edit: it should be noted that I’m white, so I’m unsure if these comments are being made directly to POC, but I doubt it’s always subtle. I’m offended that just by being white, my coworkers seem to think I’m racist too. That’s what makes me think it might be industry- or even city-wide.