Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Discrimination is many things. An infantile "no fair!" exscuse because you didnt get your way is NOT one of them.

Today, I was in and out of the office doing paper work when a small group of people walk into the bowling alley. When I walk over to them, there are two people at the front counter, standing about a foot apart, and a couple other ladies somewhat behind them. One of the ladies at the front counter said she had a 10:30 reservation. I confirmed it and asked them how many kids there were. She responded 45. At this point, a few handicapped/mentally challenged teens started making there way in. I thought (thought, not said...) something along the lines of '45 handicapped kids? Should be interesting'.
By this time, the other person who was working the front counter had come out of the office to assist with getting the kids set up on the lanes. I briefly left the counter to double check something. When I returned to the counter less than a minute later, a different, group of kids were lining up for shoes. It was at this point I realized that the two ladies that were standing side by side at the counter were of different groups.

When the line of summer camp kids in need of bowling shoes had shortened, my colleague went to assist the other lady and her group. All of a sudden I hear her shouting, and a couple of the younger ones in line are startled by it. From what I could catch of the conversation, apparently she was there first and was pissed because I hadn't spoken to her.

Sorry, but you gave absolutely no inclination that you were in a different group. Why didn't you say anything when I first spoke to you and the woman I thought you were with? That would've been easier and saved us a whole lot of trouble.

The next thing I know, I'm being accused of discrimination. I didn't take her group first because they were challenged. Excuse me? Where the hell did that come from? I didn't even know I wasn't dealing with this group until after the fact. I was willing to discuss this particular accusation until she brought up her next 'argument'

You'll note that the summer camp had a reservation. The challenged group did not. Even though we had enough lanes to accommodate both groups, the one with the reservations usually have some precedence. The woman starts up again, and insists that they didn't require a reservation, that they were told they could come in whenever they want, and they'd be able to bowl.

It went from discrimination, to the fact that she was told she didn't need a reservation because her group was 'special'. to a whole bunch of other bullshit I don't remember.

One: I try very very hard not to discriminate against anyone for anything. If someone mentions that they're being discriminated against, Ill usually try to get the whats and the whys

But if you try to list discrimination as one of 3 or 4 bullshit temper tantrum excuses, you've lost any and all credibility you ever had with me. Like I said, I would deal with that accusation. But not like this. I'm not even going to try. Ive worked with enough children to have some idea of how this goes. Dealing with an adult acting like a child shouldn't be much different.

As far as reservations go...while its not 'required' to set something up, we ALWAYS recommend that you go ahead and make a reservation so we can guarantee your lanes (even if its just one person). We NEVER tell anyone "Naw...you don't need to make reservations...come on in!"


While I'm on the topic of discrimination....why they hell is NAACP getting themselves involved in Vicks case? A dog fight doesn't have a damn thing to do with racial discrimination (unless it was a yellow lab vs. a black lab...).
Okay, so you want to make sure Vick doesn't get unfair treatment (or whatever). Fine. Does the NAACP send out a representative for every black person that goes through the judicial system? Or just the rich celebrity types?
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