Marketplace Discrimination Exists
An employee of the Ritz Carlton recently filed a federal discrimination suit against the hotel owner and a general manager, alleging that the hotel honored a couple's racial request to not be served by 'people of color' or people with foreign accents.
We who work in and serve the public domain cringe with dismay when we hear of these charges, substantiated or not. Discrimination is wrong and illegal in the US. However, it is still real.
On the broad scale, we all discriminate every time we make a decision. It is human nature to have opinions, bias, favorites - but not displayed in the workplace or business arena. Typically, if we personally have an issue, we take it home and yell at the dog (no comments please – only an expression). We have all dealt with undignified and difficult guests and customers, as well as employees who just do not get it. There is a process and it involves behavior and change, rigorous standards and staff training, and the strength to inform a Customer that you do not want their business.
The customer is not always right and in this specific example is outrageous. We may have gone PC (politically correct) overboard in many instances where we loose a bit of our humanity, but checks and balances are in place, as well as legal recourse. I have no reason to doubt that Ritz Carlton finds this situation unfortunate and embarrassing , for they have a wonderful reputation for excellence and management expertise, serving a global audience and employee base. But, the situation should give us all pause to review our behaviors and sensibilities, for discrimination does exist.
Reader Comments:
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Is it just discrimination?
I understand very well that discrimination shouldn't be tolerated. But what if the case was that the mentioned couple had had bed experience (professionally speaking) of service with those employees? I would rather start investigating if these employees are properly trained, if their training has been planned according to their background and level of education etc. Are we sure it is not a phenomena in the US? We in Albania have no problems with this kind of discrimination as we have very few "people of color" and English is not our mother tongue, but I'm sure we have a problem with delivering proper guests services. 2010-05-30 Dorian Kaba |
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