Bigotry a daily headache for some workers
People who work in customer service say there’s a growing need for training against abusive patrons
Bobby Jackson remembers the day he visited a customer and faced blatant bigotry.
He was making his usual rounds, visiting cardiologists to speak about the pacemakers and defibrillators that Jackson sold as a sales manager for a medical-devices company. But one doctor only saw him for his race.
“He said, ‘ You must have gotten hired as affirmative action,’ ” Jackson, 53, an African American, recalled. “I responded with, ‘That’s not necessary. Let’s not make this personal.’ ”
In the midst of a national conversation about restaurant or store workers singling out customers unfairly based on their race, religion or sexuality — witness the Starbucks case in Philadelphia in April in which a manager called the cops on a pair of black customers because they didn’t buy anything — there’s been little attention paid to the flip side: abusive, racist customers mistreating employees.
Recently, the issue has been getting more attention due to a spate of bias incidents against workers that have been captured on video, including an anti-immigrant rant by an attorney enraged because some of the workers at a New York restaurant spoke Spanish.
Such outbursts may make jobs in stores and restaurants, already known for long hours and low pay, less desirable.
“I think it does raise people’s awareness of the abuse customer service representatives go through,” says Andy Challenger, vice-president of the employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Most workplaces put employees on notice that anger or bigotry to- ward co-workers is unacceptable but are less clear about how to handle a customer who is abusive to an employee because of a server or sales person’s race, religion or sexuality.
“The classic training for customer service (and) employees in restaurants is the customer is always right,” Challenger says. “I know a lot of companies do training on what to do with upset or angry customers. I don’t know if as many do an explicit emphasis on racist customers and
how to treat them.”
But the need for such training is growing. “We’re seeing a rise in hate across our country, and that conduct sometimes spills over into ... stores and work sites,’’ says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This is a moment that requires employers think about what actions they can take to make sure that all employers are aware of their rights.’’
Jackson, the manager who was insulted by a cardiologist during a sales call, said that his employer didn’t seem to care about how badly he had been treated, even though the doctor’s behavior routinely drew complaints from the sales staff.
“Their response was a lack of empathy,” said Jackson who lives in Houston. The emphasis, instead, was on keeping sales figures high. “‘We don’t care what you have to do, if you have to suffer. Just get the numbers up.’ ”
The problem of bigoted customers can be especially acute in food service.
Justin Stutte knows that first hand.
Stutte, 20, of Waxhaw, N.C., said that in late November, he was denied a tip from a mother and son he’d waited on not because of bad service or inedible food — but because of his sexual orientation.
“Our gay waiter made me wanna throw up my food,” the mother wrote on her dinner check at a restaurant in Indian Trail, N.C. “Ruined my experience... Will not be back!”
Stutte said when he first saw what she had written, he kept staring at the slip of paper.
“The audacity that they wrote that message to hurt my feelings,” he said. “Why are you taking time out of your day? ... It was unnecessary. I don’t know why people feel the need for that.”
Others at the restaurant took photos of the offensive message, and at least one co-worker posted it on social media. Two days later, Stutte said he was fired for violating the company’s confidentiality policy, which he denies having done.
“To have them turn their back on me and not even figure out what happened, they just abandoned ship,” he recalled. “They said they wanted to stay neutral on the subject.” The restaurant did not respond to requests for comment, but Stutte said his former employer did offer to rehire him later. He refused to go back.
Employers have an obligation to make sure their workers don’t encounter a hostile or unsafe work environment, including mistreatment based on factors such as gender, age, national origin or race, says Corbett Anderson, assistant legal counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Anderson says steps that an employer can take against a hostile customer “could include talking to the person, making clear their behavior is unacceptable and not going to be tolerated. And it can move on to restricting the person’s access to the premises.”
Clarke, of the Lawyers’ Committee, says that “often stores will post a ‘bill of rights’ that makes clear the rights of customers. But that’s also a moment to reinforce that they do not tolerate harassment or dis- crimination of any kind against anyone.’’
There should also be a policy that instructs employees on how to respond when confronted by an intolerant customer. “It’s important to let them know in these situations that they not only can, but they should escalate it to a manager immediately,” Challenger says.
If an employer is unwilling to address biased treatment from a client or customer, a worker has other options, from filing a complaint with a federal, state or local human or civil rights commission, to going to the police if the encounter turned violent.
“A worker ... can file a charge with the EEOC, and we would certainly recommend that if the employer doesn’t take corrective action,’’ Anderson says.
But if an organization has a clear policy and chain of command, workers can at least feel assured that such outbursts will be dealt with. “Do the best you can in that moment and then call somebody,” says Samia Kirmani, co-leader of the workplace training practice group at the national law firm Jackson Lewis, headquartered in White Plains, N.Y. “You have human resources. You have security. You have legal. You have higher levels of management. Do not go it alone.”