That woman that I've been working for most regularly, and who is trying to open a business, took me and my family out to lunch today at the Kings Buffet, which is a Chinese restaurant near our apartment, in celebration of my birthday today. The Kings Buffet is the most notable landmark for our home, and so, whenever I have had to explain where I lived, I would say "behind the Kings Buffet". Despite this, I remained one of the few people who had not eaten there, even after a year and a half of using it for descriptive means.
This was, however, not the first time I'd eaten there, as last Saturday, Granddad took us. Louise, who is the person that treated me today, offered to take me to a Chinese restaurant. Duncan missed his opportunity to go to it last Saturday, and he, having the same reason as I for wanting to see it on the inside, showed remorse for having missed the opportunity. Therefor, I selected it again.
I can understand how it's survived. I think all the Chinese restaurants in Guelph have, to an extent, adopted some measure of North American style. But this place has taken it the furthest that I've seen. They even employ white people! And not just hidden in the kitchen, either. They're waiting tables and greeting people. I know this sounds pretty racist, but as someone who applies for every available position, I have come to notice that there are places that will only employ people of a certain race. This is the first exception I've seen in a major restaurant revolving around a specific culture.
Anyway, the buffet selection is massive. It's difficult to judge the quality of the food, because it's been so long since I've eaten at a buffet-styled Chinese restaurant that I've got nothing to compare it with.
...Otherwise... Something embarrassing happened to me today, which I don't feel keen on sharing.
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Around here, there are certain positions that seem to fall more frequently to people from certain ethnic groups ... or perhaps a more accurate way to put it might be that they fall more frequently to people who are in greater need, and those groups happen to be disproportionally represented.
ReplyDeleteFor some jobs, it may simply be a willingness to work for minimum wage, or perhaps even a perception by the manager that some people might be less interested in raises. I'd guess perception, though, especially in this economy. A lot of people are willing to work for not quite as much as, say, six years ago. (I understand that at one point the fast-food industry was definitely a workers' market down here. Lots and lots of competition. It may still be that way.)
For other jobs, I suspect it is a willingness to work below minimum wage.
There are also a lot of smaller restaurants around here. I always figured that the owners tend to hire people like themselves ... while Indianapolis does have a reasonable sampling of ethnic groups, the suburbs do not, so up here, if owners hire people like themselves, there would be a lot of white people around. (Diversity wasn't on my mind when I bought my house; I think it would be great if we had a variety of people in the neighborhood, but honestly I was only thinking about the house itself.)
I'm willing to work for under minimum wage!
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