REVDOUG is right on,too. Is this really racism as in denying people basic civil rights and marginalizing a complete segment of the population or is it just a bunch of jerks trying to bring others low so they won’t feel so small? Let’s not give it more power than it deserves.

i knew you were serious. just thought i’d give you an out.

first, you know absolutely nothing about my work history, but it is not unusual for a person to work a food-service job at some point early in their life. good try though.

as explained, tipping is optional, not a given. it is not part of the expected pay. that angle is largely pushed by owners/mangers who do not want to pay their waiting staff an adequate rate. maybe they’re the real “canadians”? you know, those servers are “loosing” money because of this. it’s just so uncivilized…

aside: i pesonally tip, unless given a reason not to. however, way to call me an asshole over your imaginary scenario. do you tip fast food workers? are you an asshole? a hypocrite?

also, how are people spitting on my food before they even know if i will tip. are you saying that your wife and her coworkers regularly spit on black people’s food on the basis of their prejudices? maybe that has something to do with the low tip rate…

you are not explaining away anything, much less a euphemism. what you are doing is detailing the sequence of racial prejudices and actions your wife and, i assume, her coworkers routinely engage in.

and yes, we are talking about you, whether you think we are or not. why? exactly because you stood up and attempted to rationalize what is clearly racist speech. i’m sorry [truly] that you are unable to grasp that.

lastly, why should i, as a canadian, be proud that you have usurped my nationality to engage in a racist sleight-of-hand? i am insulted by the use, not proud.

sum.zero

Where do you live that you know about snowbirds? In Palm Springs, we call slow-driving tourists ‘Canadian Roadblock’.

Q: What’s the difference between Canadians and cockroaches?

A: At least the cockroaches move faster when you scare them.

disclaimer: My grandparents were Newfs. To my people, Canada is the oppressor nation.

I, too, get tired of the anti-South prejudice that is all too common on the Internets and elsewhere. People who haven’t lived here (and as someone else pointed out, there’s a lot of “here” here) think they know all there is to know about us.

I highly suspect racism is more-or-less the same in most of the US, it just manifests itself in different ways, some more obvious than others. Before you go pointing at someone else, take a look at yourself.

The fact is that a vast majority of black people who eat at restaurants don’t tip, and if they do, they tip poorly. They run you around like a little bitch and talk down to you and make you lick their boots and don’t leave you a penny. From a financial perspective, it makes sense to want to avoid these types of customers and it’s no secret that servers stand huddled in fear when a black table walks in a given restaurant.

But I’m sure all you have cushy jobs not dependent on individual consumers and so you have no experience observing economic trends by race. Ah, ignorance.

Let’s not be afraid to call a spade a spade folks: disliking blacks and calling them names because, AS A GROUP, they impede your financial success, is not racist–maybe childish, but wanting to avoid these types of people is completely logical and economically sound.

Oh, and to the people who are confused about tipping. YES, tipping is optional but NO, you shouldn’t not leave one just because you don’t feel like it. By entering into an establishment whose waitstaff makes its wage off of tips, you implicitly agree to a contract whereby you tip the person taking care of you. If you choose not to, that makes you…well, a really shitty person. The reason the tip is not included in the check is for tax purposes–if money is going directly from your patrons to your employees, you have no liability over it. That is big for companies.

Any other questions?

Even when taken at face value it’s got to be good news that racist idiots are forced to use increasingly bizarre euphemisms to escape detection from “normal” people. It suggests their social standing is similar to that enjoyed by pedophiles and purveyors of child pornography. So that’s sort of a good sign, right?

The Life Of Bryan – “I’m certain I’ve never come across this one. Of course, I don’t hang out with the people most likely to use this word but I call my Mac a “NIGGERpooter” and I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. By the way, I and my white friends are an oppressed minority.”

Reverend Robbie – “I’m sorry, but I think this is a bunch of unrelated anecdotes strung together because all my white racist friends are comfortable using “nigger” when they are around me. On the rare occasion when they do feel slightly embarrassed they revert to using “black” instead. I’ve let them know that I disapprove but not enough to impact our friendship. They all think of me as a Canadian-lover, er… nigger-lover anyway.”

JEC – “I’m a Southerner born and bred and I’ve never heard this but it can’t be racism to call someone a nigger because you aren’t really denying anyone their basic human rights simply by uttering words. Beside, these are just ordinary guys puffing themselves up. It isn’t like there was ever a time when my fellow southerners would have a picnic and find a themselves a nigger to string up, torture and then burn alive all while children were playing, the womenfolk chatting away and the men drinking. Let’s not give it more power than it deserves by remembering those uncomfortable times.”

Racism:
1. The prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races

2. Discriminatory or abusive behaviour towards members of another race.

Note to Teresa – I claim the right to use the “N” word in order to expose this hate for what it is. I am poor and I live in a poor urban environment. Many of my friends are black and I have spoken out against racism when I see it in my daily life. I myself belong to the GLBT community and have been discriminated against also. There is no surer way to piss me off than by being an ignorant, racist, homophobic jerk.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHahahahahaha..hee..heehee.. *cough*

…I’m sorry, but I would take that as a complement. :P

Does anyone know if prices in restaurants are cheaper in the US to make up the difference?

I’m from the South and find many of the comments above to be quite offensive. I’m not sure that the approach of fighting the ignorant bigotry of others with your own ignorant bigotry is really coming across as well as you think. Maybe it’s just me.

I guess if I ever travel to any of your home towns, I’d better hide my accent or I might get lynched….

I suppose using Canadian there wouldn’t work due to confusion with actual Canadians, who were not a rare sight in the Finger Lakes.

If we keep throwing the word around, someone’s going to start pushing the line, then someone else will do it too, and then I’ll have to decide where the line is and what to do about the comments that are on the wrong side of it. I don’t want to do that.

So: you don’t, and I won’t, and we’ll all be just fine.

But tips are only for good service. I have no trouble leaving no tip at all, if the service was rude or incompetent. I expect that a restaurant will pay their staff enough to live on – a gratuity is supposed to be gratuitous, as I see it.

And I have to laugh about Vancouver being the most open-minded Canadian city. I know a few Asian-Canadians and First Nations folk who might disagree.

We do the same thing, using “American” as euphemism for “senseless population” all the time :)

I specifically said that these guys called us anti-gay slurs because we were wearing t-shirts! Call me at age 12 and called my father who was easily 50. I think the issue was I had a light blue surf shirt. We were in PEI and ordering ice cream cones. These guys were 15-18 and picking on a 12 year old. What could I have said, that I came from “America?” instead of the USA? Please. Did I mispronounce ice cream cone? I knew a handful of people from Toronto and Montreal who immigrated to the USA and they never said it was an anathema to Maritimers, they said Maritimers were comparable to our states like West Virginia or Alabama. I simply say that Canadians imagine they are a more open and friendly society than they are in real life. The tipping stereotype is part of that. There is a misconception about how to behave in another country that isn’t theirs. In the US we are all warned about Ugly Americanism. Canadians wear their flag on their backpack. Think about it.

are you serious?

first, what you are doing is called racism. you are attaching a hate term to a particular racial demographic. just because you use a new word does not make it any less racist, ignorant, or hateful.

you also blame the victim for your ignorance. if they had just been netter blacks you wouldn’t of had to refer to them with that camouflaged racial slur after all, no?

lastly, tipping is optional. not tipping is not theft. if tipping is not optional, it should be included in the price on the menu. perhaps these people aren’t tipping exactly because they know people like you are in the back calling them “canadians”. or maybe they just remember all those years where they weren’t allowed in your fine restaurants. i know you stated you don’t buy that, but i’m sure people wouldn’t have called black these people n*****s either, except that they did something to deserve it.

it never ceases to amaze me when people stand up and try to explain their racist behaviour…

sum.aero