Prejudice rears its ugly head.

I wasn't going to write about this stuff, as it's deeply personal, and I'm not sure that I should disseminate it over the 'tubes' as it were.

However, I'm also pretty cheesed about it, and I would like input from my fellow bloggers about it.

After that rather vague preamble, let me begin:

My Lady has been suffering, what I would consider BLATANT prejudice at her 'part-time' bar job. I'm fairly freaked out that this sort of thing is still happening. I mean... I realise that there's a tonne of prejudice based on race and religion in my country, and I find it appalling. However, the fact that the prejudice against My Lady is both racial and religious, and the fact that she's a sweet little Church of Scotland/British Bird is why I'm freaked about it.

I'm not going to mention the place. That's not what this post is about. But I'll say a few words about it. It's an 'Irish theme bar' sort of thing (That's fairly safe to say, as there's about 20 of the places in the Twin Cites of St.Paul and Minneapolis, and unless you know us really well, you probably don't know which one it is.

Anyhoo... She received The talking to early last week. She's been told that she's "not working out" and that "she's just not fast enough" for the team. Now, the issue is that she is a WONDERFUL waitress, and even during the "talking to" she was told that for customer service she was perhaps the best on staff. However, she's "still not fitting in" in the bar. Most of the issues that were brought up during the 'talking to' were based on a few different shifts, and this is where the prejudice sneaks in...

When she was hired at this place that is staffed by 'mainly' American folk, she was hired by an actual "Irish" manager (not Irish-American, actually born in Ireland, Irish). This manager thought My Lady was Scottish, and figured that a Scot was close enough to an Irish-bird that the Yankee custom wouldn't really notice. (By the way, it's not a prerequisite that one be Irish at an Irish bar, it's just a good way to make Yank-customers happy.) The issues began, when it was discovered that My Lady was born in Newcastle. England. She wasn't Scottish, she was English in Scots-clothing. All of a sudden... The actual "Irish" staff at the place started doing stuff. Scheduling her for shifts she would ask for off, and NOT scheduling her for any other days. The Irish bar-staff would "forget drinks" for her. The (get this) Ecuadorian cook (who was FRIENDS with My Lady) started not making her food orders (which was even worse than the Irish people, as the Irish treat HIM like crap, so I'm not sure where his 'turncoat' nature began).

Anyhoo... You get the idea. During her 'talking to' she was excoriated by the manager for being 'slow' by not getting the food out fast enough, or getting the drinks out fast enough.

Get the idea?

Yeah.

So... What it really LOOKS like to me, is that they've been doing their best to sabotage her. She was told during the 'talking to' that she'd get a week to improve, or she'd be let go.

My Lady turned in her two-weeks notice today.

I guess where I'm going with this, is... What the? I mean, really! What the hell is going on, that Irish folk would be so rude and awful and frankly EVIL to my wife? We have Irish friends, one of My Lady's attendants during the wedding was Irish, he's one of our best friends, and... Well... I just don't get it.

I'd love to do this post, and then tell everyone the name of this horrible place, but I'm not going to... You're all welcome to e-mail me at: expat.squared[at]gmail.com, and I'll tell you, if you want to know... But...

Anyhoo...

I'm glad she's getting out of that place... And...

She's already got another job lined up.

Okay... I'm sort of feeling better now. I just had to get this off my chest.

Anyone out there that are as sickened as I am?

-- Tuckmac