Racism still strong at Denny's

On 6/19/09 at 8:00am I entered this Denny's by the airport in Jacksonville. We were sat in waitress Terry's section. She seemed upset that we were sat in her section. My wife and I are African American. Terry did not greet us but made a point of walking to the person who sat us to let her know it was not her turn to take a table. After about 7 minutes, we still had not been waited on. A White couple walked in and Terry sprung into action, bypassing the hostess to sit the White couple in her section. Terry was very personable and friendly to this couple. After another 2-3 minutes, Terry took their drink order and food order. She then, in a very unfriendly tone asked me and my spouse "What are you having". No Hello Welcome to Denny's, no nothing. We waited for service and didn't get anything but a waitress with an attitude who doesn't appreciate waiting on minority customers. When I asked for a manager, I was told that the manager was at the bank and not available. After all the lawsuits that Denny's has had, they have obviously not learned their lesson. Well I've learned mine and I will not be caught dead at any Denny's in northeast Florida. In the year 2009 any thing is possible, but waitresses picking and choosing their customers is abhorrent and reeks of a company culture from top to bottom. Denny's is an embarrassment to "Family" restaurants everywhere.

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I'm an African american 21 year old who was hired at a Dennys in Roseville michigan on a street called Gratiot near masonic about 2 or 3 weeks ago and while in training i noticed that the managers from time to time helped seat and wait on guests and it dawned on me when ever blacks would walk in the manager would instead of taking them to a table would call yell to me so very unprofessionally and loud from the opposite end of the store to seat them. It also struck me as odd that in the entire week i worked there i seen absolutly no diversity in ANY of the people who worked there no asian, black, mexican, thai nothing it was 99.9 percent white i was the 0.01.

what makes it worse is that during my interview they constanly asked me questions about my other job KFC thats normal but my entire interview was basically giving info on KFC it wasnt about my personality, friends, family i was never asked about my hobbies none of my references were called just my job at KFC. It was like i was being debriefed for info.

After my first week of training i was told to take Sunday off and i would be called monday...monday no phone call so tuesday morning i get up super early and call 10 minutes after the manager is supposed to come in and call im told the manager is on a smoke break...really? after less then 20 minutes on the job u have to go smoke? i ask if they can have her call me and i was told she would, all day no call. Wensday i call and im told the manager is cooking call back later i call back later and talk to a manager but not the one who said she will call me this manager a guy name Les Simmons says he will talk to the manager Christine Post but she couldnt talk because she was cooking so call back in an hour. hour later shes still cooking call back in another hour i was told she left. Thursday i call and nobody answered the phone at all the second time i called that day i was told Christine was cooking once again and she will call me when she gets a chance. 2 weeks later i have worked there about 20 hours total and because i was told i was training i couldnt take tips but also was only payed $2.70 something an hour which is below minimum wage and is infact slave labor. I have exellent customer service and even had people insist i take a tip from them but as a trainee i wasnt allowed so if im not compensated for my below minimum wage pay for that week or at all for discrimination the owners of that establisment Thomas F. Pilbeam and Jack Thompson should be ready to go to court because that is uncalled for and unprofessional in this day and age.

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I have to agree with you in a different way. I recently attempted to apply to a Denny's where a huge "Now Hiring" sign was posted, but when I tried to apply I was told there were no open positions. I live in California and am African American as well, and I'm just fed up with stuff like this.