[Lekooks] Atrocious situation at Fishbones in Delafield

Sat Jun 6 09:42:52 CDT 2020

UPDATE. Apology on Fishbones' website.

Good morning friends. Thanks to all of you
For your words and taking action. Some great suggestions here.

 To those of you who asked for my friend's Facebook name, I don't think
that will be necessary as the restaurant has received quite a lot of calls
on this from people far and wide. (Just as an aside however, what I shared
in the quotations on my first message was the direct post from my friend
and what she asked people do was copy it and share it. She did not want to
make it public from her own wall and I don't think that would have gone
anywhere but – it doesn't matter because the restaurant has now posted an
apology on their websites home page, and is apparently having a manager
meet with the offended parties.

  I'm sure its not representative of the owners' policies but a most
unfortunate and ignorant
Decision on the part of the manager. Asking the white people to move is
what should have happened of course. I can understand being in a situation
as a restaurant manager where you have to think fast to defuse a
potentially confrontational situation amongst customers. This is why
training is so critical. Nathan did not have the awareness or the skill
set. So I really do hope that the restaurant follows through on their
promise of training their staff.

The restaurant issued an apology on their homepage of their website, and
apparently is going to meet with the offended parties. That is a start.
They have said that they are committed to better training of their staff as
well.

I think they are likely overwhelmed with calls about this right now and I
believe that the point has been clearly made to them. They probably need to
have manager Nathan on a full-time phone detail to handle all of the
calls.!  It only takes a couple people sharing with committed friends to
get an avalanche of response.

Again thank you so much for your part in bringing awareness around this
situation!

Best,
Suzette

On Fri, Jun 5, 2020, 4:52 PM Fran B. <sandhillcrane at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I just had a lengthy discussion with Nathan, the manager at Fishbones. I
> complemented him on the actions he is taking with his staff to make sure
> nothing like this happens again. Apparently the staff member felt that the
> white table was about to confront the table of two black and one white
> individuals. Asking the racially mixed table to move was an ill conceived
> solution.
> I shared the idea of Nathan and Jackie Valde spearheading a Delafield
> declaration of being a community that welcomes all. I also made it clear
> that the sort of incident that occurred at his restaurant could easily go
> viral in a matter of hours and deeply damage the reputation and bottom line
> of both Zins and Fishbones. I very much like Bev's suggestion of plaques
> on stores. I will share that with Jackie Valde. I encourage all of you to
> send me ideas.
> Thanks,
> Fran Bills
>
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Lekooks <lekooks-bounces at lekook.org> on behalf of Bev B. via
> Lekooks <lekooks at lekook.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2020 4:33:46 PM
> *To:* Gerald Flakas <gerflak at aol.com>
> *Cc:* lekooks at lekook.org <lekooks at lekook.org>; horsewmn42 at gmail.com <
> horsewmn42 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [Lekooks] Atrocious situation at Fishbones in Delafield
>
> Nice going, Gerry!
> The fact that Nathan is doing more than just apologize makes him sound
> truly contrite and possibly "woke".
> Bev
>
>
>
> At 03:24 PM 6/5/2020, Gerald Flakas via Lekooks wrote:
>
> Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>          boundary="----=_Part_3469395_1631498311.1591388643113"
> Content-Length: 10265
>
> I just got off the phone with the Fishbones manager Nathan, to inquire
> about this situation.
> He admitted to me that he overreacted inappropriately and that what he did
> was a big mistake.
> I asked him what they are doing to correct the situation, and he told me
> they are bringing in diversity training for the staff, and he will be
> meeting in person in the next few minutes with the people he offended.
> He said he learned his lesson, and this won't happen again.
>
> I think we should accept his explanation as a painful lesson learned, and
> expect he will not do anything so hurtful and foolish again
> Redemption is possible; remember the "Amazing Grace words", "I once was
> lost, and now am found".
> We all make mistakes and hopefully learn from them.
> No "death penalty" for Fishbones and Zins from me, anyway (unless it
> happens again).
>
> Gerry Flakas
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Suzette Nelson via Lekooks <lekooks at lekook.org>
> To: lekooks <lekooks at lekook.org>
> Sent: Thu, Jun 4, 2020 10:17 pm
> Subject: [Lekooks] Atrocious situation at Fishbones in Delafield
>
> Hi friends. I want to share the following with you. A friend of mine who
> lives in Pewaukee posted this on her Facebook page today. I am copying and
> pasting it. Please please consider calling the management at Fishbones in
> Delafield and expressing your outrage at this situation.
> And please consider not patronizing this restaurant and letting them know
> that. Particularly if you live in Lake Country, which I'm guessing most of
> you do. Here is the copy of her message.
>
> "People of conscience, a friend of mine who is black has shared a
> troubling story with me. Her son and a couple friends (one black, the other
> white) were dining on the patio at an area restaurant yesterday, and like
> many of us, they were discussing the events of the day - George Floydâ€™s
> murder, the civil unrest we are seeing locally and across the globe, and
> all that goes with it. I am sad to report that they were asked to MOVE from
> their table to another area of the patio. Management initially pretended
> the move was necessary because of an incoming reservation, but that lie was
> exposed when one of the young men stepped out to the parking lot and called
> and asked about getting a reservation on the patio. Turns out the
> restaurant doesnâ€™t even take reservations for that area; itâ€™s first
> come, first served. No one else was asked to move.
>
> When the young men politely questioned the restaurantâ€™s decision, the
> manager told them they were moved at another patronâ€™s request and that,
> â€œAround these parts, things are just different.â€
>
> Are you kidding me? Black people talking about racism is so problematic
> for white ears that it has to be banished to an area where no one will hear
> it? No. If anyone should have been asked to move, it should have been the
> white pearl clutchers. This is a case of discrimination and marginalization
> of people of color and we need to let this restaurant know that their
> actions were unacceptable to us. I already made my phone call and believe
> you me, the manager (Nathan) knew exactly what I was taking about and
> thanked me for calling. I hope you will consider placing a call as well,
> especially if you are a white resident of Lake Country. Nothing changes
> till we make it change. This may feel small in the overall scheme of
> things, but micro-aggressions lead to aggressions, make no mistake.
>
> The restaurant is Fishbones in Delafield, and I will miss their Spicy
> Cajun Pasta and Red Beans and Rice dearly.
>
> 262-646-4696"
>
> My additional comment:
> I want so badly to find a way to either make this viral or stand in front
> of the restaurant with a sign that says "this restaurant asks people of
> color to move to the back of the room!" I am stunned. "Things are different
> in these parts"?!? Oh. My. God.
> Also....any violation of civil rights here??
>
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