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Woman Say Richmond McDonalds Discriminated Against Her By Refusing Her Service Because of Language


DonLever

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A B.C. woman is claiming she was refused service at a Richmond McDonald's because staff said they couldn't understand her English.

Hai Xia Sun ordered a hot chocolate at the McDonald's on Number 3 Road in Richmond last week, but said staff gave her a coffee by mistake.

mi-bc-130821-mcdonalds-hai-sia-sun.jpgHai Xia Sun ordered hot chocolate at a Richmond McDonald's last week, but got coffee instead. (CBC)

She said she asked that her order be fixed, but alleges the manager refused and told her to get out of the store instead.

"She said, 'You don't know English,' and then she returned my order. She said, 'We are very busy, don't stay here,'" Hai Xia Sun told CBC News.

Sun called the incident discrimination.

"This is my second language right. And this is discrimination. Yes maybe I speak not very good English but she can't not service to us."

Restaurant blames 'language barrier'

But a McDonald's spokesperson says it was an isolated incident caused by a "language barrier," not discrimination or poor service.

"We regret that this customer was offended during her recent restaurant visit. We have since been in communication with her son who has expressed appreciation for our efforts to resolve the situation," said a later statement issued by communications director Jeanette Jones.

"What is alleged to have taken place is not consistent with the franchisee’s commitment to quality customer service and to reflecting the cultural mosaic of the restaurant’s local community," the statement read.

The Vancouver suburb of Richmond is popular with Chinese immigrants. According to Statistics Canada, 41 per cent of the population lists a Chinese dialect as their first language.

Queenie Choo, CEO of SUCCESS, a Vancouver immigrant group, says incidents of discrimination are uncommon in local businesses.

"Well I think it's a very unfortunate situation. The way I look at it, it's a situation where there's a communication issue. It takes two to tango," Choo said.

Nevertheless, Sun's son David Zhao wants McDonald's to take action by hiring Mandarin speakers at local restaurants.

"In Richmond, how come they don't hire a person who can communicate in Mandarin. All right? That's not a big deal," said Zhao

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I really hate people that think that companies in a country that is primarily english-speaking should hire a Mandarin speaking (Or insert other language here) worker to please them.

If I were to go to lets say, Italy, I would expect myself to learn some Italian, I would not expect others to know English. People need to take initiative and learn English.

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Christ there are some whiners out there. I lived in a heavily Asian area of East Vancouver years ago and had trouble at my local bank branch, went through three different tellers with poor English skills who couldn't understand what I was asking. When I eventually (awkwardly) asked if there were any native English speakers working, I was told "Yes, one, but she went for lunch."

I didn't go to the news, I went to a different branch. And that was dealing with my money, trying to pay bills to keep my life functioning. Surely there's another McDonalds or a cafe for this woman to get her precious hot chocolate.

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WOW. The issue isn't the language, its about one idiot manager who doesn't understand proper business etiquette. You don't tell someone to leave the store if they aren't doing anything wrong. How hard is it to understand hot chocolate? Simply point to the machine. I've had to deal with customers where I didn't understand a word they said, but I didn't tell them to leave. I simply listened harder and tried to see what they wanted. Regardless of how busy they are, they have a right to eat food, and languages are hard to learn.

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I really hate people that think that companies in a country that is primarily english-speaking should hire a Mandarin speaking (Or insert other language here) worker to please them.

If I were to go to lets say, Italy, I would expect myself to learn some Italian, I would not expect others to know English. People need to take initiative and learn English.

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I really hate people that think that companies in a country that is primarily english-speaking should hire a Mandarin speaking (Or insert other language here) worker to please them.

If I were to go to lets say, Italy, I would expect myself to learn some Italian, I would not expect others to know English. People need to take initiative and learn English.

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