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

DonLever

By DonLever
in Off-Topic General

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key2thecup Canucks Regular

key2thecup

Posted
Posted

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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hockeyfan87 Abbotsford Star

hockeyfan87

Posted
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Maybe because this is Canada and the official languages are English and French..... I'm also a part of a minority community and yet feel strongly that service should be done in either Eng or French.... Just like how I viewed the Chinese signs in Rmd issue.

Im curious, they listed 41% of Rmd residents list a Chinese dialect as their first language, how many list them as there 2nd? .... What is Richmond now like, 60% Chinese? - Thats not a attack either in just curious

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-DLC- Canucks Hall-of-Famer

-DLC-

Posted
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Sun says she was ordering a hot chocolate at the McDonald’s, but was given a Mocha coffee instead. There was a long lineup and she complained, trying to correct the mistake.

But she says the employee became frustrated, as did the manager, who told her she wouldn’t be served

Read more: http://bc.ctvnews.ca...9#ixzz2cvfhsIHm

The issue has struck a chord with the immigrant community because everyone worries that they could be in that situation, said Frank Huang of the Canadian Youth Leadership Training Centre.

“There are a lot of new immigrants in Richmond, and just because they can’t speak English very well it doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to be served,” he said.

Here's the point that's being missed....she WAS served, however, incorrectly. So that argument doesn't hold water (that they discriminated/wouldn't serve her because she couldn't speak English).

It honestly seems that, with a long line behind her, rather than address the matter as she should have (written in later if a translation was in order?), she demanded an instant resolution and that just wasn't possible with the language barrier. If I travel, I'll be forced with those same issues, however, I won't sue if it becomes problematic....I'll understand that people are trying their best to accommodate me with my limited skills. Which should have been the case here.

No service would have meant no mocha being served. She was served (the wrong thing) and then persisted (possibly in an inappropriate manner). Nothing to see here?

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-DLC- Canucks Hall-of-Famer

-DLC-

Posted
Posted

2011:

English speaking members of household in Richmond: 93,715

Mandarin speaking members of household in Richmond: 17,290

I don't know much about their similarities (if any), but Cantonese would likely be the language introduced over Mandarin: 26,550

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Papayas Canucks Prospect

Papayas

Posted
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it IS a pretty bad business practice to not hire someone who understand and speak mandarin and cantonese in a place like Richmond. In a pure business point of view, it is just foolish to do that.

However, I would make an exception on this case since personally, I think it's ridiculous you actually complain about not gettnig the right service when you can't even speak the language in the country you are living in. Judging from my experience serving the chinese people, she probably caused a lot of trouble in the place to the point where the managment is forced to ask her to leave.

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THERETOOL Canucks Star

THERETOOL

Posted
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I am proud of the fact that our country is a cultural melting pot . We are a very special place to live because of it, but I feel that living here is a privilege and not a right .. If you want to live in this Canada , then you must be prepared to simulate. Im against the ghettoization we are seeing in our cities , the resistance to following our laws , and the lack of effort learning to adapt to our language or customs ..

If your not willing to do these things , than stay where you are .

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Tortorella's Rant Canucks Hall-of-Famer

Tortorella's Rant

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Learn to speak English if you're going to live here... Learn to speak the native language wherever you live.

It's awkward as hell when you're trying to talk to someone who can't speak your language. Whether it's at the gym, at school, somewhere else public.. all I've experienced

The Chinese students in my history class speak English pretty well. They are encouraged by the instructor, who is also Chinese, to speak English at all times in the class. How are you going to improve at it if you don't practice? They've been here probably no longer than a year. If they can do it, there's no reason why others can't..

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-DLC- Canucks Hall-of-Famer

-DLC-

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I just can't picture someone saying "Oh you can’t speak English, no service to you." I call BS.

My guess is it went something more like: "I'm sorry, Ma'am, I can't understand what you're saying" - that's not a crime or something that deserves apology...it's just how it is. Of course, I don't know/wasn't there, but McDonalds is pretty good about exchanging things....if the woman can't clearly communicate what it is she wants, that's her issue (not theirs).

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LostViking Abbotsford Star

LostViking

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Hard to make a case against the McDonalds when we haven't heard their side of the story.

I have no issue with people living in Canada and not speaking English, the only time it becomes an issue is if they expect English speakers to understand what they are saying. If you can't understand me, you can't expect me to understand you.

Having worked many years in agriculture in the past, I've dealt with a lot of foreign workers/immigrant workers (in person), as well as their families (over the phone). Generally the workers are very good, they know who can translate for them and don't expect to be understood otherwise, they also all seem to make some effort to learn key English words (like telling you what language they speak). The workers aren't an issue because they know they must cooperate to keep their employment, they learn the system fast and then communication flows just fine.

On the other hand, I've had lots of problems dealing with the families of the immigrant workers over the phone, and I blame a lack of respect caused by confusing common courtesy with expected norms. On the farms I've worked at their has always been a protocol to make every effort to help non-English speakers. With a worker this is great because the worker also makes every effort to learn the system, their family, however, sees people trying to help them but feel no obligation to reciprocate that effort, they have no job on the line, and often they don't seem to care.

Basically the receptionist will answer the phone, hear that the person calling is not speaking English, and call for a translator. The receptionists get pretty good at determining which language people are speaking and can accommodate the calls pretty well. However, this builds the expectation that they can call any time and speak their own language, they don't realize they are being done a favor.

Enter my nightmare, I was the type who would work late or on weekends, when translators had gone home, and since I don't work reception I'm not used to answering phones and dealing with such things. Since the expectation to receive service in their native language exists, most who call have developed very poor habits: speaking too fast, calling from a loud environment (ie. screaming kids), no attempt to tell me what language you are speaking, becoming frustrated/angry very quickly. I wish they could simply talk to their spouse/parent who is the worker, who could easily explain that if they aren't transferred to a translator right away it means workers have gone home and whoever they are trying to reach isn't there. I've even had it to the point where someone would just keep calling back (relentlessly) hoping someone else would answer the phone, after about 50 calls in 30 minutes one would expect them to realize I'm the only one there.

I believe this a common thing in our society, some people really go out of their way to be courteous to non-English speakers. While this is a very nice thing to do, it creates unrealistic expectations. Now everyone is expected to go out of their way to help. The article in the OP is a good example, the woman's son expects a mandarin speaker at every Richmond business, clearly he and his family have experienced this at other places and now feel that it is lawsuit-worthy if they don't see it. In my mind this type of behavior should be considered harassment of the English speaking population and people should be charged, it doesn't have to be a big punishment, just enough of a slap on the wrist to let them know this is not acceptable. As I stated above, most people are just fine, because they expect as much from themselves as from others, but there are some with a very poor attitude and extremely unrealistic expectations.

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