Syracuse Servers Stage Walkout Over Racist Working Conditions
A group of five servers at Syracuse, NY restaurant Danzer’s completely shut down business at the restaurant after walking out in protest over horrifically discriminatory working conditions and a disgusting insect infestation.
The servers walked out Friday at lunchtime, shutting down the restaurant for the rest of the day, though it did reopen the following day with a short staff. However, it was closed again Monday due to a lack of staffing — no word yet whether it was open today. The accusations against the German-American restaurant’s owner, Egon Heil,* are pretty damning:
“He wants you to fire people because they’re black. He wants you to fire people because they’re old. He wants to fire people because they’re fat,” one of the waitresses, Patricia St. Aubin, told CNYCentral.
WELL THEN! That sure doesn’t sound discriminatory (and illegal)! There’s also the pesky matter of the fact that the restaurant bathroom appears to have been lifted from a Stephen King novel:
“You can’t walk into the ladies room without being covered in bugs. They fly in your mouth. I’ve had to void hundreds of dollars in checks,” waitress Brandi Fogle told CNYCentral.
The servers say they are looking into ways to seek legal action against their former employer. In fact, they felt so strongly about it that they staged the walkout despite the financial hit they knew they’d be taking. Danzer’s, for its part, has apparently posted a Craigslist ad which surprisingly does not appear to include the sentence, “but no fatties, geezers, or black people.”
There are no words for how much I love seeing servers take the power back from (allegedly) horrendous assholes like Heil. Good for the five of you, and I hope you absolutely ruin the guy in court.
* Heil. His name is Heil. Are you fucking kidding me? I just…you couldn’t write that. It would be more believable if his last name was Nothitler.
Image via Karl Allgaeuer/Shutterstock. This photo is in no way connected to Danzer’s, but it’s German food and I didn’t know when I’d next get a chance to use an image of spaetzle, which is goddamned delicious. Always order the spaeztle.