I was speaking with someone I respect and mentioned my favorite neighborhood Indian restaurant. His eyes widened and he proceeded to tell me the following story:
A couple, who happened to be African American of the same sex, sat down in the restaurant. They were well dressed and well behaved. When they had not been waited on in half an hour, and others had been, they asked for a menu but the waiter did not return. One of the women said to the other, “I guess we know what’s going on here…”
At this point the owner of the restaurant came to the table, began screaming at the women and eventually hit one of them. The police were called and they, too, screamed at the women who then departed without their food.
What do you think of this story? Before you answer, here is one more consideration. My friend didn’t actually witness any of this. It was told to him by his friend.
As I mentioned, I respect the anecdote-teller too much to assume he’s making it up. And I don’t think I could continue to eat in this wonderful restaurant if I knew they treated a portion of their clientele that way. But this is second-hand information…does that make a difference? Also, the described behavior of the owner is completely out of character… the person I’ve witnessed is a Sikh with immense dignity. And, the description of the cops and their behavior just doesn’t pass the sniff test (at least not here in San Francisco).
Wrestling with my moral conundrum… whether or not I should continue to give this establishment my business, based on imperfect and contradictory evidence of a reprehensible act… I related the whole story to my wife. She reminded me of something: NOBODY gets their order taken at the table. You go up to the counter, you order and get a number, then they bring the food when it’s ready.
I emailed my friend with this new information and asked him if it was possible his friend could be mistaken. He emailed back that woops, he had the name of the restaurant wrong!
I’m off for daal and samosas now….