Vibiana

This happened in my hometown of Independence, Missouri. Short synopsis: a pair of black women visiting from St Louis went there to eat, were accused of being dine and dashers from the night before, and were asked to leave. This location of Applebee's is in an area with one of the two remaining enclosed malls in the Kansas City metro area, which is floundering financially and may be closing according to recent news stories.

I watched the video and was frankly appalled.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local...199938419.html

Would like to know others' thoughts.

The Bus

Hats off to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-endanger-casual-dining-restaurants-2017-5">Millenials for killing Applebee's then</a>.

Vibiana

I thought of that thread before posting this. I don't like Applebee's anyway and don't eat there.

General Zod

We had one out here for a while but it closed years ago. I liked the bourbon street steak. Oh well

It's sat empty for years but we are getting a Black Bear diner there now.

Mabuse

The manager did those ladies a favor. Hopefully they went down the street and got something decent to eat.

Bye Applebee's?

Adam Tyner

Yup.

When I was in elementary school / junior high, though, Applebee's was my absolute favorite restaurant in existence. It wasn't because of their menu since I never ordered anything other than chicken fingers and fries. I eventually grew up. (Or, well, I advanced to a point where I stopped eating at those types of restaurants. Still eat the hell out of some chicken fingers, though!)

GoldenJCJ

Why it gotta be Black Bear Diner?! Why can’t it just be Bear Diner?

Reverse racism!

grundle

It says:


This suggests that the corporate headquarters is against racism.

rw2516

Local news reports the Applebee's sign has been removed from the building. Not gonna reopen, as Applebee's anyway.

JasonX

Not really. It shows they are against the negative publicity that the racism has brought about. It isn't the same thing.

Mike86

Well of course. It’s common sense for a large business to want to come out against something not good for their business. I don’t see the franchise in general as inherently racist though if that’s what’s being implied. The actions of a few employees at one restaurant don’t speak for the entire chain. People are so silly about crying racism/sexism the moment something like this happens.

hdnmickey

My first thought was maybe Applebee's has taken over for Denny's. There was a point where everybody I knew, including my sister who worked there, admitted that Denny's was not somewhere black people should go to eat.

JasonX

I wasn't saying that, only disputing Grundle's logic. There are plenty of things the company could do; community outreach, employee training, new policies, etc. Closing the location and firing a few people really don't have much of an affect if their goal is to prevent this type of thing in the future. I completely agree that the fault is with the employees and not the chain here.

Vibiana

The shopping center this location is adjacent to is on the verge of bankruptcy. Maybe they figure on getting out while the gettin's good.

dino88

Independence Center? I grew up in Blue Springs and it's been a few years since I've been back.

Vibiana

Yes. I'm from Independence myself but haven't lived there since 1990.

dino88

Lots of memories from there. That was the place to hang out before we could drive. Spend a bunch of tokens at the arcade and then walk over to the dollar theater.

cultshock

They are both shit restaurants anyway.

grundle

OK. That's a great point.

I would hope that they would be against the racism and the negative publicity.

creekdipper

What other reasonable actions should they have taken?

rw2516

The owner of the mall is bankrupt. The mall is 90% full with tenants so it may not have to do with lack of customers but the owner's other business dealings.
There will be an auction for new owner to take over.

Abob Teff

Dressed in white robes and burnt it down.

Seriously though, there is a whole lot of chicanery going on in that video — both by the restaurant and the women. If the restaurant suspected them of being the ladies from the night before, why did they serve them and allow them to eat before doing anything? Next, if they were going to call the police, they should have had security footage from the night before readily available for the cops. Finally, if they really thought the ladies were going to do it again then they should have gotten good pictures of them and their vehicle and called the cops afterwards.

I could be completely wrong, but I feel there was something more to this story. Had the ladies raised suspicion by remaining at the table an unusually long time without paying? Were they gathering their things and then watching the staff too intently?

As for the ladies, I thought the way they responded (tone, behavior) in the video was a bit suspect. Of course, that could have been the incredulity at the accusation.

Mistaken identities do not automatically equal racism. Then again, the manager could have been a raging racist, we don’t know.