“Is Kara around?” I asked him
“No.” he replied nervously
“Well, I need to speak to her or the owners, do you have their contact information?”
“I’m not allowed to give that out, but I’m the assistant manager, can I…?”
“No” I cut him off, “When will Kara be available?” Starting to wonder now if he’s put two and two together, or if he remembers our strange, first encounter.
“I’m not sure.” he answers
“So, you can’t give me the manager’s or the owner’s contact info? aaaaannd, you can’t tell me when the manager will be here?!”
“No.” was his response again. “She manages another store and I never know when she’ll be here.”
“Well, what other store does she manage?” me
“Jantzen Beach.” him
“Thanks.” me
I got home and called the Jantzen Beach location, said a few words about the issue I have, and was given Kara’s cell number (I thought Andy said he wasn’t allowed to give this out, hmmmmm). So, I gave her a ring…waste of time. After listening to my complaint, she began directly with the excuses:
“I’m sorry if what happened made you unhappy.” she started (unhappy? No, Honey, I’m pissed off) “Andy wouldn’t have meant anything by it (Do they ever?), maybe he was just confused about the process (and then suddenly became unconfused when the Caucasian walked in?), I’ll talk to him tonight.”
“I respect the job you have to do, as a manager, regarding public relations, etc., and I can appreciate your need to protect your employee, but your employee gave two different answers to the same question within the same ten minutes…one to a black man and the other to a white woman…soooooo, either he’s racist or he’s sexist and I’m betting it’s the first (since he’s also a dude). He told my brother to apply online. Now, if he’s a supposed assistant manager, I’m assuming he knows there’s no place online to apply – which means he was giving the black guy the run around”…
“Well, maybe he just thought the girl was cute.” she said
(oh wow, did she really just say that?)
“K, that doesn’t change the fact that he lied to my brother about how to apply for employment with your company. So, as his manager you’ll talk to him or whatever, but do you really think he’s gonna admit to wrong-doing or do you think he’ll just make up stupid excuses (you know, like you’re doing right now)? Do what you’ve got to and I will do the same. Thanks for your time.”
Suggestions anyone??????
Uhhhhh,yeah. News Channel 8!
This just makes me sick.I would get in touch with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Comission. http://www.eeoc.gov/
I would suggest trying to talk to the owners. They might give you more of the same, but they also might be glad to know about what is going on. The other option would be to let the corporation know. They might not have a lot of pull over franchises, but it is worth a try.
And, Channel 8 isn’t a bad idea either.
Channel 2 news has a problem solvers section that helps bring problems like this to light and sometimes solves them to everyone’s satisfaction. The other ideas are good ones, also.