This one is absolutely terrible.... It has a racial element, and for that I apologize, but the racial element is the foundation of the msunderstanding.
So, let me set this up for you. I was, at the time, working as the manager of a pick up and delivery pizzaria. My responsibility during the very busy supper rush was to quarterback the entire affair, and be the finishing pizza topper. I relied a great deal on my ears to follow all that was going on.
Anyway, I'm there, topping pizzas, hearing the phone ring and staff taking orders, listening to the door bell as the door opens, telling me that drivers are on their way, etc... Trying to keep everyone moving as fast as possible. The store owner, with whom I have a very good relationship, is standing beside me. My back is to the front door as I top pizzas, a conveyor oven right behind me. We are keeping both decks of the conveyor oven full. We're busy. Another cook is boxing and cutting the pizzas as they come out, and handling any walk in customers that we get.
So, rewind to the previous day. My 2nd in command cook tells me a story that he thinks is exceptionally funny. He had worked the closing shift the night before, and was all alone in the store at one point in the night with both delivery drivers out on deliveries. He's standing in the back of the store, out of sight of any customers that walk in. One of our regulars walks in, a black fellow that works late shifts, and comes regularly on his lunch break for a couple of slices of pie.
Cook in the back yells out to the customer, jokingly, "Sorry sir, we don't serve negroes here!".
Well, the cook in question is telling me the story the following day, laughing his *** off because he thinks this is pretty funny. I'm not amused. I reprimand him verbally, saying something along the lines of "wtf is wrong with you? He may have found that to be completely offensive!" Cook in question thinks I'm over-reacting.....
So, fast forward now to the supper shift I'm working. Owner standing beside me. I just have to tell him this story, because I want him to back me up with this other cook on the inappropriateness of the "joke".
Busy, phone ringing, I hear the cook who's cutting the pizzas call out for a driver. Telling the owner the story. Driver walks by the topping table, where I and others are busy. A minute goes by... (driver must be putting the pizza in a heat bag, checking the bill, looking at the map....) *ding* the door opens. Driver must be leaving. I get to the part of the story where I yell out the quote, "Sorry sir, we don't serve negroes here." Owner is facing me, can see the front door out of the corner of his eye. His face turns ashen and his jaw hits the floor. I had made an error....
See, I heard the doorbell go and thought that was the driver leaving. In actuality, it was two very big black men walking in to place a pizza order. The first thing that they hear as they enter is me shouting out that we don't serve negroes.....
The store owner can't believe what just happened. He pushes me, hard, into the wall. I look up over the oven, realizing what I just did. He's trying to contain his laughter at what I'd just done. I can't believe it. I hide. One of the customers says to my cook at the front, "What did he just say? Do I have to go to the car and get my gun?" I'm absolutely mortified. I remain hidden behind the oven. The weight of what I've just done is starting to sink in.
My cook diffuses the situation, the two large gentlemen place their order, and go out to their car to wait. As soon as they leave, I'm gone. I run to the back of the store, hide in the office, and stay there, trying to understand how this could have possibly happened to me. The irony is thick, and paralyzing.
Anyway, there's a misunderstanding for you.....
:angry::flammad::2xbird:
