Thread: Philly's Joey Vento needs ALIPAC's support

I'm bilingual in English and Spanish. I'm offended when I go to a place of business and 1) none of the employees speak or conduct business in English, 2) assume that I don't speak English and insist on conducting business in Spanish with me and 3) I see signs that say "se habla Espanol". I usually pretend I don't speak Spanish and make them either deal with me in English or I simply leave never to return to that place of business again. You should see the looks I get when they realize I won't cater to their ignorance.

What happened to the signs in the businesses that stated "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"?

Originally Posted by legalatina

I'm bilingual in English and Spanish. I'm offended when I go to a place of business and 1) none of the employees speak or conduct business in English, 2) assume that I don't speak English and insist on conducting business in Spanish with me and 3) I see signs that say "se habla Espanol". I usually pretend I don't speak Spanish and make them either deal with me in English or I simply leave never to return to that place of business again. You should see the looks I get when they realize I won't cater to their ignorance.

Legalatina, I'm with you on this one.

Joey/Geno's is not discriminating because the sign applies to EVERYONE.

Sent an email in support of Joey.

Sent email in support of Joey and will try to attend.

I don't see where the particular committe causing all this trouble for Joey even relates to him or his business.

Where does a privately owned business fall under housing, city services, or any other category these folks police?

Also, I'd like to know why he has no right asking people to order in English. After all, he and all of his employees speak English. It just makes sense, for the sake of good customer service, to be sure they get an order correct. How are they to do that if someone orders in a language they do not understand?

Miguelina: If you want to join the bus trip, go to the WPHT 1210 Big Talker website and register online there. It's free. Hope to see you there!

If someone comes into our car parts business that is incapable of speaking english, we cannot help them, period. Would I be facing the same scutiny as Geno's were I to post a sign reading: Our employee's only speak/understand english? Or, is it "safer" to just give these non-english speaking folks a blank stare?

You don't have to do anything. If they can't communicate with you, that's their problem. You don't have to cater to them at all. These so-called "Human rights commissions" are fairly common in a lot of cities/counties....unfortunately it is very one-sided. They don't have a problem with non-English speaking businesses that don't help customers that can't communicate, they just pick on English speaking businesses that don't pander. I w/n worry about it at all.

Legalatina wrote:

They don't have a problem with non-English speaking businesses that don't help customers that can't communicate, they just pick on English speaking businesses that don't pander.

Hammer, meet nail head!

A warm welcome BTW, LL