To the trolls that will take this as racism I would like to point out my views on the spanish v english in restaurants. This is not a racist view as I believe Arabic, African, Asian, Hispanic, European, Russian, Indian workers etc... should practice this at work.

1. it causes communication failure and screws up orders which could cause disasterous problems for people allergic to certain foods.
2. it intimidates non-spanish speaking employees into quiting or never applying for these jobs.
3. it could cause health issues if health regulations are conveyed by a person who speaks a different dialect of spanish. not all latin americans speak the same version and many things are lost in translation, which is bad because food preparation is not very well practiced in C and S America.
4. american citizens are required to learn english, english is displayed on the workers monitors in the kitchen so if they are working to be citizens or are citizens then they already have a grasp of the language. this leaves little reason for them to speak in a native tongue and by asking them to speak english will only help them learn the language and assimilate quicker.
5. It reduces workplace diversity by focusing staffing onto one ethnicity which is in violation of the civil rights of other ethnicities present in the area.

The other day I went to McD's to get some burgers for my staff as we were pulling a late shift. When I made my order the girl taking it seemed to have very few english skills. I paid and pulled forward and the girl at the next window had great english and sounded as if she had grown up here. I took the bag and thanked her and went to work.

After arriving I started handing out burgers only realize that mine was missing completely.... This was the fourth time I had gone to this restaurnat and now the fourth time they had messed my order up, it has gone from coincidnce, to occasional to a problem.

Upset I called the company that owns that McD's and complained on their voice mail. Feeling satisfied with my vent I called and notified the store of the mixed up order and agreed to arrive a few hours later to get my sandwhich.

So after going all day with having a few pieces of chocolate from a co-worker I headed to the restaurant at around 10:30pm to get my food. I got to the store's drive through and explained why I was there, the girl asked that I pull forward.

At the window there was much conversation (in english) about what I needed. Finally a girl told me that they would have my food in a few minutes, welcome news to my rumbly tumbly. Then horror.

The manager who had very little english skills turned to her mostly hispanic staff that had just been conversing in English and began barking orders in Spanish. Confused and slightly horrified I suddenly realized why my order was always mixed up.

"Lost in Translation" not every thing carries over and how about the poor non-spanish speaking teens out there? is McD's demanding them to learn english? All of these thoughts rushing through my head as the girl kindly smiled and handed me my meal (as a point the staff was very courteous and frankly I have no complaints about them). By the way the girl with few english skills was the manager on duty.

My order was correct and they tossed in a drink, some fries and a coupon as an apology. But food could not quell the anger boiling as I reflected on my own fast food work experience. That job is hard enough without having to learn a second language or what is now known as "kitchen spanish".

Angry I called the company's voicemail again to let them know I discovered the problem with their restaurant.

The next day, without warning, the McD's regional manager called me at work (where I had placed the call from) to talk to me about the incident. Talk about angering someone, I never once gave them my work number or asked to be called back. As polite as I could muster I explained to her that I did not care to speak with her about his and that my intent was to speak with the companies investors and controllers... not the managers who have little power.

Then today another phone call from the companies area manager. He called me at work, after specifically asking to not be called at work, and asked if there was a way he could help me. It was early in the morning and I started to tell him that I was unable to talk to him, but then I just started in.

I explained to him my experiences at this particular store and another one owned by the same company. I told him the only common denominator was a poor grasp of english and that after getting ill at a restaurant I was very wary of where I was eating.

Then to my surprise he agreed with me on all of my points and in an attempt to assure me he said "it's supposed to be an english only zone in front of customers and the public" to which I replied "that is just hiding it, you should focus on getting your employees comfortable in speaking english.. it's obvious they can read it because it's on the computer monitors in back that tell them what to make.

He informed me that immigrant employees were encouraged to attend english courses to better communicate and even told me that he too worried about non-english speaking employees struggling with work and said that it has become a problem that he thinks needs fixed.

He then tried to buy me off with coupons, but I told him all I wanted was his staff to communicate in one language and hopefully that he picked english and that he could not buy me off with coupons. I finished the phone call by telling him I would call the company in my free time to explain my position again.

Contact info:
http://www.baibrook.com/