It was Sunday night in Austin, Texas, February 19 at about 11:07 P.M. We were hungry and we were looking for a place that was open that hour of the night. My companion had been at work since 5 A.M. That morning and was very tired and hungry. It was cold, camp and raining and my osteoarthritis was hurting very much, limiting my mobility.
We decided that we would try the Denny's on Burnet road even though I had my doubts because the last time I had been there, the incredibly RUDE employees there had been extremely reluctant to wait on me, used racial slurs against Mexican Americans in my earshot and looking right at me. (I am half Native American, but so are many of my Mexican friends and classmates.) It had been about three years ago so I thought they would have a whole new crew. I also thought that they would have learned something after having been sued several times for incredible RUDENESS to African Americans.
A man was getting ready to steam the carpets outside when we went in. There was a surly African American waitress on-duty who was talking to someone about "white trash old people never tip." Apparently she didn't see me. I went to the restroom and the place smelled like a sewer plant with both toilets stopped up, especially the one for "Handicapped" persons.in fact, the place looked like Katrina hit it. The man outside who was getting ready to steam the carpets inside gave us the only smile of the night.
Because it was so cold and raining, there weren't many people in the restaurant. There are hardly ever any people in there anyway and now I know why.
We could hear employees muttering, " Those people have their own restaurants where they can eat...""Those fools ain't gonna leave no tip..." and " Why do they have to come in here."
There was a table full of attorneys, one older gentleman and one lady who was drinking coffee and trying to study who apparently had no home. The waitress kept standing over the lady with the coffee in an intimidating fashion and kept hoping that we would leave before she had to bring us the menus.
I wanted to leave but my companion apparently didn't want to try and find another place on a night like this one and I wasn't walking very well either.
The waitress finally took our order using a belligerent tone of voice while the white female manager lurked disapprovingly in the background. I can't understand why we were being treated like this and this was happening in full view of four attorneys who were beginning to look at each other in amazement —probably because we did NOT leave.
When we FINALLY got our order, the eggs were cold in the middle, the so-called "steak" looked and tasted more like a "veggie burger." There appeared to be organic-looking things in the scrambled eggs that didn't quite taste like eggs and the piece de resistance was what was supposed to be pankcakes but there was a nasty, bitter burned taste there that applying syrup and what apparently was rancid butter would NOT take away! In fact, I had a very bad case of food poisoning when I left that restaurant. Could not sleep.
The remarks about us continued and it seems that the employees there considered up "old bums", "Homeless", "winos" and "they got another think coming if they think they are going to camp out in here."
The soda I ordered also tasted unusually flat.
Every three minutes or so, the waitress would come to our table and stand over us in a loud and demeaning manner and ask when were we going to leave! My companion ignored her while the white female manager looked like she was going to get a meat cleaver from the kitchen and come after us.
My companion closed his eyes briefly and then the manager got in his face and said, " You homeless trash can't sleep in my restaurant—you are going to have to leave —NOW! And take that big fat Mexican woman with you too!"
At this point, my companion FINALLY realized that we were being hassled because these people thought we were something that we weren't.
I guess when you are a PATROL OFFICER, you aren't used to being treated like GARBAGE!
They had no idea of my credentials and even worse, they didn't even guess my ethnicity and heritage right.
We paid and left and if Miz RUDE and INSULTING and her manager thought we were going to leave a tip after such a MISERABLE evening, they thought wrong.
One of the attorneys even offered us a business card outside and offered to sue for civil rights violations since I am half Native American.
I told him, I was going to do something MUCH WORSE THAN SUE and that was to REPORT HOW THESE PEOPLE TREAT VICTIMS WHO COME TO THEIR "RESTAURANT" in the infamous usacomplaints.com!
I am not urging a BOYCOTT of this restaurant. I am merely telling what happened to a graduate student and a patrol officer when they went to a Denny's restaurant in Ausin, Texas
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