Restaurant manager’s xenophobia
My friend and I, two Asian American girls, took our moms to an arboretum and we were very excited when we found out that restaurants in our area have already started outdoor dining. We found an Italian restaurant with great reviews and called to ask if they have seats available. They told us either 5:30 or 9 pm, so we took the 5:30. It was a short drive over and when we arrived, the owner or manager seated us at a table at a corner. We didn't feel very comfortable dining in that corner so we asked if we could be switched to another table next to us. As we looked around, many tables were empty, and the table he seated us at was the only one without table cloth and it's half the size of other four people tables. A Caucasian family who came after us were seated at one of the larger tables with table cloth for four while we were shoved into the corner with a table that's half the size without a table cloth. We understand if there are seats taken for later and he cannot put us at an empty table that's set.
We asked him if we can sit somewhere else and he started to raise his voice and said, "if you don't like it, then go." OK, no problem. We shall leave. There were other diners around us at the moment and as we walked over to the car he was saying a rude things towards us. As we got to the edge of the parking lot, where the other patrons can't see or hear him, the manager caught us off guard and shouted "I DON'T NEED BUSINESS FROM PEOPLE LIKE YOU ALL!" My friend asked, "What do you mean by people like us?!" Silence. So she asked, "Do you mean that we are Asians?" Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then he took off his mask, showed us that he was smiling and walked over to my friend towering over her (he's about 5"11" and my friend is 5'0”) he said "get off my property". We felt threatened and took steps back, stood on the sidewalk in shock, not sure what to do as our moms were as shocked standing a few feet from us. we were also shocked by how this manager/owner was so sweet to everyone who came in (all Caucasian) a moment ago and said this to us.
We weren't sure if we were over reacting or being too sensitive, but we just knew something isn't right here. Should we let it go? Should we report it? We weren't sure anymore. We went back to the car in shock, and thought, we need to let others know about what he just did so went back to the parking lot where the incident took place. The manager marched up to my car and took a photo of my license plate (for what reason, I do not know). He said to me: "I called the police so you better run." No, we are not running anywhere; as a matter of fact, my friend was calling the police at the same time he said that to me. I told him, "We are not going anywhere until the police comes". It occurred to us later that he told us to run because he thinks we are [undocumented] immigrants? I'm an elementary school teacher and my friend is an economist in the city.
The cops arrived within five minutes and we spoke to three officers who made us feel heard. When you encounter injustice and racism, we just want to be heard. The officers were incredibly decent and said "unfortunately I can't write up a ticket for someone being a jerk. My advice is don't support a place like this." We are proud to be Asian Americans, we love this country and this city. Unfortunately, racism is only growing.