My husband, daughter, and I recently made a trip to Florida and back to Maryland. On our way home, we decided we would drive as far as somewhere in South Carolina, have dinner, and rest for the night. It was about 8:00 p.m. when we decided to stop at a Best Western in Point South (Yemassee) that had a Denny’s attached to it.
We settled into the room and relaxed for a little while. Around 8:30, we decided it would be a good idea if went ahead to the restaurant so that we could get to bed. We walked across the lobby to the Denny’s and we were seated after a few minutes. It was a little bit busy in the restaurant, but most of the customers seemed like they had already ordered something. We sat for a few minutes perusing the menus while our daughter was tearing apart a paper placemat. I knew that she was getting tired and I was hoping that we would be able to get in and out of there quickly. Well, we were, but it’s not what you think.
After about ten minutes, I started to get impatient. Even if a restaurant is busy, a waitperson will at least come take a drink order. This particular location was not that big, and there were about three or four waitresses working at this time, one of whom was refilling salt shakers and sugar packets. No one had even looked at us. It was at this moment that I noticed the entire waitstaff was black. Now, hold on! Don’t get the wrong idea in your head! Just hear me out and you will see what I mean.
After we had sat for twenty minutes, I was starting to think that maybe we had made a mistake by going to a busy restaurant. I figured that we were already there and we might as well stay. It was 9:00 by this time and we were just about starving. Then, a tall, large black man wearing what looked to me like African-inspired clothing was seated. As soon as he sat down, a waitress walked over and took his order. That was it! I had had it! I took my daughter out of the highchair and told my husband that I wanted to leave — NOW! I couldn’t believe what had just happened. We ended up eating McDonald’s for dinner.
I was fuming! I swore up and down that as soon as we got home that I was going to call Denny’s customer service. That is exactly what I did.
Find out what happened next in Racism in Restaurants? Part II.