UPDATE: The restaurant has cancelled the policy.
Original Story: A Coachella Valley restaurant has banned Spanish from being spoken because “worried” customers complained.
Management at Billy Reeds’s, according to KESQ, posted a sign for employees reading: “Billy Reed’s employees please do not speak Spanish to other employees anywhere in the restaurant except when necessary on the cook line, that means not in the waitress stations or at the front desk.”
Obviously, when a sign like that is posted, one question immediately comes to mind: ¿por qué?
The owner of Billy Reed’s, a man by the name of Billy Reed (if you can believe it), told KESQ that the sign was posted “because they received multiple complaints from customers saying they felt uncomfortable about employees speaking Spanish, worried the workers talked about them.”
Yes, the seemingly very entitled customers at Billy Reed’s thought that the employees were talking shit about them – and because they never bothered to buy Rosetta Stone, there was nothing the customers could do about it! ¡Pobrecitos!
I am sure these very customers would demand the same from every spoken language. Whether it be an old-world style Italian restaurant, a Mediterranean restaurant, and fuck me if these “irritated” customers ever set foot in an actual Mexican restaurant. How will they ever order any of the food on the menu? Every food item is a Spanish word!!!
Employees now say they fear for their jobs, but Reed told KESQ that employees will not be fired for speaking Spanish.
Of course employees (and Reed) should be afraid for the restaurant – as many Coachella Valley diners will simply choose to dine elsewhere after hearing about a rule that is so, oh what is the word…ignorante.
Note: my Spanish is not the best (thanks a lot 3 years of classes at Big Bear High School). If I have butchered the language in this article feel free to talk shit about me in Spanish in the comments – as Cactus Hugs does not have an “English only” policy
