Observational Racial Stereotypes: Believe it or Not?

Hello everyone,



I work for a chinese buffet restaurant as a host in Nashville, Tennessee. We are very popular and on weekends we get anywhere between 1000-1300 adult customers daily. Weekdays about 500-900 customers. Last father's day we had over 1500 customers(adults, not counting kids). I have worked for 3 months in this restaurant. That said...I see a large magnitude of customers every single day and have the opportunity to interact with many people.



I don't mean to offend anyone, but after working here so long and with all the people I see, I really begin to develop a set of standards for different kinds of people. These are the racial stereotypes that I see based off of my observations interacting with people, and sadly these grow more and more true to me each day I work.



We get a extremely diverse population in our restaurant, i'll start with the majority and down into the minority.



White : Highest tendency to tip the waitresses and waitors. Highest tendency to be kind, courteous, and respectful. Highest tendency for small talk such as "hi how are you today". When unsatisfied with something, will let us know but in such respectful way that we really take the criticisims seriously and understandingly.



Mexican : Highest (underline, bolded) tendency to have a big family consisting of an average of 3 or more kids, sometimes 4, or even 5. The kids usually range within 2 to 4 years apart from each other. ( I know because I ask for kids age since prices are different depending on ages). Tendency to be unsatisifed with seat given and most likely request seat changes. Highest tendency to order "Coca Cola" as a drink, and most likely refer to it as "Coka". Highest tendency to ask for "Fanta" or "Orange Soda" as a drink. sadly we only serve Coke Products :(



Black: Highest tendency for obesity in women-middle aged women. The thing that puzzles me here is that very rarely do I see obese black men, yet almost all of the middle aged black women I see are obese. The kids and teenagers all look very healthy, so I don't know is it because women have kids and they get fat? or they let themselves go after marriage as house wives? Why is this? Highest tendency to ask for "Seat me somewhere close to the buffet". Highest tendency to prefer a booth seat over a table.



Asian: Korean and Chinese (not enough Japanese population to make a conclusion)



Korean: one word I describe korean people...is rude. I know Korean culture has a high sense of pride but when dealing with people from other cultures especially while in service, they come off as rude and arrogant. Is it because it is a Chinese restaurant? Is it true Koreans and Chinese don't get along well? Is this a culture thing where Koreans expect to be exalted when they come eat at a restaurant since people are supposed to be "servicing" them? Least tendency to engage in small talk, least tendency to respond back to me when I say "Take care" or "Have a nice day!" with "Thanks, you too".



Chinese: HIghest tendency to order water as drink, to the point where whenever I hear them speak chinese and have confirmed that they are chinese, instead of asking "Something to drink?" I ask "(insert number of people) waters?" or "Water for everyone?" Least tendency to request seat changes, never complains no matter how far you seat them away from the buffet, never seems to mind walking.



Arabic/Indian: I know these two cultures are not at all related to each other geographically but they seem to share the same tendencies, such as highest tendency to ask for price of buffet before eating. Highest tendency to try to convince me that their kids under 10 eat free, such as "my kids don't eat much" "she is so little she doesn't eat much". Highest tendency to lie about kids age, which there is nothing I can do but take them for granted, yet you know when you see a 4 year old branded as a 2 and a half. Least likely to tip. Quite demanding, seems to want the most out of their money's worth, to the point where I think it really degrades their whole dining experience...yet they seem happy.



So in conclusion these are the observations I have made a host working at a chinese buffet restaurant. I would say the populations are very evenly distributed, with mexican, white, and black as the majority of the people I see and Asian/Arabic/Indian as the 3 minority populations. I don't want to start any heated arguments, just your opinion, What do you think about this? Do you believe this is true? Do you disagree or agree with me? If you agree, what part do you agree and why do you think this is? If you disagree, tell me where I am wrong? Looking forward to everyone's comments, thank you.Observational Racial Stereotypes: Believe it or Not?
Having worked in retail a few years back, I can say that more the most part your observations are quite similar to my own observations, especially the Arabic/Indian commentary. They love to haggle, and will try to get a deal no matter what. Apparently it's quite normal in their culture to haggle over everything, and they don't really have a concept of how retail works in the U.S. Here, if you see a laptop for $599.99, that means you will pay $599.99 if you want it. It's not a starting point for negotiations.



Back when I drove s black and white VW Beetle for a living, every Sunday morning the Indian/Indian-Americans would be lined up 20+ deep in front of the store, jockeying for position in order to get one of the elusive $399 laptops. Of course they would also inevitably want to make a deal on that $399 laptop... "How much for me?" or "How much if I buy today?" were all too common. And the answer was always the the same. "Sir/Mam, the price of the laptop is on the tag, if you want this laptop, that is the amount of money it will cost you. There is no free case and there is no free mouse, and the extended warranty is an additional charge as well" I had to repeat that at least two dozen times ever Sunday morning. It got old fast.



I'll add that white people where either very well informed and know exactly what they want or they are completely ill-informed and completely unprepared for making a purchase, there is no middle ground. Either they'll come in, get exactly what they want and get out, or you'll have to metaphorically hold their hand and explain everything to them.



Black people largely typically didn't really care about specifics of a product, just will it work or not. They tended to be more brand loyal.



Hispanics were a mixed bag. The females tended to be more knowledgeable and had a better idea of what they wanted. The men usually went for whatever was cheapest and readily available.



Asians were usually pretty well informed, some impressively so. They mostly knew what they wanted even if it wasn't the best product or best value, they were brand loyal as well. Surprisingly many favored form over function. They would select a technically inferior product for a more aesthetically pleasing, but functionally better product.





Good post. I enjoyed reading it.
No, he's a halfie, could be part Mexican and part italian..



I know for sure in my experience White people isnt really good at observing people, and Mexicans are always ones I noticed who looks around and stare at people....Observational Racial Stereotypes: Believe it or Not?
All true. Except Mexican having lots of kids and black middle aged women being obese are more of a statistical fact, than a stereotype.,
Lol you made the white people sound perfect....figures.



But yeah..cool.
I think its kinda awesome that you've done this. You're in a position to see how different people react when placed in the same setting. I admire that you've turned you're job into this kind of experiment. I would take your word for everything you say as you are in a good position to say.

The only thing I don't know is your race and if you have any bias's or discrimination's of your own.
Lol that's pretty accurate. I'm Indian and my parents would never do something like that(they're the extremely upright kind) but I have family that does, it's terrible we'll never learn unfortunately
Very true. Especially about the Indians! Demanding, yet cheap! They come in big parties and have so many waiters and waitresses serving them, but still give a crappy tip!



With Hispanic and Black people, they have a tendency to complain and want a discount or a free meal in addition to giving a low tip or none. It realllllly pisses me off.



I don't know about Asians since the restaurant I worked at didn't get many Asian customers.



With white people, it seems that the elderly gives less tip.





Seriously, I hated being a waitress because people can be so sh*tty sometimes. I will never give any of my servers a hard time (unless they truly deserve it) based on what I've learned as a waitress.