Hotel Policies - racist?!

[vincentstuntdbl#23]

Larry Whitten Labeled a Racist for Policies at a New Mexico Hotel

Written by Deena on Oct-26-09 6:49pm2009-10-26T15:49:22

Larry Whitten bought a struggling hotel in Taos, New Mexico and implemented new rules and procedures for his employees, but they didn't go over very well. Now, the 63-year-old is being labeled a racist for telling his workers they needed to alter their first names to sound more Anglicanized, and they weren't allowed to speak Spanish in front of him because he doesn't speak the language.

Larry Whitten. (nydailynews.com)
Larry didn't think anything was wrong with his policies, but the workers and community are in an uproar because of his alleged racism and ignorance. He defended his new rules, saying they were for the benefit of guests who were not familiar with the culture.

He said in an interview (via NY Daily News): "It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything."

Whitten was interviewed by the Associated Press and apologized for the misunderstanding and said his intention wasn't to offend or infuriate anyone.

[Aunt Sam]

How horrible of him to wish his employees would speak English in the hospitality business

[vonnegut]

If he didn't want employees with Mexican-sounding names, he shouldn't have hired Mexicans?

I don't know if this is racist, as much as it is stupid.

[DHARMA815]

If he wanted english speaking employees with Americanized names than he should have probably bought he hotel somewhere other then the Southwest. The entire sw is populated with mexicans and indians. English had not been the primary langauage there for a long, long time. When U lived in Vegas I quickly realized I was in the minority there and needed to learn Spanish. Unfortunately I did not live there long enough to learn any thing useful.

[waiting]

He didn't mind them speaking Spanish to one another, he just didn't want any of his customers to hear it. Sounds a bit stupid to me. We have a very large Spanish speaking population of American citizens today. It is bigoted to ask them to use Americanized names and to not speak any Spanish around customers.

[foxxie]

He should have just hired all those folks who work for the Dell customer support line.

[Lostviking]

Originally Posted by foxxie

He should have just hired all those folks who work for the Dell customer support line.

In other countries, people don't get upset at folks speaking all sorts of languages. I think it just adds to the texture of life. It makes me want to learn their language. I don't see what the problem is. Do foreign languages offend people? Has america really gotten to this point?

Embrace the difference.

[vonnegut]

Originally Posted by Lostviking

Do foreign languages offend people? Has america really gotten to this point?

No, this guy is just a retard.

[LPU]

I wish it were just this guy, but if it were I doubt that they would anglicize the names of the workers at pretty much any IT support place that you called, like Kristin mentioned.

[Lostviking]

Originally Posted by LPU

I wish it were just this guy, but if it were I doubt that they would anglicize the names of the workers at pretty much any IT support place that you called, like Kristin mentioned.

The irony! If you call IT, you really should be able to communicate. But why do you need to talk to a hotel cleaning person?


(did anyone see the episode of the Family Guy where Peter is a mexican hotel maid? )