A waiter at a steakhouse in Houston, Texas has won a lot of fans after refusing to serve a customer who made a cruel comment about a special needs child that he didn’t wish to be seated near.
The incident took place at Laurenzo’s, where Michael Garcia has been working for more than two years and enjoys a good rapport with many of his regular customers.
On Wednesday night he greeted two groups of regulars - Kim Castillo and her family, including five-year-old Milo who has Down syndrome, and another group who sat in the adjacent booth.
Not long after Garcia seated the second family they requested to be moved. Garcia duly obliged, until he heard the man say, 'Special needs children need to be special somewhere else.'
Garcia was thrown by the cruel remark and couldn't believe that the man had said it in front of his own children. Although worried that he might lose his job, Garcia felt he had to something.
‘It was very disturbing,’ he told ABC13. ‘My personal feelings just took over and I told this man, 'I'm sorry, I can't serve you.'"
That family quickly left, but not before Garcia told him: 'How could you say that? How could you say that about a beautiful five-year-old angel?'
Kim Castillo says she noticed the family leaving, but didn’t think anything else about it until one of Garcia’s co-workers told them what had happened.
'If he had been obnoxious, which like any other five-year-old he can be, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the family asking to move,' she said.
'No one wants to sit next to a loud, disruptive child but it had nothing to do with him having special needs. He is just a kid and shouldn’t be discriminated against. He certainly didn’t ask to be born with Down’s syndrome.'
Castillo also said that she was very grateful for Garcia standing up for her young son.
‘I was really impressed that Michael would stand up for Milo,’ said Castillo. 'He really doesn't know us … he stood up for Milo just because it was the right thing to do.'
Castillo said she was worried that Garcia might lose his job, but the restaurant stood behind his decision.
In fact Garcia has received a lot of praise for his actions after the story was featured on local TV and blogs. The restaurant’s Facebook page been inundated with people leaving comments of support for his brave stand about prejudice.
Gracious Garcia has also said that if the other family who made the ill-conceived remarks return, he will serve them just like anyone else.
Just to play devil's advocate, it's possible that we're not getting the entire story here. Milo could have been throwing a hissy fit. I despise parents who don't know when to remove their kids from a public place when they're acting out. However, the comment referring to his special needs was inappropriate. They should have just asked to move to a different table, without needing to specify a reason other than privacy and/or quiet. If he wasn't acting out, then they're just assholes.
Just to play devil's advocate, it's possible that we're not getting the entire story here. Milo could have been throwing a hissy fit. I despise parents who don't know when to remove their kids from a public place when they're acting out. However, the comment referring to his special needs was inappropriate. They should have just asked to move to a different table, without needing to specify a reason other than privacy and/or quiet. If he wasn't acting out, then they're just assholes.
So, making an insensitive remark is a punishable offense in that place, even if it doesn't effect other patrons?
I don't see it as the server's job to judge and punish people for their views when it is not disruptive to others. It doesn't seem that the guy even used any crude terms in reference to the kid.
I'm not defending what the guy said, but I think the server was out of line.
I hate being around any kids in restaurants. I can only imagine how disruptive a "special" kid would be in a nice restaurant.
I heard you can get special kid cooties so, there's that too.
So, making an insensitive remark is a punishable offense in that place, even if it doesn't effect other patrons?
I don't see it as the server's job to judge and punish people for their views when it is not disruptive to others. It doesn't seem that the guy even used any crude terms in reference to the kid.
I'm not defending what the guy said, but I think the server was out of line.
Well, it was specifically mentioned in the article that the kid was not misbehaving at all.
So, making an insensitive remark is a punishable offense in that place, even if it doesn't effect other patrons?
I don't see it as the server's job to judge and punish people for their views when it is not disruptive to others. It doesn't seem that the guy even used any crude terms in reference to the kid.
I'm not defending what the guy said, but I think the server was out of line.
There is a possibility that this could be true, many times certain facts are left out for some reason to paint a different story
PS how do these stores even make the news?
So I go out to a place to enjoy myself, and part of that enjoyment is not to be around loud/disruptive, or possibly disruptive kids.
Not knowing if this kid is an angel, or "angel" in the eyes of the parents, I make my wish not to be seated next to them, and I'm the bad guy?
Why is the waiter refusing bushiness for the owner? He could have sat the guy somewhere else. And if he didn't want to serve them, find someone else.
Special or not. Taking your dirty ass little kids to a restaurant that isn't McDonalds or Chuck E Cheese-class places should be avoided.
No one wants to be around your stupid little kids.
Special or not. Taking your dirty ass little kids to a restaurant that isn't McDonalds or Chuck E Cheese-class places should be avoided.
No one wants to be around your stupid little kids.
Nebor said:This.