English Only Cheese-Steaks at Geno’s
Published by Jason March 19th, 2008 in Destinations, Food. Share ThisSeems Geno’s Steaks, a 44 year old source of Philly’s fame cheesesteak, is under-fire for some allegedly discriminatory signage.
Joe Vento posted the signs at his shop in October 2005. They read “This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH.’”
Critics allege the policy discourages customers of certain backgrounds from eating there. They say the signs discourage non-English speakers from going to the shop.
I’m not sure how I stand on this — its his shop and the article did say no one is turned away due to their lack of English; it does say “please.”
Philly Steak Shop Didn’t Discriminate[Breitbart.com]
sounds perfectly acceptable to me!
It’s the “This is AMERICA” part that instantly sounds defensive and red-statey. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask for orders in English - how else can they take the order?
I agree with Jeff. The implication is that in America we all speak English, and if you don’t you aren’t a part of America. That is what is offensive.
It’s just a little dose of reality. English is the dominant language in America, and to live and thrive in America (let alone order a cheesesteak) you should probably know how to speak it. I wouldn’t expect to go someplace where english was not the dominant language and get along all that well.
old news + delicious cheese steak = cheez wiz with
Below the sign “English only”, you can see a poster “Management has the right to refuse service to anyone.”.
The top sign is ok, but with the bottom sign combine, it is clearly discrimination. The owner also mentioned send all illegal immigrant back. You can see, he is clearly targeting immigrant.
also the word “This is AMERICA” is very offensive
It’s obviously a douche move on his part. Who gives a shit if we all speak Spanish 50 years from now? Our language — as much as I love English in all its goopy glue — is not what makes (or made) this country great.
What made America great was our love for adding cheese to beef.
I think it’s practical and sensible for people to use English in public communications. It is not at all discriminatory to request or require that, especially because it is the traditional language here, it doesn’t single out anyone, and because the nature of business is discriminatory in the first place (you can choose to conduct business or refuse business with anyone you wish in America, for almost any reason, provided you don’t run afoul of racial discrimination laws).
I often get the feeling that the language barrier is something abused by immigrants to create exclusive communities and communications - they’re not speaking English not because they don’t know it, but because they don’t want to talk to people who don’t speak THEIR language. It is often completely unrelated to educational deficiency or illiteracy. Here in the New York City area, I see it all the time and it sucks. It runs across all nationalities and cultures, so it must be just something that assholes do.
You can’t make any judgments about people based on lack of English speaking ability alone. They might seriously not know it (but are trying to learn), and I can’t fault them. However, sometimes it’s quite clear what’s going on. What can you say about a retail storefront that has not a word of English anywhere? (and I’m not talking about mixed storefronts - I’m talking about ZERO signage in English) You’re doing business in America, with American dollars, and you have enough resources to run a proprietorship (not easy), but you refuse to communicate in the national language? It’s an indecent thing to do to your fellow citizens. And what about people who know English, but have conversations in their native language in front of English-speaking peers so that they can say nasty things about their peers and not get caught? I’ve seen people get caught doing this! You don’t know what languages people speak until someone unexpectedly retorts with, “What did you just call me?” (or, “Lo que hizo que acaba de llamarme?” or “Quello che hai appena mi chiamano?” or “什么叫你刚才叫我吗？”)
And in closing, although English requirements are a practical way to avoid the above-described asinine behavior, it’s also rude to belittle people who might not speak English (or English exclusively). Respect is necessary. Claiming that English is “American” or “patriotic” in public is just as asinine as opening stores with zero English signage. There’s nothing wrong with two polite adults using a language other than English to communicate, in any place on planet Earth. But it’s no good to suggest to anyone, “If you don’t know MY language, you must be an asshole.”
For pete’s sake, if I lived in France, I would learn french and speak french when visiting establishments (although I am sure my dialect would be sorely lacking) and if I lived in Germany, I would learn to speak German and the same for any other country. If I was visiting, I would take a translation book with me to attempt to speak the native language. The responsibility is more on me. In the United States, the language is English. We need to quit apologizing for certain facts. We have become such a wishy-washy country.
I agree with one other comment - the statement “This is America” is the real problem.
How about just stating “please speak English?”
Obviously, frustration and stress has caused this business owner to post that sign.
As a business owner and prior owner of a retail store, I know how hard it is to try and serve individuals that do not speak English. Business owners strive to provide the best service possible and that is not possible if the customer cannot be understood.
I would suggest the following:
Although we server everyone, please speak English to help us meet our primary goal of providing quality customer service
Don, If you lived in France, and they heard your pathetic attempts to speak french they would be very offended at your mangling of their proud language, and request that you just speak english, since they mostly know it anyway.
That’s just what I hear.
As a language teacher I totally agree you should speak English in USA or nothing should be serviced for you. & not just English, has to be PERFECT ENGLISH. Perfect English means no accent at all. And this rule should apply to each every country in the world. So if you don’t speak or use any language perfectly you had better stay at home. Because you won’t be able to have any service no matter where you go. Then we’ll need more language teachers. That’ll be perfect for me.