Malcolm Merlyn Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Quote Park Street in Kolkata is famous for being a hub of several fine dining restaurants. Mocambo is one of the oldest establishments in that area. On Saturday, Dilashi Hemnani decided to have dinner in the restaurant with her driver, but was shocked when she was told that he wouldn't be allowed inside. She wrote about the incident on Facebook, which has been shared over 7,800 times since. Image source A Marketing Manager at Tata Motors, Dilashi wrote: "How shallow and inhuman have we become ? Last night being my last day in Kolkata decided to try out this popular restraunt called Mocambo' at Park Street .I decided to go with my driver -Manish bhaiya here whose great service and care throughout my stay in Kolkata for a week was excellent . (Also yesterday afternoon he missed his lunch because I forgot to tell him to go for lunch - uncertain about the time it would take me to finish the meeting -he missed his lunch). Guilty of my mistake. I decided to go out for dinner with him. As soon as I reached Mocambo at around 8:40 PM, I asked the staff to give me a table for 2. Staff: There is a waiting of 15 minutes . Me: *As excited I was to try out this popular joint* happily agreed Staff: *By this time they observed I was with Manish bhaiya* walked up to me and said it will take 45 minutes for the table to get ready. Me : *Little confused by time communicated earlier* now eagerly asked, but you said 15 minutes? Staff : Yes the table was going to get empty, but they ordered for more food. Me : *Peeping through the glass windows* but I can see some empty tables inside. Staff : They are four seaters. Today is Friday we cannot give that table. Me: Ok. After waiting for 10-15 minutes, when I see people who came after me getting the table. Me : Why are you not giving me the table? Staff : Maam we can't give you a table. Me : But why? Staff : Who are you with? Me : Subtly pointing towards Manish bhaiya. Staff : Aahhh....Maam he is not properly dressed . Me : *He was cleanly dressed in a cream trouser and a shirt tucked out .. And floaters* I asked what is your dress code? Staff : We don't have a dress code . Me : Then?? Staff: No No he is not properly dressed it's a fine dine resturaunt. Me : *Agitated by now* What's wrong with his dressing tell me and is there a written dress code he is not following? By this time Manish bhaiya understood parts of the conversation in English and by the daunting looks of the staff -walks up to me and says - 'Didi hum Nahi Khaenge aap Khana Kha lijiyega na ' Me : *Hurt with his innocence and inhuman inconsiderate behaviour of the staff at Mocambo* Me : Call your manager give me a valid reason why he cannot come in. Staff : Goes and calls another person. Me : Sir why can't he come in? Staff : Because he is drunk Me : *Furious and baffled with the audacity of the staff* How do you know he is drunk? Staff : Because my other colleague told me he is so. Me : On what basis due you make such assumptions . Did he drink in front of you or did you even go near him *they were standing 2-3 meters apart* He is driving me around since 8 o clock in the morning leave apart being drunk he is not even had food. Staff : But I know he is drunk. Me : Prove it then. Me : What's your name? Staff : I can't tell you my name. Me : Why? Staff : No No I can't it's just I can't let you in with him. Me : I don't want to get into your racist restraunt walks away with Manish bhaiya with deep grief in my heart on how Inhuman and shallow the world has become. Manish bhaiya is one of the finest human beings I have met in a long time he took good care of me and did his duty with all his heart. He is a simple man make Rs275 a day for 12 hours of driving, and sends more than half of the money back home. He has a difficult life, still he laughs a lot, shares a lot of stories, and is more human and empathetic than any I know. To Mocambo staff and restaurant at Park Street Kolkata which doesn't consider human as human and differentiates, discriminates and stratifies them into classes just because he doesn't fit into your description of a perfect customer (doesn't own a iPhone maybe doesn't talk in English ), I m sorry you don't deserve a fine human like Manish bhaiya sitting and eating in your racist restraunt." Vagabomb reached out to Mocambo for their side of the story. We asked them if they have a dress code, or if the driver was misbehaving in any way, to which the management had this to say, "The driver was very indecently dressed... Just wearing one pant and shirt, but he was not in proper state. He was having roadside food and just standing, not in proper state of mind. He was not acceptable in our fine dining restaurant. We told her (Dilashi Hemnani) we cannot give her driver a table, but we can give her one. We've such high standard guests coming here, it's a fine dining restaurant, we cannot have such a roadsider coming and sitting here. "We do not have a dress code. But at least a person should be neat and clean. He was having roadside jhalmuri, walking around and grazing people. That is not acceptable. How could you have a roadsider coming in to your restaurant? This is not a dhaba." From what we understand, neither the driver's clothes and behaviour, nor the fact that he was eating jhalmuri were the real offences. The only reason, which the management at Mocambo kept repeating, he wasn't given a table was that he is a "roadsider" from a less privileged background. http://www.vagabomb.com/Kolkata-Restaurant-Mocambo-Refuses-to-Serve-Customer-Her-Roadsider-Driver/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surajmal Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 (edited) pot calling kettle... I wish the restaurant owner would come out and say "suck it". Edited September 12, 2016 by surajmal New guy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New guy Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 10 hours ago, surajmal said: pot calling kettle... I wish the restaurant owner would come out and say "suck it". Why? Do you know the person who wrote the post? I don't understand what you meant here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Sad to read this .... However, companies have a right to do business with whom they want to do with. May be such businesses should make their policies clearer rather than resorting to such tactics MechEng 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gattaca Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 9 minutes ago, zen said: Sad to read this .... However, companies have a right to do business with whom they want to do with. May be such businesses should make their policies clearer rather than resorting to such tactics Right to do business ? Looks like discrimination to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 5 minutes ago, gattaca said: Right to do business ? Looks like discrimination to me. It is not. However, the way the biz handled the issue is questionable I cannot imagine a person who came with the mindset to just drive for the day dressed for a fine dining restaurant. The lady may have been reasonably dressed as she was in Kol to presumably attend meetings The lady should have inquired about the dress code and may be even got the driver something suitable to wear. That would have avoided the problem. Her random decision put both the driver and the restaurant in the spot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbestfriend Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 1 hour ago, zen said: It is not. However, the way the biz handled the issue is questionable I cannot imagine a person who came with the mindset to just drive for the day dressed for a fine dining restaurant. The lady may have been reasonably dressed as she was in Kol to presumably attend meetings The lady should have inquired about the dress code and may be even got the driver something suitable to wear. That would have avoided the problem. Her random decision put both the driver and the restaurant in the spot It is nothing else but discrimination and classism, should be condemned strongly. If there is a dress code, they should mention the same and not allow any one not following it. Restaurant doesnt have any dress code and they allow the people with casual dress too, but rejected a table just because they dont like to serve low-class people. Discrimination based on class has no place in a civilized society. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 (edited) 5 hours ago, urbestfriend said: It is nothing else but discrimination and classism, should be condemned strongly. If there is a dress code, they should mention the same and not allow any one not following it. Restaurant doesnt have any dress code and they allow the people with casual dress too, but rejected a table just because they dont like to serve low-class people. Discrimination based on class has no place in a civilized society. Why would the driver be not allowed to enter if he was in suitable attire for the fine dining restaurant? It appeared as if the restaurant had issue with how he was dressed .... I am looking at the issue from both the restaurant's, restaurant's other clients (say someone has invited guests considering this one to be a fine dining restaurant where people dressed appropriately for the occasion come and a few people dressed casually walk in as if it is a McDonald's), and this pair's PoV Top Dining Dos and Donts Always dress nicely Note that in general many people from the sub-con are among the least sophisticated dresser as seen from the weird belt, shoes and socks combination, wearing improper fit, wearing clothes that have been washed tons of times, etc. PS Personally, I would have liked it if the restaurant had made a special case and allowed the driver in and also provided him with a jacket .... Below is how a more professional restaurant could have handled it: Link Quote What was the biggest dress issue you had with patrons when you were maître d’? The biggest issue goes back to making them feel comfortable. If you have a policy at a restaurant that requires a jacket, somebody else [may have] made the reservation for the guests and the information didn’t get passed along. Now, they show up, and they don’t have a jacket. Going about letting them know or making them aware that a jacket is required is difficult. Obviously, we have them here. We provide them for guests who show up without. We have to still make them feel very comfortable and not make them feel out of place for the rest of the evening. I think there is a way to look at it from both sides, and I think there is some burden on the restaurant industry to have some leeway to make somebody more comfortable. If you have specific attire, if you are going to make somebody feel uncomfortable, you should look to bend that rule. There is something that we talk about here often: breaking the rules to make a guest’s experience better. And that is a really good time to break the rule. There is some burden on the restaurant industry’s part to get some flexibility on either side of dressing up or dressing down. Edited September 13, 2016 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gattaca Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 The only dress code is wear a shirt , pants and shoes. This is the dress code. Anything other than that is discrimination. Book_Worm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 11 minutes ago, gattaca said: The only dress code is wear a shirt , pants and shoes. This is the dress code. Anything other than that is discrimination. I looked at the pictures of Macomba and it appears like a regular restaurant .... so there was probably no need to fuss about the driver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trichromatic Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 (edited) 14 hours ago, zen said: I looked at the pictures of Macomba and it appears like a regular restaurant .... so there was probably no need to fuss about the driver It's a regular restaurant and you can easily eat there in casual dress just as you do in McDonalds. Edited September 14, 2016 by Trichromatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Merlyn Posted September 14, 2016 Author Share Posted September 14, 2016 10 hours ago, Trichromatic said: It's a regular restaurant and you can easily eat there in casual dress just as you do in McDonalds. Did they allow you in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surajmal Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 On 9/13/2016 at 5:42 AM, New guy said: Why? Do you know the person who wrote the post? I don't understand what you meant here? Its a case of a wannabe social justice "warrior" looking for her 2 minutes of fame on the back of a poor person. You are telling me, she didnt know what the response of the restaurant is going to be to her stunt? She pays here driver 275 rupees for 12 hours of duty a day and has the gall to label others? Only one embarrassed and shamed here is the driver, who had to stand there and take the insults. * her and her ilk. Mocambo needs to put a life time ban on her. MechEng and Book_Worm 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoda-esque Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 On 9/13/2016 at 3:43 PM, zen said: I looked at the pictures of Macomba and it appears like a regular restaurant .... so there was probably no need to fuss about the driver That (the interior) is besides the point.If a restaurant has no dress code, it has no cause to turn away customers.Blatant discrimination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muloghonto Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 On September 14, 2016 at 1:45 PM, surajmal said: Its a case of a wannabe social justice "warrior" looking for her 2 minutes of fame on the back of a poor person. You are telling me, she didnt know what the response of the restaurant is going to be to her stunt? She pays here driver 275 rupees for 12 hours of duty a day and has the gall to label others? Only one embarrassed and shamed here is the driver, who had to stand there and take the insults. * her and her ilk. Mocambo needs to put a life time ban on her. Now that is some twisted logic in support of class barriers and classism from restaurants to deny service. I hope you remember the same spiel when a min wage Sikh guy gets refused service in the states as 'taliban/rag-head'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surajmal Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 3 hours ago, Muloghonto said: Now that is some twisted logic in support of class barriers and classism from restaurants to deny service. I hope you remember the same spiel when a min wage Sikh guy gets refused service in the states as 'taliban/rag-head'. Kahan ki kahan jod di. If you think she was being sincere then I don't know what to tell you. urbestfriend 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbestfriend Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 14 minutes ago, surajmal said: Kahan ki kahan jod di. If you think she was being sincere then I don't know what to tell you. What makes you think she wasnt sincere unless you know her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surajmal Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 5 minutes ago, urbestfriend said: What makes you think she wasnt sincere unless you know her. sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 Quote He is a simple man make Rs275 a day for 12 hours of driving, and sends more than half of the money back home. Quite odd he gets paid so low in such a big city as Kolkata. The unions there will never let somebody pay so low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muloghonto Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 10 hours ago, surajmal said: Kahan ki kahan jod di. If you think she was being sincere then I don't know what to tell you. What makes you think she wasn't sincere ? Or are you the sort who's never ever treated his servants to a special dinner ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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