Kanpai Japanese Steakhouse is RAAACIST!!

Oh brother.

Here's another one of those stories about "equity" and "fundamental rights."

It turns out that Monica Covington of Winston Salem, NC, has started a petition campaign against Kanpai Japanese Restaurant for its refusal to serve her. Kanpai claims she's a "a habitual bad tipper."

Interestingly, some of the local news reports botched the story. Apparently Covington stiffed the Kanpai staff on numerous occasions and they'd had enough of this woman. Kanpai's response is published at WZZM 13 Grand Rapids:

At the time, Mrs. Monica Covington was a frequent customer. On many separate occasions, a server of our establishment attended to Mrs. Covington. Each time our server waited on Mrs. Covington no gratuity was left. Shortly after this incident, Mrs. Covington returned with a party that was originally composed of six people, which later turned to five. The same server waited upon this party and added the 15% gratuity to her bill without the manager's knowledge. When this case was pointed out to the manager, the problem was soon remedied and the gratuity removed from the bill. Even after the gratuity was removed, Mrs. Covington and her party left no gratuity. What followed shortly afterwards, on a separate occasion, Mrs. Covington returned with two or three other diners. Our Servers and even Chefs told the manager that they refused to wait on their party. The manager, in hopes of appeasing staff and customers alike, formally asked Mrs. Covington if she would mind a 15% gratuity added to her bill and was explained in detail as to the reasoning why. Our compliance with North Carolina Law, and our stated intentions in protecting our staff members and allowing Mrs. Covington to dine with us, was clearly stated and in an appropriate manner. Absolutely NO discrimination occurred whatsoever.

We feel that WXII News Channel 12 misrepresented our story. Although they spoke with our general manager Michael Lam for 20 minutes, only a very small portion of his comments were aired during their broadcast. We would hope that their journalistic creed would go beyond showing simply one side of the story.

And see Piggy Nannan, "I Support Kanpai, Shame on Monica Covington!" Following the links there, don't miss the comment thread at WXII12: "Customer Called Poor Tipper; She Calls For Boycott: Winston-Salem Woman Starts Petition Demanding Fair Treatment. " For example:

Where is this going to lead to? Al Sharpton picketing in front of the restaurant and a civil lawsuit?

Bingo: "Woman Called Poor Tipper Procures Lawyer."

And one more from WXII12:

As a General Manager of a restaurant & bar myself, I find the idea that this woman is trying to sue is ludicrous ... Obviously she has a history of thinking she can do whatever she wants. An added gratuity is not a new concept for larger groups. I completely understand that the customer is always right, but restaurants, like any other business, also have the right to institute their own policies, this includes gratuities. If a patron doesn’t like the policy they have the choice to dine elsewhere. Furthermore, many people outside the restaurant world do not understand that most good restaurants bend over backwards for every patron they get and want to make them happy, not only so they will return, but also so their employees are paid appropriately as well. Margins of profit in the private sector do not allow employers to pay wait staff $7.00 or more an hour, unless patrons want to see their meals starting to cost 20% more. That is the true essence of partnership between a restaurant and its staff. What is good for one is good for the other. I commend the decision of this restaurant to protect their staff, because we all know that good help is hard to find.