Geno's steak shop in Philly
 

Associated Press - March 19, 2008 5:13 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Philadelphia agency has ruled that English-only signs at a famous cheesesteak shop are not discriminatory.

The Commission on Human Relations says in its Wednesday ruling that the sign at Geno's Steaks does not violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance.

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.

Vento says he has never refused service to anyone because they couldn't speak English.


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What's wrong with this picture?

Well, the sign said, "Please."

Also, it apparently does not require proper punctuation in the language of choice.

I guess if your staff only speak english it'd be pretty hard for them to take an order in another language.

If i ordered in chinese they wouldnt understand me.
If you ordered in swahili they wounldnt understand you.
If you ordered in spanish, they may not understand you.
What's the big deal?

The big deal is intelligent, non-racist, non-xenophobic, non-morons will take their business elsewhere and spread the word among their friends not to eat there.

how do you take an order for a meal from someone who doesn't speak english if that's your only language?

Part of the experience at Gen's is the way your food is ordered. If you are not familiar with Geno's, you most likely will not understand. On paper this looks like what Radar said. IMO, it is not entirely.
When you get to the window at Geno's it is customary to say something to the effect of " 2 large wiz wit" That is all. If you try to do that in any other way or language - it doesn't work and dilutes the "experience" of eating there. Its sorta like the visa check card commercials - where one guy with cash ruins the entire flow.

There is no question that the owner is upset about the influx of "immigrants" to the area and their unwillingness to learn to speak American in America.

Being the contrarian I am - How long will we still have people with a mindset from over 100 years ago?

And what, exactly, does that get you?

Brianna, I believe the phrase you're looking for is "too large, with jizz" ... or "two, large, with jizz" ???

That doesn't sound like English to me. It sounds like Geno wants everyone to speak Genoian.

Flint, just because I happen to have a healthy sex drive is no reason...did you say two? Maybe after I feel a bit better. Gimme a few more weeks.

All you need is a dose of Vitamin F. Oh, and I'll have to take your temperature with my big, pink thermometer. Say ahhh...

Since when to people in Philly speak English? Also, America was built by immigrants and English has never been the language of America. The guy is a moron and most likely listens to ignorant assholes like Lou Dobbs who tells lie after lie on his show and was caught doing it.

Give me a break. Step up and order your sandwich, then step aside for the next customer in line. It's like the Soup Nazi - don't disrupt the flow, just order your damn sandwich. This isn't a cultural sensitivity parade, it's a sandwich shop.

Sorry, they don't speak Swahili or Mandarin Chinese, they work at a freakin' sandwich shop. What's next, the government requires all food service workers to be fluent in every language that exists? They don't have all day to sort you out, just order your sandwich and move it along.

If the owner doesn't want to non-English speakers there, fine he loses business. As long as this store isn't a necessity for survival, the owner has every right to do this.

I personally think the "This is America" part is elitist nationalistic bullshit though.

I'm pretty sure people choose a sandwich shop based on the ability to make tasty sandwiches. And, he didn't say he "doesn't want (them) there," he just wants people to place a sandwich order which can be understood and processed in a timely manner. I'm not hopping on the "he hates all non-whites and is a member of the KKK" bandwagon. No thanks.

Hates all non-whites and is a member of the KKK? Bit of a slippery slope there....

When someone says "This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH.", that tends to show xenophobia whether it is intended or not. He says he never denied customers and by the way Classicman described the place, I don't doubt that it was made with the best of intentions but the wording is very misleading.

If you say "This is AMERICA", that strongly implies nationalism, which directly leads to xenophobia so make that connection is not invalid. If the sign said "For the convenience of the store/workers/whatever, please speak in English", then to see xenophobia would the slippery slope in this situation.

look what walked into my office a few minutes ago.

I dunno...I think the signs are asinine, but I don't think they're necessarily discriminatory.

Besides...only tourists and retarded South Philadelphians would eat at Geno's or Pat's anyway. They both suck...if you want a real cheesesteak, you go to Philip's on Passyunk or to Roxborough, where Chubby's and D'alessandro's are right across the street from each other on Henry Ave.

What about the people who say "I'm gonna speak my native language wherever I go and people better try to understand me or I'll consider it xenophobia"?

You guys are making me hungry.

Strawman? I don't see how this fits in with our argument since you are now suggesting that the customers are making an ultimatum.

If a customer that does not speak English comes into the store expecting everyone to bow down to his or her wishes and calls everyone that does not xenophobic, that would obviously be logically flawed but that is irrelevant to this discussion.

As I said before, if the sign said "for the convenience of our store/workers/etc, please speak English", there would be no rational reason for controversy. That wording directly implies that the store has had problems with customers ordering in languages other than English in the past, which has caused problems so in order to solve this problem, the store asks customers to order in English. But because the wording is "This is AMERICA, PLEASE SPEAK IN ENGLISH", it is implied that the store asks customers to order in English because of nationalistic ties to the English language. And, you cannot have xenophobia without nationalism so even though it is invalid to conclude that the owner is xenophobic because the nationalistic-xenophobic relationship is just a stereotype, the generalization will happen because most xenophobes use nationalism as their justification for their English-only stance.

Damn you Syc! You restarted the cheesesteak "My place is better" fight thread.

To whomever asked what "2 large, wiz, wit" will get you, it means two large steak sandwiches with Cheez Wiz and onions. The same goes for Pat's, across the street. Pat's even has a sign explaining the ordering process, IIRC.

And my personal fave place to go to for a cheesesteak or any other hoagie is Pudge's in Blue Bell. They're the best!

Brian

amen

I don't like the sign because it implies the reader is stupid. As in, "You have to be reminded which country you're in you dumb fuck!" And also because it sounds as if the place has its own special code that born and bred Americans from out of state would have trouble with anyway.

It would be like me answering the phone and saying, "Good afternoon EEA, I'm THE RECEPTIONIST so no I can't "help you anyway" if the person you're asking for is busy." But I don't. Because I like this job and I like the people who call up because they make it necessary for the nice people here to pay my wages.

Okay, I don't like the dumb fucks. But I'm not rude.

He could have the best sandwich on the planet earth. Every bite could give me an orgasm and I wouldn't buy it from him because he's a xenophobic asshole and a moron. I'm not saying the people at the sandwich shop have to know every language, but putting up an idiotic sign like that is a dickhead move, and I hope it costs him so much business he closes down.

I've been to Jim's Steaks and they were pretty damned good. I made the mistake of ordering with Provolone though. Next time I'm getting the Wiz. I heard the best cheesesteak in Philly is Steve's Prince of Steaks

His business, his freedom of speech, his freedom to risk running customers off. This is a non-story.

It's more of a story than the Obama minister thing, but yea pretty much nothing. He is free to be an asshole....just like Obama's minister. And when he's an asshole, it doesn't mean the employees who work there or the customers who eat there are assholes... just the same way it doesn't mean Obama is a racist or anti-American simply the church he attends has someone in charge who is.

slightly different but good attempt.

It also implies hate of American allies such as French, Turks, Egyptians and Japanese. Ironic, in cities that are most productive and growing, numerous languages are spoken in the streets. No wonder NYC grows and Philly does not. No wonder San Jose grows and Philly does not.

Sign only implies the shop owner is stupid. And since so many Philadelphians don't speak out, well, what does that say about a city formally known for Brotherly Love?

Anyone planning on visiting America? Visit NYC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, or Washington DC. Avoid Philadelphia where hate of American allies is openly encouraged.

So I've noticed.

No - one man won't stop me visiting the Home of the Cellar.
But I will request my first ever cheese steak is from another shop - I don't speak American after all :)

Pat's steaks. Take Passyunk Ave north of the airport. If I remember, its about one mile north of the dreaded Schuylkill Expressway (I-76). Some of the best hot sandwiches - must be tried.

Cellar is in another county - safely outside Philadelphia.

Incorrect IMHO, it happens daily in many parts of the US. As others have said if people don't like they can take their money elsewhere. I have a feeling this guy is not going to go bust when they do.

The bottom line on Geno's, and Pat's as well, is that they are not selling cheesesteaks but selling attitude. If they were selling only cheesesteaks they would go out of business for selling such crappy ones.

D'alessandro's was just sold BTW; and they lost my order several times when I vainly tried to buy 4 steaks for the finance dep't at Cherry Hill Nissan the other weekend. It took 35 minutes.

Here in south Jersey, there are several acceptable options.

NickyB's (I call them ZippyT's in my head) is the closest. But Fontana's and Sarcone's are both better for a Cheese steak. It's really all about the roll.

2 large wiz wit, of course.

Actually, that sounds really good.

I should get down there.

Also, Joey Vento is a big supporter of Justice for Daniel Faulkner.

Some blacks say "kill all white people" daily, but that isn't something that can legitimately be used in a race relation argument without trying to pull fear into the equation.

I honestly don't care what this guy does, I personally believe if he made the sign with no intentions of being nationalistic, he worded the sign badly, but other than that this has no meaning to me. Unless there is a big campaign about it, I agree that this will probably neither help nor hurt the store.

Lou Dobbs is interviewing Geno now. Great guy, the sign has been up for 9 months before a childhood friend of Geno's ran off to the city council and complained. :lol2:.

That's some sort of heart-healthy vegetable hoagie, and it is an abomination round these parts.

I don't think I have had one since I was a kid living in Jersey. I don't think I could eat one now.

Wrapped in foil? What a soggy mess of a chesesteak that would be. :(

Taken together with the corpus of tw's other posts, tw's eagerness to impute "hate" is perhaps instructive as to tw's usual state of mind. Definitely no one to take advice on the Dear Abby topics from. Automotive systems, maybe, but anything human? -- only at your own peril.