Hey guys,
So I've encountered few occasions at my local McDonalds that whenever I wanna place an order they ask if am there for UberEats?
Not sure if they do it in purpose or just think it's funny am not offended lol maybe I start working in Uber Eats at some point to take break from the 9-5 office jobs, but just want your thoughts?
I'm South American.
Update: I have contacted local restaurant to train their staff to not auto-assume things based on customer's appearance.
@Guybrush57: If more than 50% of white people are racist then it's a fair assumption the next white person along is more likely than not going to be a racist.
@Autonomic: I won't even ask how you came to that conclusion. I think it's time for me to bow out and let your stupidity and racist tendencies shine on their own.
@Guybrush57: 50% of the white people I've met have been racist. If personal experience is good enough for you then it's good enough for me.
If x% of a demographic approaching the counter at a restaurant are food delivery drivers and x >50, making an assumption that the next person of that demographic is a food delivery driver has a higher chance of being correct than incorrect. As x approaches 100 you have safer odds of being correct.
But, as a restaurant attendant that doesn't mean you should assume anything. In fact if you make zero assumptions, you reach 0% chance of getting it wrong at all.
The point of a stereotype is that it isn't always true.
And people need to remember that a stereotype and a generalisation are different.
I'm not sure many people commenting so far understand the difference.
The trick is to use the kiosks. No one goes to the front counter to order ;)
That's the only way I order - and I only pay in cash too
Maybe they are assuming being South American that you have better taste in food and must be working. Whenever I go to a department store in my lunch break, people ask me questions about the products, I guess I look like the assistant manager.
Just being bilingual, living in a different country, like you do, makes you more culturally aware, world-wise than most people that work an Aussie McDonald’s, shit now I’m generalising…
So I've encountered few occasions at my local McDonalds that whenever I wanna place an order they ask if am there for UberEats?
How difficult is it to say 'No, I'm here to pick up my own food" ?
I don't understand this response. How do you work social outrage into it? The whole thing comes off very trivial if you just ignore the opportunity to become offended. What a waste of internet points. How dare you.
Australians are unapologetically racist. You just gotta get use to it.
All Asians are Chinese
All brown people are Indian
All middle-eastern people are Arab.
All blacks are African/Sudanese.
QLD is by far the most racist state and are very uncultured besides their yearly trips to Bali and Fiji.
Trust me, things are much better now compared to 30 years ago.
You're probably getting negged because of the 'get used to it' narrative which I don't agree with either but otherwise your comments are spot on.
The reasons things have changed is because there more of us now and 'Australians' have had to change their attitudes and educate themselves.
You're probably getting negged because of the 'get used to it'
I'm getting negged by QLDers lol
Stuff 'em and their dodgy premier.
Negs aren't like cryptocurrencies. Why are you trying so hard to mine them?
Agreed
Honestly Orico, I think all you're really doing here is revealing your own bigotry for the world to see.
Also, thank you for the funny image of the entire state of Queensland packing off for their annual Fiji holiday ;-)
I think all you're really doing here is revealing your own bigotry for the world to see.
No one likes QLDers.
Some people are racist but it's a pretty successful multicultural society.
The majority of Australians want equal opportunity for all.
An SBS documentary on racism from about 2018 had experts rating us 7/10. As in not bad, but a lot of room for improvement.
The majority of Australians want equal opportunity for all.
When that's the case in workplaces, let me know. lol
You have answered your question.
Hint: Last line of your post 😷✌🏿
they ask if am there for UberEats?
Just ask them if they are a stripper!
White or Indian or South American?
My local restaurant waved me in and handed me a bag a few months ago thinking I was a driver - don't sweat it, they're the ones working for award wages ;-)
At a wedding once a white Australian told me to "bring the car around", took me a few seconds to realize he thought I was his driver.
what do you look like?
https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/ceo-apologises-for-m…
"The chief executive officer of Tegna has apologised for an incident in which he mistook a black lawyer and professor – who later became a candidate for the company’s board – as a hotel car valet."
Their finger is on the button: They are establishing whether you are there as an Uber driver, or to rob the place.
Yea I'm indian and I know I look like all the other curry delivery guys. The only difference is I don't carry the insulated bag they all have.
Unless you think you're somehow better than uber drivers, does it really matter if they mistakenly assume you're one?
Those guys have a tough and dangerous job for very little, unstable money.
dangerous
???
The ones on push bikes or scooters have a considerable risk of accidents. In general the long work hours and isolated environment is unhealthy for people.
honestly most of the time its their fault for not knowing road rules.
@HKS: When there is a time constraint, try to deliver on time, try to find parking, it will be a bit hard to prioritise which one to follow. These cases were on the news recently about inquiries made on work conditions, the gig economy and workers' right and employer responsibilities. Really feel for the family who lost their loved ones.
Ex UberEATS driver here, I am very white. Once a fellow driver asked me why I was doing deliveries when I was an Australian. He was right though and I am no longer being exploited and am doing much better in almost every regard ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Didn't realise Uber was taking over sterotype
probably stereotyping.
I am Asian, and everytime I ordered nuggets, they just assumed I wanted sweet and sour sauce with it…………….
I thought sweet and sour pork dish were made for Caucasian.
Too many sweet and sour pork been signature dish for long. It's in your genes and heritage you can't get away, much like Uber eats and take away delivery drivers = Indians, South American, Middle East backgrounds etc
They always assume everyone wants sweet and sour sauce.
Lol, I'm pale white, they always assume the same. I think its the default option :)
I would be shocked if they didn't assume I wanted sweet and sour sauce. It's implied that it's the default sauce if no sauce is specified.
They do this for everyone. I prefer BBQ sauce and always end up with sweet and sour even if I asked for BBQ. I think it's the Oz default.
Stereotyping happens all the time.
My parents are from Peru and when I go to my local Mexican restaurants , old white people always assume I'm a waiter working there. I laugh it off and get on with my life. Happend more than once.
Are you sure your real life situation isn't inspired from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARiYrxx5AW0
Shouldn't the uber guy show the code on the phone before taking the bag?
Has anyone encountered when you are shopping at woolworths or Kmart, someone thought you that you work there and ask you to serve them?
Yes. Happened to me the other day in Woolies.
but both woolies and kmart ppl wear unifroms.
Yes, sometimes you may accidentally wore clothes that resembled them.
@htc: I was at Bunnings the other day I went up to a old guy who had the same colour clothes as the people that worked there , I asked him a question about a item he responded very loudly "I don't work here !!" I slowly backed away confused. when I was far enough from him I started laughing 🤣
@CheapOjoe: Yep, I made the mistake of where a red polo and blue jeans to Bunnings once, and I was pounced upon for questions by the public in every isle, thinking I was a staff member. Unfortunately, not all staff have name tags :-).
You know what the reason is because typically there is not enough staff on the floor for anything especially target, big w and kmart. Always hard to find someone. This only happens here if you are in Asia not possible to be the same.
Here is all self service. Maybe labour too expensive
Due to lack of staff you can find people just go for whoever dress similar and hope for the best
This is the other reason people shop online. What's the point going to the store of I can't get help anyway
Heck, I was doing my cycling around my 5km radius so i thought i bring my backpack so i can do my grocery shop as well…
then i rode past an interesting looking donut shop… stopped and walked in to order and they though i was UberEats even though i was wearing full branded road bike attire…
is it the backpack or is it the "donut body" that I have making my branded clothing looks cheap? hmmm…
And btw OP, the exact situation of yours was covered in this video too!
https://www.tiktok.com/@nazeemhussain/video/6971296366685441…
Why don't you say yes and get free food?
HA! If only
They check the app order number before giving. lol
Friendship ended with ozbargain
oztheft is my new best friend
Not theft when it's given to you. May be fraud not theft
It's not limited to one place though. An Indian mate often gets asked even by other Indians if he works in IT when he introduces him to new people - you see, stereotyping is present everywhere. Pretty sure, this can very well be the case with many other professions and communities - people in fluorescent vests on the roads, the big guys who deliver electronic appliances or those who guard the pubs, other tradies, people who work in hospitality industry, people who man the news agencies, etc etc.
Just reply and fix the misconception or ignore and move on.
Apparently i often get mistake for some one that gives a (profanity) about peoples stories.
Walked into Petbarn the other week and before I could take more than 5 steps towards the counter (online order pickup), one of the workers asked if I was Uber. Stereotyping happens everywhere, and I can guarantee if you don't care it comes down to two reasons;
-You have never had to deal with it
-You have dealt with it so much in your life you have started not caring and just think its normal (I was in this boat until recently. Now it pisses me off)
But really, the more you think about it, the more racist it really is. Even if you are right 9/10 times that it is the delivery guy or your driver, that one time your wrong should make you think that maybe, you shouldn't ask it as your first question. Treat them like any other person coming to order from your establishment.
How would you feel about this?:
Yes this is understandable. I have seen my Indian friends get uncomfortable in fast food restaurants and always stand as far away from the Eats pickup line as they can. The question to solve is why are Uber Eats and Uber drivers ALL Indian. Or 99.919% Indian? Has anyone tackled this question before? You can say, they are University students or part time workers, yes yes, so only Indians go to Universities now? Where are the other students working part time?
Chinese students don't have to work and students from other countries try to work in lower education requirement jobs related to their field of study.
Generalising much…? I've seen every race/age do deliveries.
I see it happen all the time in most restaurants (not just Macca's). Nowadays I say I'm here to pick up MY order under X name to save them the embarrassment.
Honestly there are bigger things to be worried about than being stereotyped as a food delivery driver.
It can be frustrating though if it has an impact on getting your goods/services, but in 99% of cases it's a quick comment to rectify and everyone moves on with their lives.
I've never had food dropped off by someone who isn't from the Indian sub-continent.
I have contacted local restaurant to train their staff to not auto-assume things based on customer's appearance.
I wanna place an order they ask if am there for UberEats
happened every single time when living in Chermside QLD. lots of fellow indian's do deliveries in that area, so they assumed I'm also one among. May be i should have wore a tuxedo :p
I'm Indian who looks and talks like Indian :)
The reality is I really haven't encountered a white guy that does food delivery except from Domino's back in the days, can someone explain?
Adult migrants are more reliable than Australian born teens. Used to be teens did all the deliveries iirc
Breaching visa conditions. You didn’t use to need to own a car. This is what rules out a lot of teens.
Do you ride a bike?
From what I've seen in the past Uber Eats orders got priority over dine in
ha, what a joke. any driver here can tell you that delivery orders are last priority and drivers more often than not get treated like garbage.
I think they’re under the pump and just cut to the chase to get the orders out.
Uber drivers are often migrants. It’s no great mystery.
Often when I frequent the social clubs of my European ethnic background they'll (correctly) assume my ethnicity and begin conversation in that language, absolutely racist and appalling. Same thing often happens to my Chinese friend, where waiters automatically speak to him in Cantonese at Chinese restaurants, racism is everywhere.
I've even had some refer to me as a "him" due to my jaw line, adam's apple, male name, body/facial hair, deep voice, and protruding genital area. We need all these people sent to reeducation camps immediately and have all of their identities exposed on Twitter.
I notice lots of Greeks and Italians say their heritage is European and act as though European only means like Mediterranean or something. The Scandinavians are European after all. It’s a bit of an oddity.
Don’t quite understand the racist undertones by fast food workers which honestly seem to think they are above the uber eats driver across the screen.
More often than not, uber eats/menu log/doordash drivers are making heaps more than fast food workers, fast food workers of all ethnicities but predominantly white do tend to treat the mostly immigrant workers with scorn and utter shit.
I am a short, brown guy with a beard so often get mistaken for a delivery driver and I always bring it up with them as to why they thought I was a delivery driver (im wearing normal clean clothes, not holding a bag nor a phone in my hand, I am simply waiting for my order).
They have never gone to race when confronted like that because they do not expect to be confronted really.
I think for anyone who gets mistaken for a delivery driver, more often than not it is basically innocent racial profiling with no malicious intent and you should 100% play it off lightheartedly.
Delivery drivers can be annoying to fast food workers, not saying that fast food workers are not absolute scumbags sometimes and go out of their way to treat delivery drivers like shit.
I am speaking from anecdotal experiences of a lot of friends/work mates who have done delivery driving and regularly cop stuff while working.
If the industry was well paid, people other than immigrant Indians would do it as well and the stereotyping would stop as it will be a wide group of people from different races delivering food.
Not saying it is well paid. I am merely stating that a delivery driver makes more than it seems, they're able to get tax write-offs due to expenses associated with such a role.
Also, in Sydney, people of the same ethnicity, especially with migrants tend to stay together and get similar jobs as it is easier to familiarise themselves. Think of the next time you are in the CBD, why are all the EASI workers a certain ethnic background?
Immigrants from the South Asian subcontinent make up one of the highest incoming migrants to Sydney, they are more often than not from poorer backgrounds and have to send money back home. Hence, working extra hours.
It is obviously not a good gig for full time work but it is better than working casual at Maccas, HJs, etc.
It is quite an uninformed thing and borderline racist for you to bunch everyone together as 'immigrant Indians' where in the food delivery scene, it is a combination of Pakistani, Nepalese, Bangladeshi and Indian including others such as Fijian-Indian, Srilankan, etc.
The reason why a lot of them are 'immigrant Indians' is mainly because of visa restrictions prohibiting them to work more than 20H a week. They want to make money and food delivery allows them to bypass the restriction as the actual time 'working' is less than 20H even though they may be online for many more than that.
Once there are no visa restrictions, Uber is a much more viable pathway for them to consider.
I have a friend who was walking out of his workplace to go for lunch ( a couple of members of his team were inside waiting for a uber delivery for work lunch) and ran into a person of a specific ethnic background outside the building and immediately went up to him and asked him "are you an uber delivery as my team is waiting for their lunch", the guy wasnt and it ended up being a bit awkward / embarrassed exchange. So it seems to be somewhat common.
I wouldn't say racist. It's more insensitive stereotyping - they are trying to save time through stereotyping.
Still seems a little odd as many of their Indian background customers would surely be there to buy food for themselves.
It's textbook racism.
Depends on the textbook. Perhaps it could fit some definitions.
Either way there is no intention of malice, and there is no indication of perceiving one race above another. Without either of those two things I don't think it's a terribly significant offence. Insensitive though, yes it is.
Depends on the textbook. Perhaps it could fit some definitions.
It's assuming all Indians are X. I'd be surprised if there is a definition out there that it doesn't fit.
Just because you didn't intend to be hurtful doesn't mean anything. You're causing hurt out of your own ignorance. Ignorance doesn't absolve you.
If you're perceiving all people of X race in a box and treating them accordingly, while not doing the same for say, white people, then you are in fact treating one race above another.
@Autonomic: It's not assuming all Indians are X, it's assuming they are over-represented as Uber Eats Drivers. Are you saying it's untrue? It's insensitive and they shouldn't be doing it, but they're clearly doing it because they think they can save time. It is called racial profiling and it is a different concept to racism - often it would be connected to racism but not always.
They are probably teenagers and I wouldn't get too offended by it all.
They are probably teenagers and I wouldn't get too offended by it all.
One thing I hate above all else is a white person telling minorities what and what not to get offended by.
If I work in a restaurant, I will be fair. I will ask everyone if they are from Uber Eats and even though they are dining in. Peace!
If I was your boss I would fire you for annoying the customers and being weird.
Haha… to another extreme I think the industry should be mandated… DO NOT EVER ASK THIS QUESTION.
The appropriate question should be "How can I help you?"
Did you just assume my gender equivalent offence but in a racial offence form. When someone was just trying to be time efficient at doing their job and had no interest in racial stereotyping. Annoying, yes a bit, but not worth anything more than saying No and moving on.
Hey man. I'm from South America as well. You will get confused for many things in Australia, in this case, a stereotypical Uber eats delivery driver. Accept that you look like one. Accept that it is not done as an offence. Move on and your life will be easier.
@CaptainNewspeak: You singled out white people. Is racism exclusive to white people? That sucks that you are a racist. I'm not myself. I also don't have a "comfort zone" whatever that even is. It's good that you can admit your racism yourself so you can grow from it.
No stereotypical assumptions and racial biases were made btw. If more than 50% of people with Indian-like appearances enters a McDonald's as a Menulog driver then the fact is when a person of Indian appearance enters that McDonald's, there is a statistical likelihood that the person is more likely to be a Menulog driver than not. Nobody is putting down Menulog drivers or people of Indian-appearance. Statistical evidence is not unconscious bias or bias of any kind. It is fact-based evidence.