Customer’s rude words prompt Taunton café to speak out in support of staff

TAUNTON — It was a busy Wednesday when barista Nadine Soares answered the phone around lunchtime at Los Jefes: Comida, a Latin-Caribbean café on Broadway in Taunton.

The customer was an older gentleman and Soares said she had difficultly hearing him and he was frustrated. When Soares told him the day’s special, a Mexican dish which she said she mispronounced, the customer asked if she was Mexican or white.

“I said, ‘I’m white,’” Soares said.

The customer responded that he didn’t want “a dumb white (expletive) ringing up his food because you’ll just mess it up,” but since she was the only one he’d go ahead and order.

“He said, ‘I'm going to order but I don't want you (expletive) it up,’” said Nikki Miralrio, who owns Los Jefes: Comida with her husband, Eduard.

“I said that’s rude and uncalled for and we’re not going to take your order,” Soares said. And she hung up.

“She came into the kitchen and said what happened and that she hung up,” Nikki said.

She was worried we were going to get a bad review because she had hung up, Eduard said.

“I said, 'Good,'” Eduard said.

Soares said she was “very very pleased” with Nikki and Eduard’s support of her actions.

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The couple took it a step further and posted a statement that day about the incident on the restaurant’s Facebook page, making it clear such treatment of their staff would not be tolerated.

“First I wanted people to know that that is not OK here,” Nikki said. “You can ask if someone speaks Spanish, if need something translated, that’s fine. Our menu is in two languages.

“My primary concern was don’t bring that here. That’s not how we operate,” Nikki said. “And I will stand by my team before I stand by a customer who is going to be rude.”

“I'm going to keep this post as 'positive' as a can,” Nikki wrote in the Facebook post.

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She described the incident and then explained the restaurant's policy and support of its staff members.

“First — Our menus are in two languages so that it is accessible for everyone.

“Second — At no time should a customer ask race or nationality to a person on the phone. One can however ask if anyone speaks Spanish and we will accommodate so you're understood.

“Third — At no time will this bs be tolerated in the restaurant or on the phone. We serve food to people that are respectful. There will never be a time that I side with a customer who is bigoted, rude, obscene or makes any of my team feel uncomfortable in any way….”

Now that everyone knows the rules we can have a good time.”

“This is a big deal because we try to have multicultural environment,” Eduard said.

“That’s the culture we want to have here,” Nikki said. “I don’t want people to feel uncomfortable in any sort of way. (I don’t want people) to bring any sort of hatred or racism or sexism or bigotry at all.”

The post has received 225 supportive comments and been shared 57 times, unprecedented compared to their regular daily social media posts, Nikki said.

The following day, Thursday, also saw a much larger amount of customers than usual, which Nikki also saw as community support from the post.

“Everyone seems very supportive of us and our team,” Nikki said. “We got a lot of positive support.”

The day after the call, the Miralrios let the whole staff know they don’t have to deal with anything like that, Nikki said.

Soares wasn’t working the day the post went online, but was sent to her by a friend.

“I was really happy because of the support from them,” she said. “They truly cared about me.”

“That was the first time we’d had an experience like that (here)” Eduard said.

Overall, they have loved their experience opening Los Jefes: Comida in Taunton last September.

“It’s is our new home,” Eduard said.

“We have a pretty good following,” Nikki said. “Every day we have new people coming in. We make a point to say hello and greet everyone who walks in.”

The Miralrios welcome new customers to come try the Los Jefes: Comida. Nikki suggested having, Cuban and pollo frito sandwiches or mango habanero wings.

“All the specials,” Eduard added.

Staff writer Donna Whitehead can be reached by email at dwhitehead@tauntongazette.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton Los Jefes: Comida: Restaurant responds to customer’s rudeness