New Orleans Waiter Fired

[Varmint]

Gilberto Eyzaguirre was fired from New Orleans' Galatoire's after 22 years of service as one of the city's most popular waiters, and the customers were not happy. A website, http://www.welovegilberto.com/ was created to publicize the opposition to the firing. The Times-Picayune ran a lengthy article detailing the evolution of Galatoire's and Eyzaguirre's canning http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index_panth...latoire_07.html

A waiter is fired from a restaurant, a non-event most anywhere in America. But this is New Orleans and the restaurant is Galatoire's. A popular waiter's departure from the temple of French-Creole cooking has the well-heeled regulars up in arms and ...

Mind you, this story is a year old, but the furor continues. Has this much uproar occurred over the firing of a waiter elsewhere, or is this truly unique to Nola?

[Malawry]

This can be a major issue in private clubs, where service staff may stay for decades and become a part of the club culture. It's hard to fire some server who's been there for thirty-plus years if she becomes disgruntled or her performance slips...the members may know her, may have helped put her kids through school, may feel they directly hired her and are more equipped to make a decision than the club's manager. After all the members pay membership fees for the privilege of eating in the restaurant and being served by the employee in question. The bad feelings all around can last for years. I used to hear about this occasionally from club managers when I worked for an association representing private clubs in the past.

[KNorthrup]

Really interesting article. My one trip to New Orleans, two years ago, Galatoire's was our one high end meal. We had a career waiter who was probably getting ready to retire, but definitely not this fellow. I think his name was Tommy and he took his job very very seriously. It was lunch and we sat upstairs and took about three hours. It all seems very stereotypically Southern, the story. I wouldn't expect to hear of such a thing in any other part of the country. But certainly in Europe.

[KatieLoeb]

Interesting article. However, if they hire this waiter back they are both setting a dangerous precedent and leaving themselves wide open for future liablilty. I don't care how many customers say this waiter is the best. They aren't there on a day to day basis, and are in no position to either set restaurant policy or to overturn it's enforcement. Would customers be saying the same thing if Gilberto had been fired for stealing? Or what if he called out sick for a shift and was then seen by his off-duty manager at a local concert or sporting event? It's the restaurant's job to police their own staff, particularly when there are legal ramifications. How would these doctors and lawyers feel if someone tried to overturn their firing of the receptionist all their clients loved? Good lord! Get a life people!

[nonemoreblack]

Silly. The fact that ANYONE is still obsessing over this this shows the lack of interest in things that pertain to the world.

He screwed up and got fired. plain and simple. anyone that misses him waiting on them can go over to his house and sit on his couch and get the "service " they desire.

I am not a native, but those that ARE seem torn between apathy and minor upsetedness.

i have never heard this discussed in the field.and by that, i mean any restaurant i go into, know people who work for, or have eaten at.

the minor ones are the rich white old money upper class folks that have nothing real to care about, save how their stocks are performing, and when the next oil change on their caddy is.

people that live and work here could care less.

this town has 5000 waiters and the vast majority know more and can take better care of you than this over-inflated gentleman.

thanks.

[Varmint]

First of all, welcome Nonemoreblack. I don't think anyone here is trying to dismiss the gravity of the sexual harrassment charges brought against the waiter. What I find remarkable is that so many patrons of this particular restaurant don't give a damn about what this guy did. They just want him back, taking care of them, like he always did. I think your point and Malawry's on private clubs indicate a sense of entitlement in the patrons. They were entitled to have Eyzaguirre as their waiter, regardless of how nasty of a person he might have been to his coworkers.