The case of the racist blackcurrant drink

beejee · 02-01-2020 02:59PM

road_high wrote: »

What is the PC term now? I guess Coloured or Darky currants is even more “offensive”?

A "currant of colour", or coc for short.

"I'll have coc juice, please"

Canis Lupus · 02-01-2020 03:00PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Why do you think that?

Have you never had an order messed up in a pub or restaurant before?

You are missing the most plausible (by a considerable margin) explanation, i.e. it was not an extraordinary mistake, it was a run of the mill, mundane mistake, which would also likely have happened to at least another punter or 2 on that very day - they just didn't make twats of themselves in response to some imagined slight.

What i would have done is said "this is not what i ordered" and the situation would have been resolved inside a minute, no doubt whatsoever!

Well.... how often is ribena served in a wine glass to the correct wine pour line is what I'd ask.

I mean, I'm all a bit confused about the whole thing but that strikes me as quite a specific mistake, almost impossible for a bartender to do by mistake you might say.

TwoMonthsOff · 02-01-2020 03:03PM

katiek102010 wrote: »

She is now claiming AGS we wrong for attending the Red Cow last night and they caused it by so many being there.

She's a gowl

Black Gemma O'Doherty

jiltloop · 02-01-2020 03:14PM

1641 wrote: »

Of course mistakes happen. Orders get mixed up - I've been on the receiving end and the serving end of such.

But this one needs some explaining. The most plausible one that comes to mind is that two seperate orders came at the same time - one including a red wine and one including a blackcurrant cordial - and the server then mixed them up. But this demands that the orders happened to come at the same time and that the bartender served up the cordial in a wine glass to a wine glass measure.

The alternatives proferred seem to be around cordial being stored in a wine bottle "for display purposes", and this display bottle then being left in the serving area. Having worked behind the bar for a number of years I do find this extraordinary. But that is not all. It then requires a bartender (usually not the most inexperienced casual staff) to mistakenly serve out the cordial instead of wine. Again, hard to imagine. Mistakes are more likely to be a white wine for a red wine, etc.

So maybe something like one of the above happened. But I find it at least as plausible that it was not a mistake but rather a misguided attempt at a pisstake.

At the same time I am keeping an open mind. But the general consensus throughout this thread is that no open mind is required. In fact at one point I thought there was going to be a collective orgasm of delight at this woman's discomfort. And there may have been a few premature ejaculations!

There's a pretty simple and plausible explanation. She specified that she ordered a glass of house red, hotels and restaurants would quite often have their house wines in larger jugs or carafes. They sometimes also have cordial in carafes for visual purposes which could be easy to mix up during a busy serving time.

An interesting detail would be whether the cordial that was served in the wine glass was diluted or undiluted. If it's undiluted I think that makes sense and that it was simply the mistake above. If it was diluted then that would be a little bit strange.

gordongekko · 02-01-2020 03:17PM

I just had a look at her twitter feed. God my head hurts after it. She seems to find an issue in everything.

02-01-2020 03:22PM

AulWan wrote: »

Haven't read the whole thread but I just had to roll my eyes at this.
As an aside, I've been in the company of women who have ordered non-alcoholic drinks and asked for them to be poured in wine or highball glasses - usually because they are in the early stages of pregnancy and don't want anyone to know they're not drinking!

And it is possible that this is what happened. But it does require a lot of coincidence. Mostly cordial is not served like this in a wine glass. But, in this specific case the order from the early pregnant woman came at approximately the same time as the order for the black woman, and the orders got mixed up and the blackcurrant was served in the wine glass to the black woman. It is possible but very coincidental and, at least, questionable.

Something like the bartender giving the server the blackcurrant cordial instead of the wine as some kind of joke is just as plausible - and doesn't require all these coincidences. It doesn't require conscious malicious intent on the part of the bartender - just stupidity.

Paddy Cow · 02-01-2020 03:27PM

looksee wrote: »

An argument that would not be allowed to hold up under any other AH circumstances (display wine bottles of Ribena, cluttering up the counter on a busy evening, contravening all sorts of h&s rules) is accepted as fact, because we don't like this woman so she could not possibly be right about someone having a dig at her colour. Even though we are agreed that if anyone needs a dig made at her, its this person.

But is wasn't accepted as fact. I and others questioned what a display bottle was because I'd never heard of blackcurrant being put in display bottles but apparently it's a thing.

weldoninhio · 02-01-2020 03:30PM

katiek102010 wrote: »

She is now claiming AGS we wrong for attending the Red Cow last night and they caused it by so many being there.

She's a gowl

I hate when the Gardai show up at a peaceful event, and then you have to stab people.

02-01-2020 03:32PM

jiltloop wrote: »

There's a pretty simple and plausible explanation. She specified that she ordered a glass of house red, hotels and restaurants would quite often have their house wines in larger jugs or carafes. They sometimes also have cordial in carafes for visual purposes which could be easy to mix up during a busy serving time.

Do they ? I have never encountered this - certainly not in a hotel bar situation. Nearly any hotel, and certainly a 4-star one, will have a small selection of house wines - often 3 reds, 3 whites, and perhaps a rose and a prosecco. Pouring any of these into a carafe would firstly be very confusing for the bar staff. Which is the cabernet, which the merlot, etc? It would also be annoying for many customers. Some are happy to order the "house red" but many will specify a Cabernet (etc) and would not be happy to see it coming from a carafe. This would be very poor practice from a 4 star hotel.

That is not to say all customers would recognise the difference - but they want to see where it is coming from. The same way as they would not be happy to see their "small Paddy" coming from a generic carafe.

Kivaro · 02-01-2020 03:32PM

1641 wrote: »

And it is possible that this is what happened. But it does require a lot of coincidence. Mostly cordial is not served like this in a wine glass. But, in this specific case the order from the early pregnant woman came at approximately the same time as the order for the black woman, and the orders got mixed up and the blackcurrant was served in the wine glass to the black woman. It is possible but very coincidental and, at least, questionable.

Something like the bartender giving the server the blackcurrant cordial instead of the wine as some kind of joke is just as plausible - and doesn't require all these coincidences. It doesn't require conscious malicious intent on the part of the bartender - just stupidity.

Good God; you need to get a job or find something else to occupy your time.

This is not a Sherlock Holmes case; put away the magnifying glass.
The woman was served the wrong drink.
She apologised to the hotel and staff for her reaction to the simple mistake of getting the wrong drink.

Sober Crappy Chemis · 02-01-2020 03:34PM

Hope the hotel provided ketchup for her to dip that chip on her shoulder into...

Or maybe she would prefer ‘brown’ sauce ?

Earthhorse · 02-01-2020 03:34PM

Kivaro wrote: »

Good God; you need to get a job or find something else to occupy your time.

This is not a Sherlock Holmes case; put away the magnifying glass.
The woman was served the wrong drink.
She apologised to the hotel and staff for her reaction to the simple mistake of getting the wrong drink.

It's a discussion he's participating in. We all are. There's disagreement, that's all, no one is trying to be "Sherlock Holmes".

dvdman1 · 02-01-2020 03:36PM

Matter of time before they ask for the 1916 rising photos to be Photoshoped....as there too white for there liking.

02-01-2020 03:39PM

Earthhorse wrote: »

Honestly, it feels like you're being quite pedantic here.

The opposite really. I am pointing out that what you think is "contentious" is actually your use of language making implications in the mind of others that you probably do not even intent to make. Calling a rare event "bizarre" when it is nothing more than a rare event risks making people think you are implying more than you might intent to imply. Especially on a thread where people are in some corners falling over to imply things.

Earthhorse wrote: »

You yourself describe the situation as weird but then take issue with my describing it as bizarre.

Not quite. I was starting from _your_ position with that language - then I worked it back. I used "weird" for the same reason you use the word "bizarre" with the intention of then walking back why it is the wrong word to use. I myself as I explained do not see it as weird or bizarre at all. Mistakes being made are normal. Mistakes in busy catering environment especially so. It is an industry rife with minor errors.

Earthhorse wrote: »

You were right the first time though; it is weird. It is unusual. It is strange. It is bizarre.

It really is not though. Mistakes happen all the time. Very much so in restaurants and hotels. It is very normal. Howrver the mistakes are _varied_. So while mistakes happen all the time - if you single out one single mistake out of the entire set then you are going to manufacture rarity and strangeness and oddity that is not actually there.

That is a human error to make though. Singling out events in isolation and then being struck by how weird and bizarre it _seems_ to us. It is the kind of thinking that makes people think - for example - they are psychic. When they think of an old friend they have not seen in 20 years and then suddenly that friend makes contact.

They think it is weird and bizarre too. It is neither.

Earthhorse wrote: »

The odds of an individual line or ticket might be one in ten million but the odds of someone winning are contingent

Exactly! Perfect. Now build on that. 1000s of people every day go to hotels and restaurants. 1000s every day make requests and orders. 1000s of staff execute those orders either directly - or by passing the request on through 1 or more other people. So the odds of an error being made is not small at all. They happen all the time. There is nothing weird or bizarre about it. Any one single error or error type however might be individually rare - but that makes it neither weird or bizarre.

Earthhorse wrote: »

If this is an "easy" mistake to make, given the number of pubs, hotels and restaurants in Ireland the rate at which we frequent them I would have expected to hear of such an incident prior to this.

And that expectation appears to be what is not warranted. Most people would forget such a minor and irrelevant incident as soon as it happens. Why would they even care - without an agenda like the woman in the OP has - to even mention it to anyone even if they did remember it? My experience getting potatoes for example - I had entirely and completely forgotten about it until this thread reminded me. I never had cause before - nor will I again I suspect - to mention it to anyone. Nor did I care to tell anyone on the occasions where I ordered one drink and got another by mistake. It happens.

Maybe the reason you do not hear about these incidents is not that they are not happening - but that no one for the most part gives a toss. Maybe the people permanently in a state of looking to be offended - so they can tell everyone about it - are a rare enough and recent new breed of idiot. One can just hope Natural Selection does it's thing on them and breeds them out.

Bobblehats · 02-01-2020 03:40PM

Earthhorse wrote: »

It's a discussion he's participating in. We all are. There's disagreement, that's all, no one is trying to be "Sherlock Holmes".

There might be a case there though. And a potential client..

kildare lad · 02-01-2020 03:47PM

dvdman1 wrote: »

Matter of time before they ask for the 1916 rising photos to be Photoshoped....as there too white for there liking.

Check out this student uni president threatening to paint over a ww1 mural because there was too many white men in it

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/southampton-student-union-university-world-war-one-mural-remembrance-emily-dawes-a8601276.html

tabby aspreme · 02-01-2020 03:48PM

road_high wrote: »

What is the PC term now? I guess Coloured or Darky currants is even more “offensive”?

Definitely do not, use the Scientific Latin name, for them.

kildare lad · 02-01-2020 03:55PM

katiek102010 wrote: »

She is now claiming AGS we wrong for attending the Red Cow last night and they caused it by so many being there.

She's a gowl

They were running amok outside dicey Reilly's aswell on new years Eve. The kids of black immigrants seems to do that all over Europe , Sweden, France, England but it's never their fault, it's society's fault , police or racism that cause them to act up.

NIMAN · 02-01-2020 03:55PM

kildare lad wrote: »

They were running amok outside dicey Reilly's aswell on new years Eve. The kids of black immigrants seems to do that all over Europe , Sweden, France, England but it's never their fault, it's society's fault , police or racism that cause them to act up.

Careful now.

TwoMonthsOff · 02-01-2020 03:58PM

jiltloop · 02-01-2020 03:59PM

1641 wrote: »

Do they ? I have never encountered this - certainly not in a hotel bar situation. Nearly any hotel, and certainly a 4-star one, will have a small selection of house wines - often 3 reds, 3 whites, and perhaps a rose and a prosecco. Pouring any of these into a carafe would firstly be very confusing for the bar staff. Which is the cabernet, which the merlot, etc? It would also be annoying for many customers. Some are happy to order the "house red" but many will specify a Cabernet (etc) and would not be happy to see it coming from a carafe. This would be very poor practice from a 4 star hotel.

That is not to say all customers would recognise the difference - but they want to see where it is coming from. The same way as they would not be happy to see their "small Paddy" coming from a generic carafe.

Yes, they do. I've seen places where the house wine actually comes from a tap (connected to a barrel) or even from a wine box. Obviously it looks better if it's served from a carafe or wine jug. I'm not saying it's a commendable practice (it's more common on the continent) but it certainly happens.

I don't think people who are ordering a house wine are as discerning as you may think. That's not a slight at all, I'll happily order a house wine sometimes myself, I'm just saying that I think you are overstating the concerns of people ordering a house wine.

Sober Crappy Chemis · 02-01-2020 03:59PM

kildare lad wrote: »

They were running amok outside dicey Reilly's aswell on new years Eve.

A few too many pints of blackcurrant no doubt...

TwoMonthsOff · 02-01-2020 04:00PM

kildare lad wrote: »

They were running amok outside dicey Reilly's aswell on new years Eve. The kids of black immigrants seems to do that all over Europe , Sweden, France, England but it's never their fault, it's society's fault , police or racism that cause them to act up.

Strasbourg, Paris and Brussels. 1000s of burned out cars its being called tradition now on NYE.

Ush1 · 02-01-2020 04:12PM

An Afro event?

nullzero · 02-01-2020 04:13PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

i still cant believe that this thread isnt about the kia-ora ads from the 1980s

now *that* was some racist ****

I see your Kia Ora and raise you Um Bongo (the drink it in the Congo).

tayto lover · 02-01-2020 04:22PM

Nobody dragged her into Ireland.
If she finds so much wrong with it she can leave.
Nobody will keep her here against her will.

She comes across as a right pain in the hole.

sbsquarepants · 02-01-2020 04:24PM

1641 wrote: »

Perhaps you are being just a teeny bit disingenuous there. If , say, you were in an English hotel and ordered lasange but were instead served spuds and buttermilk - would you be as quick to attribute it to a mistake?

To be honest, if it was a racist dig it would have been lost on me, thick paddy that i am. Again "this is not what i ordered" would be my go to retort. It's always served me well in the past, i expect it to continue doing so in future.

But then i don't pass my time by looking around for things to be outraged by!

02-01-2020 04:25PM

jiltloop wrote: »

Yes, they do. I've seen places where the house wine actually comes from a tap (connected to a barrel) or even from a wine box. Obviously it looks better if it's served from a carafe or wine jug. I'm not saying it's a commendable practice (it's more common on the continent) but it certainly happens.

I don't think people who are ordering a house wine are as discerning as you may think. That's not a slight at all, I'll happily order a house wine sometimes myself, I'm just saying that I think you are overstating the concerns of people ordering a house wine.

I have encountered it in a few places in Ireland myself - and the house wine was pretty tasty too. But these were smaller cafe-restaurant type places. I have never encountered it in a 4-star hotel. If the hotel concerned in this particular instance stores and serves its wine from carafes I will happily buy and eat a hat of your choice and stream it online!

AulWan · 02-01-2020 04:25PM

For the record, in my fifty plus years of life so far, I have never, ever, in all that time, heard of the word blackcurrant being used as a racial slur - against children, or otherwise.

That's a totally new one on me, if that is the case.

Mad_maxx · 02-01-2020 04:27PM

if the PC left have their way in terms of the new " hate crime " legislation , incidence like this would fall under hate crime as the proposed changes effectively mean if racism is perceived , it happened

The case of the racist blackcurrant drink

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