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.