It's not unheard of for retailers, restaurants and the like to have some unspoken discrimination when it comes to hiring employees. But if you're going to be picky, it's probably best if you don't flaunt it on Craigslist: a Bay Ridge pub's in trouble with the city's Commission on Human Rights after posting a wanted ad on the site that noted a preference towards Brits.
The bar, called the Longbow Pub and Pantry, is a decidedly Brit-leaning spot run by a Welsh native and his Brooklyn-born wife. They serve fish and chips, steak-and-ale pie, bangers and mash and an assortment of British brews like Old Speckled Hen and Strongbow cider, and many of the customers are British themselves. And if you're going to spend a lot of time working with and serving the Brits, you better know the lingo: if there's anything we learned from a teenhood spent reading Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, it's very embarrassing when you don't know what a "boot" is across the pond. So, naturally, when the bar owners Michael and Jennifer Colbert put out a Craigslist ad looking for a new bartender, they stressed that, "Being British definitely works in your favor. But according to the ad, they're open-minded, adding "[H]aving lived in the U.K.—also a plus."
Alas, the city's Commission on Human Rights caught wind of the ad, and they fined the Colberts $2,500 for violating a law in the city's code saying employers can't discriminate against workers based on nationality. The Colberts, on the other hand, say they're not being discriminatory—they happen to have a worker from Long Island, after all, though that worker apparently has a hospitality degree from London—but non-Brits just don't seem to get Brits, it seems, and an American bartender they once hired didn't mesh with the customers. "She didn’t understand when they were making jokes. There’s a certain cadence to the sarcasm that just flew over her shoulders," Michael Colbert told the Times. Which makes a lot of sense if you've ever watched Piers Morgan, or tried to understand the original version of The Office.
We tried to contact the bar today, but the managers won't be in until later tonight. Meanwhile, the Colberts say they're going to fight the city, and they'll have a "conciliation meeting" next month. They could owe as much as $7,500 if they refuse to settle, but on the bright side, that's only about 4,800 pounds.
