What Not To Say To A Newspaper Reporter
Patriot News reporter Daniel Victor wrote a story about the negative effects the weak economy is having on restaurant servers and bartenders tip monies.
The story ran on the front page, above the fold of this past Sunday’s Patriot News.
Within that story, a server and a bartender from the restaurant Spice in Downtown Harrisburg were interviewed and quoted.
John Burkholder was quoted as saying “You have to pretty much be the best server ever and make them feel like crap for leaving you anything less than you deserve.”
Monday morning, John was fired from his server gig at Spice.
Bartender Molly Turner remarked to Victor how the tightening of the belts of her customers has resulted in fewer trips to the beach this summer.
Molly got fired too.
Now obviously, there is going to be mega debate about this this event. As I’m typing this, there are one hundred twenty two comments on the article posted at PennLive.com
And obviously, I’m going to weigh in here.
1. Pennsylvania is an “at-will” employer state. Which basically means that if you have a job, your boss can fire you if he or she does not like the color of the tie you wear. And the only recourse one would have would be to file for unemployment compensation. (So don’t even waste your breath trying to argue that these two have any sort of case in court.)
2. If you speak to the press (especially print) you should expect to get misquoted or quoted out of context. While they were yammering on to the reporter looking forward to calling their parents to proudly tell them they were going to be in the paper, he was jotting down notes furiously in shorthand and listening for that piece of gold to add weight to the report. And maaan did he ever strike paydirt when Burkholder uttered the words “make them feel like crap” with regard to paying customers at an eating establishment!
3. When you’re quoted in the press with regard to your place of employment, you are speaking as a representative of that company- regardless of your position. Little Mary Swanson reading her Sunday paper over tea and biscuits does not care that John Burkholder is only a server at Spice. Little Mary Swanson read that servers at Spice intentionally make people “feel like crap” in order to guilt them into tipping more. Plain and simple.
4. I’m sorry, but trips to the beach, as Molly Turner lamented about taking fewer of, are not a customer at Spice (or any restaurant’s) concern. Sure, Molly Turner needs to pay her rent and car loan- and that’s why patrons should tip her what she deserves based on the quality of her service. If she wants to be able to afford more trips to the beach, she should find better paying employment.
5. I’m not going to boycott Spice. In fact, I’ve never even been there to begin with. But I may actually go now- if anything, to support the business owner who is likely dealing with a shitstorm at the office today.
6. Contrary to what the Patriot News headline read, the two servers were not, in fact, fired for talking to a reporter. (Don’t give yourselves too much credit, Newhouse). The server and bartender were fired for saying the wrong thing to the reporter. Had Burkholder not told a reporter from a major newspaper that he intentionally treats customers “like crap”, he would probably still have a job today- earning those limited tips.
7. And finally, Molly Turner most likely got fired because if Spice fired one, they had to fire the other. I don’t believe that what she said was really out of line. But then again, she didn’t tell a Patriot News reporter that she treats her customers “like crap”.
So, in conclusion, it was a fun debate- to say the least. But at the end of the day, the guys who own Spice have a business to run. And they simply will not tolerate some server who has no vested interest in the business telling a newspaper reporter that he treats his customers like crap and then having his quote wind up on the front page of the Sunday paper.
Wow. All of this debate is making me hungry. I think I’ll go eat at Spice.
Mike, you know as well as I do that Dan would never intentionally misquote a source or take a quote out of context to get a better story. He loves journalism and obviously takes the integrity of the field seriously. Having met him and hearing him talk about it, I would think that would be pretty obvious to you. Just like you would obviously disrespect a reporter for misrepresenting what a source has said to get the story, don’t make implications about someone’s integrity to spice up your blog.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Trust me, Kathleen – this post was most definitely NOT a jab at Dan Victor-
The piece that Dan wrote was perfectly fine and I don’t think that anything in there was disrespectful to the reporter or questioning of his integrity in any way to spice up my blog. (I think my blog has plenty of spice as it is- no pun intended)
I’m just saying that a quote in the print form- accurate or not- can me misread or misleading regardless of the accuracy of it.
The context that Burkholder said “treat the customer like crap” was likely different in person than it was in the print form.
If this piece was a jab at anyone, it’s the server and bartender for not realizing the implications what they say to a reporter may have on the business.
Kathleen,
Dan and every other reporter take quotes out of context all of the time. That’s journalism. Every reporter picks and chooses parts of quotes because, generally, most of what people have to say isn’t that interesting. It is by no means unethical and I don’t think that was Mike’s point. People need to remember that when they are being interviewed, EVERY phrase has to be capable of standing alone, because it may end up that way.
He didn’t say he “treated his customers like crap” (you wrote that twice)…he said he had to make them feel like crap for leaving a less-than-expected tip. Big difference.
If jabs are in order, management should take one squarely on the button for even allowing their staff to be interviewed.
They see the numbers and should have some idea that their staff may not be as prosperous in recent months.
More to the point, how could they trust the reporter or the responses from their staff to be anything but controversial? While the ‘firees’ were careless with their honesty, for a member of ownership or at the least management to not have an idea of what was happening in their establishment is more careless.
I most definitely enjoyed reading your debate on this topic.
And I don’t think you made implications about the reporter’s integrity. In fact, I don’t recall the reporter as a main character in your piece at all. Although I do have a very limited short-term memory.
My biggest point of contention here is that Spice *asked* those two employees to speak to the reporter, then punished them for doing so. If Spice didn’t want those employees to be media representatives, why did they refer the press to them? More importantly, if Spice wanted the employees to tow the corporate line, why didn’t they hand the employees talking points?
Regardless of whether or not Oprah spoke (and all her millions of sheep listened) stating that it’s OK to leave ten percent, and regardless of whether or not our economy is falling apart quickly, doesn’t everyone have the ability to ‘get up, get out, and get something’? If it’s that bad for them (which I’m sure it is because it’s bad for me also in the food service industry) perhaps something to supplement their income and/or inspire a career path is in order. Complaints are a very effective way of displaying a fear of change. Apparently, the two former Spice employees did not had enough bitch-time with their friends and co-workers.
To not know that you shouldn’t speak poorly of customers in general while your place of employment AND your name is going to be displayed in the newspaper, well, that’s just moronic.