A Stitch in Haste

Intriguing story:

Two diners on a date at a fancy Jersey Shore restaurant were furious when they saw the check — which listed their table as that of the "Jew Couple."
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As if that weren't bad enough, the 23-year-old shoe buyer told The [New York] Post, the offensive phrase then turned up on his credit-card statement two weeks later.

"My grandfather went through all that in old-school Europe," an angry Stein said yesterday. "But that happened more than 50 years ago. You don't expect it to happen in 2005, especially when a lot of their money comes from our community."
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Stein said he took the offensive bill and showed it to Jewish friends seated nearby who said they could not believe it.

When the group started questioning the manager, Stein said she simply told them there was nothing derogatory about the statement. Stein said he was then asked to leave for making a fuss.
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"We use it as a form of identity," she said. She would not elaborate on what the restaurant does when there is more than one couple assumed to be Jewish at the restaurant.

Obviously a very dumb waitress (who, according to the story, has "moved on"). But it got me to wondering: what if it had been a gay couple and the check had said "Gay couple"? "Homo couple"? "Fag couple"?

What about "Mixed couple"? "Fat couple"? "Handicapped guy"? "Burn victim"? "Mom with brats"? "Bush haters"?

I don't see a lawsuit here, except maybe over the fact that the term "Jew couple" appeared on the credit card statement. Perhaps another case of "Publicity Given to Private Life," similar to this fact pattern?

I'd guess not. I think the couple in question made the right move by engaging in "name and shame" rather than litigation.

So open thread: what would it take on a check to offend you enough to make a scene?

Other thoughts at The Rob Log.

POST SCRIPT: The restaurant in question was Parkhill's Waterfront Grill in Allenhurst.

UPDATE #1: Here are more stories, courtesy of The Rob Log.

UPDATE #2: New Jersey's Attorney General is investigating --

It stands to reason if the [restaurant] is labeling someone by religion, they are also labeling someone by race.

Huh? If I spit on the sidewalk, does it "stand to reason" that I also urinate in public? And I thought Eliot Spitzer was an activist attorney general...

UPDATE #3: Still more --

Longtime customer Joanne Fordyce said she was outraged when she noticed that her check from Parkhill's Waterfront Grill in Loch Arbour printed, just below her table number, "Dirty Joanne."
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She said she was so shocked, she held onto her July 15, 2004, receipt for a year.
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Fordyce yesterday filed a complaint with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.

I of course don't think that calling someone "dirty" on a bar tab is a civil rights violation, but I also wonder how long it will be before an "Under New Management" sign appears at the restaurant.