According to Associated Press, the customer is not always right. Not in South Philly, at any rate.
An English-only ordering policy has thrust one of Philadelphia’s best-known cheesesteak joints into the national immigration debate.
Geno’s — which together with its chief rival, Pat’s King of Steaks, forms the epicenter of an area described as “ground zero for cheesesteaks” — has posted signs telling customers, “This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘SPEAK ENGLISH.’ ”
Of course, it’s not as if native Philadelphians speak the King’s English either. A Philadelphian might order a cheesesteak by saying something such as, “Yo, gimme a cheesesteak wit, will youse?” To which the counterman might reply: “Youse want fries widdat?”
Aside from the blatant racism in this act, it seems Geno’s owner, Joseph Vento, 66, is oblivious to the idea that customers run the show. He’s probably never heard of Web 2.0 either. But there’s one thing I’m fairly confident he has heard of—good old American competition. Go Pat’s!