Now it’s the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission versus Hooters restaurants over the EEOC’s “recommendation” to hire waiters alongside their waitresses in short shorts.
Sounds like it’s time to recall that old adage, “Any virtue carried to extreme becomes a vice.” Equal-opportunity intercession has helped overcome job discrimination countless times, aiding, among others, women of every background, ethnicity notwithstanding. So it does more good than harm.
And the commission has long given the impression that it knew the better part of wisdom, to wit: It never made an issue over Chinese-only waitstaffs at Chinese restaurants. Nor Korean-only or Thai-only waitstaffs at Korean or Thai restaurants.
Nor did it order gay bars to hire female waitpersons, or vice versa among public places catering to lesbian clientele.
This Hooters dustup is enough to give pause to even the most doctrinaire equal-opportunity advocate. It’s a good thing that the Playboy Clubs of the ’50s are no longer operating. Can you imagine guys in those bunny costumes that the girls-only waitstaff wore? Lighten up, EEOC!
It’s a good thing the commission’s only talking “recommendation” to Hooters, not an outright order. So far, for Hooters, that has been a free publicity bonanza beyond its wildest dreams, with greater impact than any paid advertising campaign.
