Many waiters give inferior service to African-American customers, according to a new survey.
The study, published in the Journal of Black Studies, found that 40 percent of waiters admit they discriminate against black customers because of a perception they don't tip as much as white patrons, according to the Daily Mail.
"Many people believe that race is no longer a significant issue in the United States,’ Sarah Rusche, co-author of a paper describing the study, told the Mail. "But the fact that a third of servers admit to varying their quality of service based on customers' race, often giving African-Americans inferior service, shows that race continues to be an issue in our society."
The survey is based on interviews with 200 waiters at various large chain restaurants in North Carolina and, as the Examiner notes, 87 percent of those surveyed were white.
The survey found that blacks were typically described as “picky,” “demanding,” and “rude,” the Examiner reported.
According to the article's authors, the research shows a "continuing significance of race in contemporary society." The authors also encouraged "further research on this relatively neglected area of inquiry."