The Fast-Food Diaries...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

HARLINGEN, Texas - They say it with great verve, as if no one could ever dispute its veracity. There are, goes the line, 10 rubes for every smart person in this town. Being easily swayed is the burden residents carry as if a 5-ton anvil around their necks. Rarely, and perhaps with only Babylon as the exception, has a town walked the edges of the cliff.

Now comes the latest blowback.

Yesterday was a good day for local business. The director of the city's Economic Development Corporation stood up and announced the arrival of a fast-food joint as if announcing the dawning of a brave new world. Panda Express, the poor man said breathlessly, is coming to Harlingen. Put down that plate of tacos, boys; it's Chinese grub from here till Christmas.

Panda Express is a business run out of a little hellhole in California known as Rosemead. It is a town known for nothing. But the company owns more than 1,300 eateries across the land, offering a cheap version of Americanized Chinese food. It is "gourmet" only if you have no damned idea what gourmet is. Throw that word out in Paris or New York, but not here, not here where the struggle to find the word "paradise" in the dictionary is one of those never-did-get-there things, like Russians dreaming of landing on the moon and Mexico resolving its bloody and shameful drug war.

Panda Express has bought a building here, and the plan is to offer this town of some 70,000 culinary eclectic folks something else to munch on for $5.99, like greasy orange chicken or somesuch supposed mandarin dish.

It is, to be truthful, in the same league as Long John Silver's and Wendy's and Jack-In-The-Box, food to fill, but never for the discerning palate. That's a fact, Jack. And we don't mean Jackie Chan.

Here's this from a lawsuit filed in California against Panda Express.

"For months [the manager] treated me like a worthless employee," Aremy Lomely, a former Panda Express employee, told the Oakland Tribune. "I felt so ashamed when the Asian workers watched me obediently run from the bathroom to the tables to the counters, cleaning when they did not have to."

As reported by the Associated Press, the young lady "is part of a federal court filing against a San Jose Panda Express restaurant that allegedly forced Latino employees to clean toilets and perform other menial tasks while Asian employees of equal ranking stood by and watched. According to the suit, the manager of the restaurant also punished Latino employees more often and more harshly, frequently cutting Latino employee hours and awarding them to Asian employees instead. The allegations occurred from 2008 to 2009, and the restaurant has since hired new management."

What Panda Express is accused of doing is violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination based on ethnicity.

The suit was announced by the U.S. Equal Employment Commission on Wednesday. It seeks monetary damages for the affected employees and will force the company to enact strict anti-discrimination training.

As happens with these lawsuits, a Panda Express spokesman said the company will not discuss pending litigation.

For Harlingen, it is something to wonder about. Abuse of local employees may not sit well with the large Hispanic population and a few select city leaders. Will Harlingen monitor Panda Express and its personnel practices, or will it go down the same path it's sought in its questionable dealings with the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings semi-pro baseball team?

It's not a reach to say that local Hispanics will not take any crap from out-of-town Chinese-Americans. In fact, we believe Panda Express woud be wise to keep its abusive supervisors closer to the West Coast...

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