Jude Bacalso explains viral photo of allegedly having wait staff stand for two hours

Jude Bacalso has explained the viral photo which shows her allegedly berating a member of the wait staff of a restaurant in a Cebu Mall. In the photo, Bacalso was seated while the wait staff was standing.  

The Cebu-based personality and LGBTQ+ community member explained to GMA News Online on the phone that she actually asked the waiter if he wanted to sit down and relax. "He shook his head and remained standing," Bacalso said. "I didn't say 'stay there.' I also didn't demand."

Bacalso is under fire for allegedly berating a restaurant wait staff for calling her "sir."

But Bacalso acknowledged "It was an honest mistake on his [the wait staff's] part." 

"There was no malice. I knew there was no malice. So I took it as an opportunity to educate," she told GMA News Online. on Tuesday

It was while she was "giving gender sensitivity information to the waiter" that a netizen snapped a photo of the two.

Bacalso added, "It was a calm conversation between us," adding she was giving information "not in a loud and berating manner."

On Facebook Monday, Bacalso issued a statement, where she emphasized "that I did not demand that the waiter stand for the whole length of time."

"It was he who chose to stand in front of me as we waited for input from management, who I attempted to contact," she said.

According to Bacalso, she had already sat down with the restaurant's management to "quietly settle the matter." The waiter she had a disagreement with was not present.

In his stead was "a crew member and the store supervisor" who were at the scene last Sunday. "After each one of us aired our sides, I am happy to share that we have agreed to pursue together more inclusive practices in the restaurant," Bacalso said.

She also made sure to say sorry "to the rest of the staff who are disheartened by the way things have escalated, as well as to the customers present at that time."

"This is a huge chunk of humble pie that I must ingest, because I have erred," she added. "May we start here with, as the supervisor pointed out, an uphill path to reconciliation."

In her statement, Bacalso acknowledged "I could have done with a little measure of kindness, sadly quite absent in the ruckus this has all unnecessarily created when it was made public without our knowledge."

"I made a personal apology to the group present, and requested if I may do so for the concerned waiter. I am also making it very public with this post, as it has become quite public fodder," she said.

Bacalso's statement has already been shared more than 4.6K times and has attracted over 5K comments. It has generated 28K reactions as of writing.

Meanwhile, the Cebu restaurant, Ulli's Streets of Asia, has released a couple of statements following the "altercation." On Monday, Ulli's said they had spoken with their staff "educating our people and place their welfare of utmost priority."  

"Likewise, we express our apologies to our guests. Your concerns are well noted and will help us move forward towards a better customer experience," Ulli's said, adding "discrimination has no place in our restaurant."

In a follow-up statement, the restaurant said it "stands by our employee involved in the incident."

"We aim to provide a safe and respectful environment for both our guests and our people," Ullli's added, saying they are already "taking steps to better handle these situations moving forward."

— LA/CDC, GMA Integrated News