A&W Franchisees - Active Bystander Training Scenarios

Scenario 1: Your franchisee has provided team members with a special "orange shirt" pin, in support of Orange Shirt Day (the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation). A guest comes up to the counter, looks around, and asks you why everyone is wearing orange pins. “I’m not racist or anything but I think this is just some political agenda.”

Scenario 2: You overhear a guest approach your East Asian team member as they’re cleaning up a table and say out loud “Ni hao.” At your coworker’s look of confusion, the guest rolls their eyes and says “Oh, you’re a different kind of Chinese, aren’t you?” They speak in gibberish, on the assumption that it sounds like a dialect that your coworker speaks.

Scenario 3: As your coworker is helping a guest when you overhear the guest making comments about your coworker’s physical appearance and attempt to make advances. The guest asks personal questions, tries to ask when your coworker will finish their shift and if they can text them later. You sense some awkwardness, and that your coworker might be struggling to handle the situation.

Scenario 4: A new team member has just joined your team, and is meeting you and your coworkers for the first time. When they approach one of your coworkers to shake hands and introduce themselves, you overhear your coworker chuckle and say, “That’s a weird name. I’ll call you ____ for short.”

Scenario 5: You approach a supervisor for help with a problem you are having with a female coworker. Your supervisor responds, “Don’t worry about it. She probably just gets upset when it’s her time of month.”

Scenario 6: Melissa, your new manager, approaches a guest who has asked to speak to the manager. As she reaches the guest waiting at the counter, the guest looks at her and says, "Oh, can I speak to the real manager?" (Consider how the manager might respond, OR how a team member who overhears this comment might respond)