The Washington Post - 18.09.2019

B2 EZ SU K THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019

Amazon vendor a nd now wants t o

become “a receptionist, or maybe

something i n the I T field.”

Robert Williams, 30, came f rom

New York specifically for the

event.

“I’m in finance now, and I like

Amazon as a growth company,” h e

said. “I think it would be a cool

opportunity.”

[email protected]

“A lcohol sales. Because they

don’t have an alcohol sales plan.

They’ve tried and failed three

times, and I think I have the solu-

tion,” Clinard said. “It’s the only

section of the direct consumer

market t hey’re missing.”

Jaida Hodge, 24, said she was

“looking for a complete career

change.” The Capitol Heights,

Md., resident had worked for an

afternoon, and as the sun came

out, Amazon contractors handed

out bottles of water. By 6 p.m.,

Amazon officials said, about 4,000

potential job-seekers had entered

the tent. Others were still waiting.

Mark Clinard, a manager at a

wine importer who arrived in the

morning, said he believed he had

strategies and know-how that

Amazon n eeds.

I belong.”

“Tell me where you n eed me,” h e

said. “I like cybersecurity o r physi-

cal security.”

Elsewhere, a woman wheeled a

baby carrier through the crowd,

her child adorned in an Amazon

onesie. Others lined up for résumé

reviews and i nterview tips.

The line continued to wind

down the block throughout the

and has been criticized for poor

working conditions in warehous-

es, harsh productivity quotas and

an overreliance on contract work-

ers.

But those who turned out Tues-

day weren’t focused on the nega-

tive.

Rane Om, 33, of Stafford, Va.,

who is between jobs, said he

would work “wherever they think

ga, 68, a Los Angeles-area resident
who was visiting his son’s family
in the Washington region and
wants to be able to spend more
time with them.
Amazon “may make me a mail
clerk, but I don’t care,” Estorga
said. “If I can get a job, I will move
out here.”
To t he disappointment of some,
Amazon wasn’t o ffering jobs Tues-
day or officially taking résumés.
Rather, t he event was a chance for
potential applicants to talk to re-
cruiters, get tips on how to ad-
vance, and learn about jobs and
businesses w ithin the c ompany.
“I had high expectations,”
Morteza Loghmani, 52, said as he
left the event about 11 a.m. “It was
encouraging, but it looks like it’s
more selling of Amazon — it
seemed like they mostly w ere pro-
moting their brand.”
Inside the tent housing the
event, scores of employees wear-
ing blue-branded T-shirts talked
to small clusters of hopefuls, ex-
plaining the culture and the atti-
tude that is rewarded within the
company.
Baskets of fruit and bottled wa-
ter were available outside and in-
side. People wandered among
booths labeled “military recruit-
ing,” “Alexa services,” “training
and certifications,” “warehouse-
drivers-shopping” a nd more.
“Your supervisor may ask what
was your bias toward action,” sen-
ior recruiter Justin Joseph told a
half-dozen anxious job-seekers.
“We look for focus on customers.

... You may have applied online
and that’s great, but I’m taking
hard copies as well because we’re
going to go t hrough them a ll.”
Six hands thrust forward with
neatly printed r ésumés.
“I want a part-time job, because
I’m a mom with a special-needs
kid who’s going to kindergarten
this year and I’d like to find a place
where I can feel good about myself
for five hours a day,” Liana Pid-
lusky, 42, of Alexandria, Va., told a
reporter. She worked in finance
before becoming a mother and
hopes to return t o the field.
The company is facing height-
ened s crutiny over antitrust issues

AMAZON FROM B1

does not monitor DC09 because it

is not a certified local business.

She did not say how DC09’s per-

formance of the contract work

satisfies the local business partic-

ipation law.

“We wholeheartedly share

your desire that District business-

es benefit from its CBE laws,”

Whitfield wrote. She said her

department “will continue to dili-

gently safeguard the CBE law.”

Meanwhile, a lawyer repre-

senting Dylan Carragher, the

founder of a sports betting tech-

nology business, said Tuesday

that he filed a lawsuit in D.C.

Superior Court contesting the In-

tralot contract because it was

awarded without competitive

bidding. Citing The Post’s report,

the lawsuit said that the no-bid

contract was “detrimental to the

intent behind” the city’s local

business participation law.

[email protected]

Fenit Nirappil contributed to his

report.

footnote saying a portion of the

payments from Intralot included

credit toward reducing its obliga-

tions on a loan. The footnote did

not mention that the loan was

provided by Intralot.

Asked last month about the

footnote, a spokesman for Whit-

field told The Post that the de-

partment did not understand it.

“Its purpose is not clear, and

DSLBD is not in a position to

speculate as to its meaning,”

James Partlow said in an email,

referring to the D.C. Department

of Small and Local Business De-

velopment.

The verification form also in-

cluded a footnote saying the value

of Veterans Services’s subcontract

was 51 percent of the contract “by

virtue of” the company’s joint

ownership with Intralot of DC09,

which is performing the contract

work. The footnote does not men-

tion that DC09 is controlled by

and is a subsidiary of Intralot.

Whitfield, in her response to

Silverman, said her department

vided for the Entire Subcontract

using its own organization and

resources.”

It i s common for contractors to

skirt subcontracting laws by cre-

ating arrangements under which

subcontractors must buy goods

or services from them. That way,

payments pass through the sub-

contractor and go back to the

prime contractor. Some jurisdic-

tions have systems to ensure this

doesn’t happen, but the District

doesn’t appear to be one of them.

On a vendor verification form

from Veterans Services obtained

by The Post, the firm included a

“A ccording to the representa-

tions of VSC and Intralot via

vendor verification forms and

quarterly reports, Intralot is

meeting the goals of the CBE

[certified business enterprise]

law, and all CBEs associated with

this contract are currently in

good standing,” Whitfield wrote.

The verification forms, which

subcontractors must submit ev-

ery three months, are intended to

confirm they’ve been paid by

prime contractors. Subcontrac-

tors affirm they have received

payment and “provided 100% of

all services and/or products pro-

whether it’s a real company, or

there are employees, or whether

local businesses and District resi-

dents actually benefit,” S ilverman

said. “Our residents are growing

more cynical about how our gov-

ernment operates, and this is a

perfect example that their cyni-

cism is valid.”

Whitfield did not respond to an

email seeking comment.

Council member Robert C.

White Jr. (D-At Large), who was

initially opposed to the contract

but then provided a key vote in

favor, said Tuesday that he also

still wants answers.

“I’m trying to figure out what’s

going on,” White said of the sub-

contract to Veterans Services.

“I’m trying to figure out is this a

shell company, or is this legiti-

mate?”

In her response to Silverman,

Whitfield said Intralot and Veter-

ans Services Corp. appeared to be

in compliance with the law based

on paperwork filed periodically

with the city.

touted executives who didn’t
work there. The small firm’s chief
executive is an employee of In-
tralot’s subsidiary, DC09, and
lives in Maryland.
Silverman has also asked At-
torney General Karl A. Racine
whether the contract can be nulli-
fied.
Council member Mary M. Cheh
(D-Ward 3) also reached out to
Racine after The Post’s report,
asking by email whether Intralot
and Veterans Services “have en-
gaged in fraudulent activity.”
A spokeswoman for Racine
said Tuesday that the office was
“looking into the matter.”
Silverman, who voted against
the no-bid contract to Intralot,
called Whitfield’s response this
week “absurd.”
“I read the response to say
they’re in compliance if on paper
it shows that at l east 35 percent of
the money is going to this compa-
ny, and we really aren’t c oncerned

CONTRACT FROM B1

Amazon courts region’s workers with career fair attended by thousands

Controversial lottery, gaming contract fulfills requirement, D.C. o∞cial says

JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST

A line of job-seekers snakes down the block and around the corner as thousands gathered Tuesday for Amazon Career Day in Arlington. Billed as the nation’s largest job fair,

the day featured events in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville and Seattle, in addition to Arlington’s Crystal City, where the retail giant decided to locate a new headquarters.

“I’m trying to figure out what’s going on.

I’m trying to figure out is this a shell company,

or is this legitimate?”

D.C. Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large)

BY EMILY HEIL

Choptank, a seafood restau-
rant that opened this week in the
Fells Point neighborhood of Balti-
more, posted a dress code on the
gate outside its doors warning
would-be diners of the kinds of
sartorial statements not allowed
in the establishment.
Among the banned items: bag-
gy clothing (“pants must be worn
at the waist”), backward or side-
ways hats and work and con-
struction boots.
A picture of the sign, posted to
Twitter, drew criticism for seem-
ingly targeting minorities. “ ‘No
POC’ is much more succinct,”
commented one user. “I dunno,
prohibiting outside food and bev-
erage seems reasonable. The rest
is racist though,” tweeted an-
other.
The outrage really took off

when R. Eric Thomas, a popular

Baltimore-based writer, posted

that Choptank had blocked him

on Twitter after he asked the

restaurant to “explain the ratio-

nale behind the restrictions.” (It

later unblocked him, he tweeted,

though he wrote he wished the

restaurant instead “would revisit

the intentions and effects of the

specificity of their dress code.”)

Choptank, whose marketing

director did not respond to The

Washington Post’s c alls or emails,

responded on Twitter to the ini-

tial post, claiming the policy was

standard operating procedure in

the neighborhood. “Being new to

the Fells Point neighborhood, we

simply implemented the dress

code standard that is used by

several other properties in the

area including Barcocina, Bond

Street Social Moby’s and The

Horse You Came In On. Have a

great day.”

That’s at least partly wrong.

Jassera Contreras, a host at Bar-

cocina, said the restaurant has no

such policy. “We don’t really have

a dress code,” she said. “We’re

casual fine dining but basically a s

long as you don’t come in in your

pajamas, you’re okay. We’ve never

kicked anyone out or anything.”

At Bond Street, there is no

dress code on weekdays, a wom-

an answering the phones said,

but after 10 p.m. on Friday and

Saturday n ights, it bans hats of all

kinds, boots, hoodies, baggy or

ripped jeans, military attire, ath-

letic footwear and tank tops on

men.

Dress codes are fraught terri-

tory. Reuben A. Buford May, a

sociology professor at Texas A&M

who has studied discrimination

in nightlife and public accommo-

dations, says they are not bad in

and of themselves. Upscale e stab-

lishments, particularly night-

clubs, might want to “set a stan-

dard,” he says. But when the

language targets very specific

styles, he adds, it indicates the

restaurant might be singling out

groups it finds undesirable. On

Choptank’s sign, he noted the

“shorts below the knee” could be

shorthand for hip-hop inspired

styles.

“A nytime you have something

that specific, it’s pretty likely it’s

being used in a discriminating

way,” May says. “It means that a

particular group is being penal-

ized for that being their style.”

On the other hand, he notes,

dress codes can also result in

discrimination where they are

vague. Choptank’s ban on “offen-

sive” a nd “inappropriate” attire is

broad and undefined. But the

part of Choptank’s rules that

most stood out to him was the

final caveat: “Management may

enforce these rules within its

discretion,” it reads. “That last

line was the one that killed me —

it says, ‘We can pick and choose

who comes in,’ and that’s where

you could have total disrespect

for the Civil Rights Act,” May

says.

Other restaurants owned by

Atlas Restaurant Group, which

operates Choptank and 11 other

establishments across the city,

have dress codes. The policy at

the Bygone, a swanky 1920s-style

restaurant in the Four Seasons

hotel overlooking the city’s har-

bor, forbids non-collared shirts

and flip-flops. It states that it will

be “strictly enforced,” language

May says is less problematic be-

cause it indicates the rules apply

equally to everyone.

Atlas is owned by brothers

Alex and Eric Smith, whose fa-

ther, Frederick Smith, is a co-

owner and director of the conser-

vative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast

Group, which operates TV sta-

tions around the country.

Suzanne Loudermilk, a Balti-

more native and longtime food

writer, said it is uncommon for

any restaurant to have a dress

code in Fells Point, a neighbor-

hood she describes as having a

casual vibe where shorts and

T-shirts are the norm. The streets

are paved in stones, she notes,

making walking in heels difficult.

“I’ve seen people try it, and it’s

not pretty,” she said.

She wondered why Choptank,

which bills itself as a “fish and

crab house,” expects patrons to

dress up at all. “When people eat

crabs, it’s messy,” she said. “You

have to dress casually.”

[email protected]

MARYLAND

Baltimore crab house is targeting minorities with its dress code, critics say

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