I received this email from a person who identified himself as one of the owners of "Easy" and regarding the problem I blogged about. I removed his name and contact information to protect his privacy. As an FYI, I had not contacted the establishment, so I can only determine that the blog post was so widely read, it was passed to him.
Hello!
I am one of the owners at Easy, and I'm really disappointed to hear that you feel that you were not treated with respect at our new establishment.
With that all said, a couple of points (not in any particular order of importance):
1) All of the owners (4 in total), myself included, were present at the time of the incident. While I personally heard third-hand of what happened after close, had an owner actually been approached about the matter we most certainly would have sat down with you to resolve it amicably.
2) We do indeed have a number of black male staffers.
3) A large portion of my wife's family is African American, including my favorite niece who was at the opening party. Had I been first-party to any racist action by ANYONE, patron or staff, they would be fired and/or removed from the premises immediately.
4) Please understand that this was our opening party, and we were all extremely nervous and on edge, not knowing anything about our turnout or our ability to service our clientele.
The employee in question's behavior seems, on a gut level, to me to be a result of this nervousness about opening night, and not inherent racism. That said, I will keep a close watch on his, and any other staffers relations with those of all races.
Again, I'm sincerely sorry for the treatment and I hope that this note clears the issue up.
Feel free to contact me directly at Number witheld by Zennie to discuss this in further detail. Perhaps you can come over for a glass of wine on the house!
Sincerely,
Name witheld by Zennie
My reply:
Greetings,.
Thank you very much for this email, as I was completely disturbed by the employee's behavior. To stand innocently waiting to close out your bill, and then suddenly find a person yelling blindly at you for no reason is hard to forget. The only reason I assumed race was because his behavior was without logic, merit, or obvious reason. That seemed to be the only issue; I don't know the person and he seemed to think it was ok to treat me in a way that was unprofessional.
I may take you up on your offer at some point in the near future. In the interim, I will post your email -- after editing your name and number to protect your privacy.
Thank you.
Hello!
I am one of the owners at Easy, and I'm really disappointed to hear that you feel that you were not treated with respect at our new establishment.
With that all said, a couple of points (not in any particular order of importance):
1) All of the owners (4 in total), myself included, were present at the time of the incident. While I personally heard third-hand of what happened after close, had an owner actually been approached about the matter we most certainly would have sat down with you to resolve it amicably.
2) We do indeed have a number of black male staffers.
3) A large portion of my wife's family is African American, including my favorite niece who was at the opening party. Had I been first-party to any racist action by ANYONE, patron or staff, they would be fired and/or removed from the premises immediately.
4) Please understand that this was our opening party, and we were all extremely nervous and on edge, not knowing anything about our turnout or our ability to service our clientele.
The employee in question's behavior seems, on a gut level, to me to be a result of this nervousness about opening night, and not inherent racism. That said, I will keep a close watch on his, and any other staffers relations with those of all races.
Again, I'm sincerely sorry for the treatment and I hope that this note clears the issue up.
Feel free to contact me directly at Number witheld by Zennie to discuss this in further detail. Perhaps you can come over for a glass of wine on the house!
Sincerely,
Name witheld by Zennie
My reply:
Greetings,.
Thank you very much for this email, as I was completely disturbed by the employee's behavior. To stand innocently waiting to close out your bill, and then suddenly find a person yelling blindly at you for no reason is hard to forget. The only reason I assumed race was because his behavior was without logic, merit, or obvious reason. That seemed to be the only issue; I don't know the person and he seemed to think it was ok to treat me in a way that was unprofessional.
I may take you up on your offer at some point in the near future. In the interim, I will post your email -- after editing your name and number to protect your privacy.
Thank you.
Comments