At Vanessa’s Bistro in Berkeley, owner Vi Nguyen recently encountered a customer who stood in her kitchen doorway to yell at her after a server made a simple mistake.
“Not talk, yell,” Nguyen emphasized, sounding increasingly exasperated as she told the story. “This was the beginning of the reopening, and we had a line of takeout orders. Her husband stood at the doorway and was like, ‘She’s hungry! She needs her food right now!’”
…
“People who were already nice prior to the pandemic are super nice, and people who were a little bit difficult to deal with pre-pandemic are now completely just unbearable to even serve,” she said.
SF Bay Area restaurants are still struggling. Returning customers don’t see that. (sfgate.com)
OK, I will admit that the arseholes might be a bit bigger after being copped up for such a long time, but are we really surprised by this? If anything, the pandemic brought us the Rise of the Karens so Regular Dickheads returning to its familiar migratory patterns after a forced social hibernation should not be surprise. Just like a bear, they woke up hungry but rather than food, they crave being assholes and they try to gorge themselves whenever possible.
Here’s a thought. Facial recognition tech is pretty good now, and people are used to being recorded pretty much anywhere. Add that to the fact that businesses can reserve the right to not serve someone.
Say a small business sets up a FR system that pings when someone who was being a major jerk to the staff, shows up again. That way even if the same staff isn’t there, jerkwad still isn’t served; he’s told to leave, and if he doesn’t he gets trespassed. After say a month or a year (or never, if the original incident was bad enough) he’s allowed back in.
You could also have shared databases, with a “watch this guy” warning for those who acted jerky elsewhere.
Yeah, yeah, it’s 1984 and judging without a trial and all that. But at least it would be a use of technology for small businesses and against demonstrated asses, rather than the usual reverse…
“ businesses can reserve the right to not serve someone.”
Good luck with that, try it and see.
I work at an office supply store running the copy center and we had a guy in there earlier in the week who just started screaming “$30 for headphones! Who the hell can afford $30 for headphones!” and when nobody answered him he started walking around looking for someone else to yell that at. Unfortunately the print counter is big and plainly visible so I got to hear him repeat it again at me full volume. I just said “Do yo think that money goes in MY pocket?” and finished what I was doing. I think it shocked him somebody said anything back and he just grunted and then left. I have no fucks to give, they aren’t firing me unless I hit someone, and if they do, I don’t care. It felt good.
We do have a picture up of one guy who isn’t allowed in for being a jerk to everyone multiple times. That’s fun turning him away.
A smile and a kind word to a distraught service worker can really help them get though the day, and sometimes help you too. I have occasionally gotten everything from free stuff to employee discounts. Once it was a free lunch a week later when they recognized me again.