Sinnae C.
Yelp
It is with some sadness I write this one-star review, but it's more of a public service announcement than anything. I've heard it suggested that when "Yelping in anger," to wait 24 hours after the incident so that you can chill out and think things through, and I have. Hear me out.
For the past few months, I've felt SUPER EXCITED AND GRATEFUL about having this awesome, affordable, well-hidden little bar located a block from my house. The rest of the neighborhood is a barren wasteland along 71, so this place is seriously like magic. The bartenders have always been professional, all shots of any liquor are the same price, and it's a great spot to come to with my friends without having to worry about who's driving home.
I picked my friend up after work and headed straight there. I'd only been out for an hour, and she was stone cold sober--first drink of the night. We were quietly seated at the bar talking about work stuff.
She asked our bartender if he could pre-run her debit card for a pack of Camel Blues because she thought it might be declined. She did this as a courtesy to him. She asked nicely and timidly. He ran it, it got declined, and then he asked for the cigarettes back. Hmm, what? He insisted he'd handed her her card back with a pack (but that doesn't make sense...why would he do that, if her card had just been declined?)...
He IMMEDIATELY launched into frustration and rage. She dumped out her entire bag and patted herself down in front of him, and he wouldn't admit that there was a chance he may have misremembered. He then ran my CC without permission for her cigs and walked away.
Now that he'd unwillingly involved me, I asked him if I could wait around til closing to watch the security tapes. If it was going to "fucking be like that," he didn't "have time for that shit," he grabbed a pack of American Spirit Yellows, and THREW them at us. Not even the right brand. Shows you how much attention he'd been paying.
He was red in the face, bits of spit flying out, and shouting at us, talking trash about us to other regulars at the bar, refusing to calm down. When he started to realize he was in the wrong, he changed tack and started berating her for not having enough money on her card, trying to make her feel embarrassed. Hey man, girl's got two banks. She works hard. Making fun of people for being poor is, like, the trashiest move ever.
To recap:
1. Bartender made a mistake
2. Bartender verbally abused customers
3. Bartender yelled and cursed til he was red in the face
4. Bartender ran a customer's credit card without permission
5. Bartender publicly tried to shame another customer whose card was declined
6. Bartender essentially refused to run security tape footage despite calling us thieves
Does this sound appropriate or professional to you?
At the risk of naming the wrong person, the name on our receipt was Dhamon Q. (he's on yelp!), my check was issued at 1:53 a.m. on 4/28/2013, the batch number was 04272013 and the check number is 234.
The lady bartender apologized on his behalf and offered free drinks next time we came in, but the situation with the dude is unsalvageable. As someone who worked in service for five years (and my friend currently works in fine dining/bar and deals with asswipes with GRACE & PATIENCE 10 hours a day), we UNDERSTAND feeling cranky at drunk people's shenanigans on a busy, exhausting weekend night. I UNDERSTAND wanting to punch your idiot customers in the face.
Should you release the entirety of that frustration on two polite and sober girls? Probably not.