Roger G.
Yelp
Terrible experience as a Sports Bar. Bartender racially profiled me and has serious anger management issues. Manager is too intimidated by the bartender to take action.
I have been to this bar one other time before to watch a football game and had a great experience. However, I wasn't cheering for any specific team that day, so I think this may have been why the experience worked in my favor. I cheered for both teams when doing good plays, I enjoyed the ambiance and watching people cheer for their favorite teams and thought: "This seems like a good place to watch my Cowboys vs Lions Special MNF game. The Cowboys happened to be my girlfriend's favorite team so I had decided I was going to root for this team to win.
For some unbiased context-- every time the Cowboys scored and stopped the Lions, I would applaud and cheer like a diehard Cowboys fan. I wasn't being obnoxious. I was showing excitement and using it as a way to connect with other cowboys fans at the bar. I wanted to feel a connection with my girlfriend watching this same game in Florida (She's a true die hard Cowboys fan).
But, everything went bad after I spoke in Spanish to the barback. I could see the other bartender seemed to be annoyed by it.
I am a Latino male but I look pretty ethno-neutral. In my gut, I felt like the bartender was already annoyed that I wasn't rooting for the same team as his and then even more annoyed that I was speaking in Spanish.
When I ordered my second beer, he stared at me for 3 seconds in a very aggressive sort of way. At that moment, I honestly felt very profiled. Almost like he was saying "You have no place here, rooting for "americas team" in my bar" but that's not what he said. He said worse, but later.
In the middle of the 3rd Quarter when I decided to order my 3rd beer, I looked at the bartender who was at the other end of the bar and pointed at my empty cup. I was avoiding talking to him at this moment, so I just indicated with my Index finger, " One more". The bartender dead-stared at me for 5 seconds when finally said to me and the rest of the people at the bar "Please and thank you go a long way, I always teach my kids that" and gave me what was to be my last beer of that night.
First of all-- I'm not a kid. I'm 35 years old. I felt out of place, awkward, but I sucked it up and reached out to him privately and said "Sir, I'm sorry if you feel disrespected". THEN, he responded in a condescending tone "That's okay, you've been doing it all night. Hope your Cowboys win (rolling his eyes)."
I sat there.....embarrassed-- I was publicly humiliated.
I thought about leaving, but felt like by doing so, I would be doing my other Latinos an injustice. This was unacceptable.
So, I asked a different staff member for the manager and it so happened that the person responded "You're talking to him." I told him that I needed to speak with him after the game was over and he nodded and said "okay".
At this point, the Cowboy's Brandin Cooks scores a 2nd Touchdown of the game and lead was 17-13 with 7 Minutes left on the 4th quarter so I cheered (perhaps a little loudly) "GO COWBOYS" and stared at the Bartender on the other side of the bar, he then came from the other side and loudly cursed at me saying "[expletive] you! What are you looking at me for?!". The manager walked over and told me to "Exit the building" so I asked if I could first explain what had happened, because he hadn't witnessed any of it. He didn't seem interested in finding out why the bartender had treated me that way, so I paid my bill and left without knowing if the Cowboys had won or not.
After watching the recap at home, I realized the final 2 minutes were the most thrilling moments of the game. This wouldn't have been a terrible experience for me if the manager had approached me and explained to me what I did wrong or tried to stay neutral in the conflict. But he didn't.
It is a completely unprofessional establishment where minorities are profiled and the sports bar atmosphere is only provided for fans cheering for the same sports teams as the bartender.
If you're not a local, if you're a minority, or even if you are just rooting for the opposite team of the bartender's favorite team at Crossroads, then I suggest walking around the corner to Backyard Grill or driving to Hooters. Happy New Year! By the way the Cowboys beat the Lions, how bout 'em Cowboys!