H F.
Yelp
I recently went out to Madams after two drinks with friends and had the most horrible customer service experience I have ever witnessed, and have worked in a variety of customer service roles myself. I and my group of friends had been loyal customers and came to the bar, waiting patiently in line, showing our IDs, and paying the cash cover fees. Once cleared, we proceeded upstairs normally to join the dancing. I then calmly informed my group I needed to use the women's room and proceeded to the hallway, where I waited and made casual conversation with another female patron while we both waited several minutes for the bathroom to open up. Once it became my turn, I did my business and then left the bathroom in clean, unmarred condition and was in there for under two minutes. At no point were any of us encountered by a staff member other than the initial door ID check and cover payment.
When I emerged from the restroom, a male staff member immediately jumped in my face saying I needed to leave. I asked why and he kept belligerently repeating that I needed to go outside. I continued asking and he continued deflecting. My friend clocked the encounter and came over, asking him the same questions about what was wrong and why I was being asked to leave without purpose. He continued to deflect to us that we needed to speak to his manager outside and that I was apparently "too drunk," which was incorrect, as I had only had two drinks spaced out over hours before I came, and he had not thoroughly assessed, as I had not been unruly in any way, had not stumbled, slurred my speech, nor been a disturbance.
My friend accompanied me outside as this employee continued belligerently forcing us to the door, refusing to give his name or explain why he was throwing me out for using the bathroom. When we got outside, we spoke to the female manager, who said that he told her I allegedly "walked through vomit," which she defended as my being too drunk to safely attend the bar. My friend and I both questioned her, as I had not stepped in any such puddle of vomit, which I would most definitely have smelled, felt, and remembered, and had not received any verbal, or tactual signals from staff members on my way up the dark and loud stairway. I had no vomit on my shoes, which were clean, dry, and did not smell. I then picked up both shoe soles to show both her and the witnesses around that they were, in fact, dry and clear of mess, which she refused to acknowledge.
This is unacceptable on two counts: one being that I had not received a single warning from staff that I may have been in a hazardous area, (which I likely was not, given the cleanliness of my shoe soles, which I promptly showed to management), as well as the fact that it was extremely dark and loud in the establishment, which is a considerable obstacle for anyone trying to communicate, so even if I had somehow muddled through a vomit puddle, 1) it would not have been easily visible and should have been blocked off and cleaned immediately by Madams employees per health and safety code standards, and 2) it was too loud to be able to isolate background noise given the music playing on multiple floors, both rationales serve as evidence that even if an accidental misstep through a vomit puddle had occurred, it would in no way have been a marker of incapacitation due to alcohol consumption.
The bouncers outside did return our cash deposits, but did not in any way apologize for the appalling way in which I and my friend were treated by the belligerent employee, as well as the closed-off manager. At no stage whatsoever were either of us listened to or respected to gather our side of the story, even when I asked both the employee and the manager if they would test my sobriety on the spot to verify that I was not as inebriated as the employee claimed, which they neglected to do.
I am wholly disappointed, as was my entire party of friends who witnessed the event, as we all noted I was not intoxicated to the point of sloppy behavior and had not stumbled through any sort of human vomit, nor received any verbal or tactual signals from staff that I was in an alleged hazard area. I felt completely disrespected, steamrolled, disregarded, and ashamed of the customer service the Madans staff showed me that Saturday night, not even considering listening to my side or entertaining the possibility that their employee could have confused me with someone else or misinterpreted signals in a dark and loud environment. It was humiliating, unwarranted, hostile, and one-sided, without the employee or manager giving me or my friend the benefit of the doubt when we were both speaking and acting coherently and without missteps. The entire night left a bad taste not only in my mouth but those of the 8+ friends I had gone with, who were all similarly shocked at my treatment. I emailed them this feedback and never received even an acknowledgment.
