Nick P.
Yelp
"If I didn't have so much at stake here I'd kick your teeth in." That is literally what the owner of this coffee shop told me for the heinous crime of saying "never mind" and walking out.
I walked in on a Saturday around 8, when no other customers were present, and the owner was beginning to transfer a container of pastries one-by-one to his display case. I finished ordering when he had about 20 individual pastries left to unload, from a high-walled not-at-all-tenuous container that could've easily been put aside for the two minutes it would've taken to take my money and make my drink. There was nothing boiling on the stove, nothing else demanding his attention, except me. He said "I'll just finish unloading these", I waited for him to unload two more to make sure he meant what I thought he said, and then I said "Never mind" and walked out (that is literally all I did). He then proceeded to curse me out, and came out from behind the counter to approach me while continuing to curse me out (I was not returning his insults), during which he excoriated me for being 'rude' to someone who had a sick infant and was working on little sleep. So, a few things on that:
1) I was a customer, at a business, responding simply and calmly to a customer service choice that was both impractical and needlessly negligent of my time.
2) I did not know, nor had any reason to know that he had a sick infant (there was no infant present).
3) Personal circumstances are not an excuse (or at least not a good excuse) for being rude, and then downright mean, to a customer.
4) The backstory of the infant did not come during an apology, it came after a bullying verbal attack had already started. I'm not sure what good it's supposed to generate at that point.
5) I could've been in a severe rush without a minute to spare. He demands empathy for his unknown story, but practices none for the customer whose time he's wasting.
We then had a loud five minute argument (after he followed me out the door), during which he persistently called me names and said the above physical threat, while the most incendiary thing I said or did to him was to say that his customer service was "rude". The gist of what I said in several variations was "I'm sorry about your infant, but I'm a customer and I reacted to rude customer service. You've now insulted me 10 times, and you, what, expect me to give you my money now?" During the argument several people walked past us and into the store. I pointed out that he was neglecting them to yell at me. He said "they're regulars, they'll understand". They stood inside for about 3 minutes listening to him yell curses at someone, and then after, he went inside and ... did what? Made them wait another minute so he could unload those pastries?
Is the customer always right? No. Should the customer be infinitely patient because there might be a compelling backstory to some rude customer service? Nope. There's a story for everything. I believe in empathy (and I do feel bad for that owner). But I don't believe in unconditionally sympathetic empathy that leads to you having your time wasted or being taken advantage of. I believe that there should be reasonable consequences for actions. A customer walking out because of bad customer service is reasonable. A store owner screaming obscenities and physical threats at a customer for doing that is not reasonable.
UPDATE: The business owner responded below. 1) He says that he apologized. That is not true. He did extend a hand, but it was in the middle of an insulting rant, so I felt as though there were ulterior motives, and did not take it. I asked him "why are you trying to shake my hand?" He did not have a reply. 2) He calls me "controlling", even though I offered no ultimatums and asked for nothing beyond some considerateness in how he used his time. 3) He says he wants to accept personal responsibility, yet he has not done that in any way beyond admitting that the physical threat was empty (and then goes on to justify it), and that maybe he was a bit impulsive (which he also justifies). 4) He says I 'judged him', and yet at no point have I made any claims about his character. I was a customer responding to customer service, and I have been reciting facts about that experience. He, on the other hand, has made dozens of vulgar and spurious claims about my character, including several below. 5) Even if I were to admit that I overreacted and that my expectations as a customer are ridiculous, my overreaction was about as tepid and harmless as possible. I was not going to write this review if I'd just been allowed to walk out initially. My record shows that I am not on some sort of warpath of giving small businesses 1-star reviews. I wrote this because I was physically threatened by a man who has shown no legitimate contrition for his words, and who apparently believes that I deserved that treatment because of aspects of my character that he assumes exist.
