David R.
Yelp
I want to preface this review by noting that I have nothing but positive feelings towards this shop, the people that work there, and what they are trying to accomplish. I happened upon RiverCity Market a couple of weeks ago, and since then I have found every excuse possible to stop by. The food is good, the atmosphere is unique, and the employees are nothing but pleasant; that is, until my most recent visit.
I understand that it may not be fair to allow one incident to affect my opinion of an establishment so negatively, but the fact of the matter is that I am still trying to wrap my head around the way I was treated yesterday. I came into the market with my sister who was visiting Austin (because, again, I was finding every excuse to come to this place), and we were browsing mostly so that she could see everything RCM had to offer. We hadn't decided whether or not we would be getting food, so when an employee came up behind me and abruptly asked, "are you getting food?" I answered with a frank, "we haven't decided yet. I'll let you know."
Perhaps it was the fact that I didn't smile, or maybe it was the fact that I was still wearing my sunglasses. Whatever the cause might have been, the employee (who, upon further observation, appeared to be a manager of sorts) scoffed at me and began to mock my response. Slightly confused, I reiterated that we were still deciding. What followed was an uncomfortably long interaction in which the manager continued to harass me without a smile or hint of playfulness, call me names, and even comment on my appearance (by way of contrasting how much more attractive my sister was than me). She even had the audacity to call me rude for not opening with a "hello," when, if you recall, her welcoming line to me was "are you getting food?."
I neglected to say a single word so as to not fuel her hostility, which adds to the absurdity that all of her comments came merely as a result of the fact that I told her I would get back to her if we decided we wanted food. When she decided that she was done, she walked towards the corner of the store where she did nothing but use her phone and shoot me the occasional dirty look. And for her last trick, she decided to give my sister a free dessert because she "felt sorry that [my sister] had to put up with me." When she notified the associate behind the counter that the pastry was her treat, I also heard her mumble yet another insult directed towards me. I can only assume the free dessert was meant to avoid a review such as this one, but we still left jarred by the experience. My sister was uncomfortable, I was insulted, and even the other patrons in the store seemed at a loss for words.
After sharing this story with a few friends, I have heard a number of other anecdotes in which patrons have been subject to the same rude treatment from this female employee. I do not know her name or status, but it appears as though this is not rare behavior. I am confused by the fact that it seems that I am the only person on Yelp who has ever had a negative experience such as this one, so perhaps I just caught her on an off day. Regardless, I will not be returning to RiverCity Market. You can have good food and a good atmosphere, but such poor customer treatment is not, and will never be, excusable.