Breon R.
Yelp
NEVER GOING BACK
I've been a regular customer of the Green Fork for more than 2 years. I've mostly visited the Metairie location in the past but I've recently changed gyms which put me closer to the one on Prytania.
I've alway liked the juice so there are no complaints there. I do, however, have a very big problem with the service I've received from a woman named Stephanie at the Prytania location. She'd always seemed a bit annoyed when "helping" me. I felt more like a person asking for favors than a paying customer. Was it because I'm a black woman? Possibly. But I never gave it a lot of thought because 1) I liked the juices and 2) What's the worst that can happen during our weekly two minute interactions? ........UNTIL TODAY.
Another customer, we'll call her "Rudeness", and I approached the entrance door at the same time but from opposite directions. She was a little further from the entrance than I was but quickened her pace as if she planned to RUN ME DOWN to get in the door and place her order first. She still ended up walking in after I did. Instead of waiting her turn to be serviced she comes up to the counter as I'm standing there, inserts her card in the card reader, and tells Stephanie that she'll take an egg muffin. What?!
Stephanie, having SEEN me walk in and approach the counter first, proceeds to begin packing up the muffin. At this point, you can imagine that I'm becoming irritated. While she's preparing the order she asked what I'd like. "Great, so you CAN see me?", I thought. I gave her my juice order and she sends another worker to the back to tend to it. She finishes packing Rudeness' muffin and goes to process her payment. "Excuse me," I interrupted. "I'm ready to process the payment for MY order." Mind you.. Rudeness still has her card in the reader from when she'd first walked in earlier. *****Sidenote: If I had been treated with even ONE OUNCE of respect I would have been completely fine with paying after her because my juices still weren't done. But at this point I was frustrated with having been completely disregarded the entire time I'd been there so my patience had run thin.***** Rudeness proceeds to tell me that she's running late to a very important meeting and that she called ahead to place her order (which obviously didn't include the muffin she'd just asked for) as if to excuse her behavior. I thought about explaining to her the concept of a line and waiting your turn for service but Stephanie interjects and, addressing Rudeness, says, "Don't worry about it, you can just pay me later." Stephanie's body language indicated that she agreed with Rudeness and thought I was being ridiculous for wanting to be treated fairly. But I guess that was her attempt at trying to keep things calm. Rudeness thanked her and left. I started to explain to Stephanie that I wasn't trying to be difficult but she cut me off mid-sentence by telling me to "dip my chip" (or insert my card), as if saying "Shut up and pay." I stared at her for a while.. deciding whether or not I wanted to escalate the situation further. "Dip your chip" she says again. I inserted my card, deciding to process my payment, take my juices and leave (which I now regret because I shouldn't have spent another dime in that place). As I'm making my payment, Rudeness reappears wanting to apologize to me for her behavior. "...I'm not usually like this," she says, "I just have a lot going on and I'm really late to my doctor's appointment. But I wanted to say that I'm sorry." I thanked her for her apology. Stephanie, who's still standing there, completes the payment and steps away from the counter (saying nothing) to grab my juices that are now ready.
When she returned I asked if she only worked at the location on Prytania. I'd never seen her at the other location so I'd just planned to make a complaint about this experience to management and go to Metairie to buy my juice moving forward. Imagine my surprise when Stephanie tells me that she is the OWNER of the Green Fork. After pointing out that her CUSTOMER showed more decency by offering an apology than she did as the BUSINESS OWNER, I told her that I'd never again return to either location. And I meant it.
One of my best friends, who happens to be Hispanic, had a bad experience upon visiting the Metairie location (please see The Green Fork Metairie Yelp review by Caroline P. written 2 months ago). I wish I'd stopped spending my money at the Green Fork after hearing about the experience she had. I'm sorry that I didn't. If you are a person of color please consider spending your money elsewhere. There are too many other places in this city to subject yourself to this type of treatment.