# I'm never stepping foot in that place again: Local coffee shop owner is sexual harraser, covid denier, Trumpist, and more **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046 "2020-12-02T22:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/21 "2020-12-03T17:27:18Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > … you have a health issue that prevents you from wearing one. If members of our staff aren’t wearing a mask assume they have health issues preventing them from wearing one … It’s amazing how many “rugged individualists” are happy to say their their lungs are too weak to breath successfully while seated. I have a great deal of sympathy for the genuinely disabled / handicapped / etc., and am happy to make accommodations as needed to improve their lot in life. But the abject failure of normal pride that lets a healthy person claim they can’t breath through tissue paper or a t-shirt, nor do they have the mental / emotional stability to be in public without their precious little doggie slobbering on their arm is flat disgusting. They certainly can’t expect me to respect them when they evidence no respect for themselves at all. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/22 "2020-12-03T17:58:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It’s amazing he lasted this long. It’s amazing he hasn’t been elected to Congress. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/23 "2020-12-03T17:59:56Z")
Amazing that I can do cardio while wearing a mask since my lung capacity is 52%… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/24 "2020-12-03T18:14:42Z")
My favorite neighborhood coffee shop went through a [similar scandal five years ago](https://sprudge.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-asheville-waking-life-misogyny-scandal-86363.html). I didn’t even get a chance to properly boycott these red-pill assholes before the shop shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/25 "2020-12-03T18:20:47Z")
In my area, a coffee shop owner (a self-proclaimed libertarian) defied the governor’s latest order for an indoor dining shutdown and kept serving customers (among his ploys was leaving a garage door that opened into the business partway up and arguing that it constituted permitted outdoor dining). > **[Judge orders Lexington coffee shop that refused to close to stop serving...](https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article247538395.html)** > > A judge has sided with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department in a court case against a Lexington coffee shop that refused to close its indoor dining area in violation of the governor’s order. After getting his food license suspended and alcohol permit revoked and facing a judge’s order, the guy has now announced he’ll stop serving food and drink in the establishment but will remain open as an “event venue”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/26 "2020-12-03T19:29:09Z")
When we went through the indoor dining shutdown phase the county and city both bent over backwards handing out no-cost licenses for restaurants to take over the public sidewalks and parking areas as outdoor dining spaces. And publicizing via every means imaginable that that was available free for the asking. All any restaurant needed to do was ask, and the staff would come to them, look around, spray paint some stripes on the ground and _presto chango!_; you were an outdoor café. This doesn’t have to be hard. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/27 "2020-12-04T01:19:16Z")
I just heard back from one of the ex-employees associated with the crowd-funding campaign. It looks like the Old Town location is closed permanently. Here are some more links about the tale — Dangerously Delicious Pies (PieShopDC) cut them off in the summer — > Someone saved some of the owner’s Tweets before he scrubbed them — > The tweets show QAnon support, anti-covid conspiracy, comments about Hillary Clinton eating chlidren, and telling black people to improve their own lives instead of “waiting decades and decades for a President to do it.” This Vice article notes > (When _Washingtonian_ mentioned one woman’s concerns about the way he’d touched her, he said she was “a young girl looking for some kind of attention,” and then described her as a “very large-breasted girl” who had hugged him in the restaurant’s kitchen.) > **[Cafe's Entire Staff Quits Over Owner's Coronavirus Denial and Alleged Harassment](https://www.vice.com/en/article/935kkd/cafes-entire-staff-quits-over-owners-coronavirus-denial-and-alleged-harassment)** > > Employees claim that the owner of Killer ESP in Virginia told customers that masks weren't necessary and refused to provide PPE to staff. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/28 "2020-12-05T13:46:15Z")
I just went by there last night. The windows are papered up and there’s a sign that says “New Local Ownership: Great Teas, Coffee, & Snacks Comin’ at ya Soon.” I wonder who the new owner is? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/29 "2020-12-05T13:58:06Z")
Yeah I saw on Yelp & Google that Alexandria’s location is done. I think he still has a shop in Chinatown in DC, which could stay afloat as DC has workers of all stripe during the day, but Alexandria’s pretty heavily Democratic and educated. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/30 "2020-12-05T18:22:47Z")
I just heard from an ex-employee. The “new owner” is a buddy of the old owner, and he was one who criticized the staff for “ruining Rob’s reputation.” They suspect this is a bogus “change of ownership” and that Rob is going to continue to be the owner from the shadows. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046/31 "2021-09-19T15:24:59Z")
Latest update: The place has changed hands. I have heard from one of the ex-employees who is now an ex-ex-employee. The new owner is the father of one of the young women who accused the previous owner of harrassment. The name has changed slightly from “Killer ESP” to “ESP Tea and Coffee.” A lot of the accoutrements from the old owner’s interests (skateboarding, skiing, hard rock, cheesecake photos) have been taken down. It seems to have more of a new agey vibe to it. It’s funny that they kept the “ESP” part, because it originally stood for “espresso-sorbet-pie” and they haven’t had sorbet for a long time, since their gelato/sorbet maker left for college. I go back now occasionally, but over the course of the pandemic, I’ve been making great coffee at home, so I’m less tempted to get coffee out. What I miss about coffee shops is hanging out, and I’m stil not confident enough to hang out for a long time indoors in public places. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-never-stepping-foot-in-that-place-again-local-coffee-shop-owner-is-sexual-harraser-covid-denier-trumpist-and-more/927046.md?page=1)