# Restaurant vs Patron - Who was in the wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924 "2014-06-03T14:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/21 "2014-06-03T21:03:22Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Sounds like Primadonna meets Burger Nazi. I think I’ll hate them both. Works for me. The policy in question is reasonable, his reaction to her reaction to it is not. To be expected, from the description of the guy, though. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/22 "2014-06-03T22:58:24Z")
I agree. And, to the best of my knowledge, when I say “quirky”, I just mean he is really involved in social media (obviously) and some of the things he chooses to post are just… unexpected, yet amusing. I will say that, if I was him, I would’ve made a simple post, not calling out the customer by name, but addressing the matter in the broadest terms possible, and leaving it at that. The customer obviously overreacted and (from reading some of his posts) the customer looked to make it his mission to harm the image of the restaurant. Engaging half of the people in the thread and dragging it out was what caused me to lose some respect for the owner. Also, he’s made subsequent posts beating the dead horse about how the customer is going to run him out of business when most people who are looking at the matter rationally are on his side. I guess that’s what’s left a bad taste in my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/23 "2014-06-04T00:56:02Z")
[QUOTE=Patron] NEVER EAT AT MAPLE MOTOR BURGER!! THEY ARE COMPLETELY BIGOTED AND AGAINST GAY PEOPLE. I WOULD NEVER POST SOMETHING LIKE THIS IF IT WAS NOT TRUE. NOT ONLY IS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TERRIBLE THEY MAKE FUN OF GAY PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN ESTABLISHMENT. [/QUOTE] …this appears to be the comment by the patron in question that sparked the response from the restaurant. Fair is fair in the social media game. Things spread so virally and so quickly that you literally have to fight fire with fire. The patron’s responses in the thread are laughably hilarious. He calls the person behind the till “the little bitch at the counter.” Sometimes calling people out is the appropriate course of action. Scrolling down the Restaurants facebook page seems to indicate he doesn’t have a habit of calling people out: and the “anti gay” accusations are all coming from the same place: pretty loudly as well. And just searching around, as a result of the publicity showcasing the patron’s profile page the patron (or at least the owners of the website) could be in trouble for claiming work that he apparently didn’t do. So if you have skeletons in your closet, don’t call attention to them by being an ass on social media. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/24 "2014-06-04T04:11:37Z")
Thanks, **Banquet Bear**. All that just solidifies in my mind that, although the owner should’ve probably taken the high road like I said earlier, I can still understand why he did not. Yep, I’ll be visiting when I can. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/25 "2014-06-04T04:27:45Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > Scrolling down the Restaurants facebook page seems to indicate he doesn’t have a habit of calling people out: and the “anti gay” accusations are all coming from the same place: pretty loudly as well. I completely agree. I think part of the outrage has been that the owner / establishment has had a “history” of “discrimination” in the past from people just looking to make a mountain out of a molehill, meaning “if you don’t cater to our every whim, you must be prejudiced against us and therefore ‘OMG BOYCOTT!!!’” I’ll say that my (gay) softball team and I would often go there on the weekends and they were nothing but accommodating, so I find the claims of prejudice to be very unlikely. I think it’s more of a “I was a demanding asshole to you, wanting you to go against your restaurant’s well-stated policy. You didn’t meet my demands, so therefore you prejudiced!” It’s a relatively small space, so tables are highly valued. It’s not quite “Soup Nazi”-esque, but they do try to run things efficiently, realizing that customer turnover is the key. No waitstaff, pay before you get your food, and while they have beer, there’s not much to entice a person to linger much longer than after they’ve finished their meal. I’m actually really glad to see that the majority of the Dope shares the view that the customer was in the wrong (although, admittedly the owner could’ve handled things better). ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/26 "2014-06-04T04:52:32Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …this appears to be the comment by the patron in question that sparked the response from the restaurant. Fair is fair in the social media game. Things spread so virally and so quickly that you literally have to fight fire with fire. The patron’s responses in the thread are laughably hilarious. He calls the person behind the till “the little bitch at the counter.” > > Sometimes calling people out is the appropriate course of action. Scrolling down the Restaurants facebook page seems to indicate he doesn’t have a habit of calling people out: and the “anti gay” accusations are all coming from the same place: pretty loudly as well. And just searching around, as a result of the publicity showcasing the patron’s profile page the patron (or at least the owners of the website) could be in trouble for claiming work that he apparently didn’t do. So if you have skeletons in your closet, don’t call attention to them by being an ass on social media. There are times that instead calling a spade a spade you need to call it a fucking shovel. Good for calling the asshole out. Entitled customers are a bane of my existence. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/27 "2014-06-04T05:34:46Z")
The patrons were assholes, but the owner is a bigger asshole. He had to do underhanded crap to find out stuff about these guys. Everything the patrons did was public–they called the official phone number, and they posted on the official Facebook page. This guy went underhanded and found out secret info to blast them with. It’s the equivalent of me getting in a fight here in the Pit here with someone and posting their real life info. It shouldn’t be done. Had he just publicly shamed them, I could be okay with this. But he didn’t. He’s seeking out 100% pure revenge. I’m not the type to lose sympathy for people very often. But I am extremely tempted make an exception in this case. Someone who acted like this guy did deserves to have customers like that. The real people I feel sorry for are the workers who have to work for a douchebag while also facing douchebags from outside. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/28 "2014-06-04T11:19:39Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The patrons were assholes, but the owner is a bigger asshole. He had to do underhanded crap to find out stuff about these guys. Everything the patrons did was public–they called the official phone number, and they posted on the official Facebook page. This guy went underhanded and found out secret info to blast them with. It’s the equivalent of me getting in a fight here in the Pit here with someone and posting their real life info. It shouldn’t be done. > > Had he just publicly shamed them, I could be okay with this. But he didn’t. He’s seeking out 100% pure revenge. > > I’m not the type to lose sympathy for people very often. But I am extremely tempted make an exception in this case. Someone who acted like this guy did deserves to have customers like that. The real people I feel sorry for are the workers who have to work for a douchebag while also facing douchebags from outside. …what underhanded thing did the restaurant do? What secret information are you talking about? It was the patron who calls one of the staff “the little bitch at the counter”: I’d reserve my bile for a guy who does that than for a boss who stands up and defends his 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:** [June 4, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/29 "2014-06-04T12:01:05Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The patrons were assholes, but the owner is a bigger asshole. He had to do underhanded crap to find out stuff about these guys. Everything the patrons did was public–they called the official phone number, and they posted on the official Facebook page. This guy went underhanded and found out secret info to blast them with. What? I thought all he did was click on the Facebook post accusing him of homophobia. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/30 "2014-06-04T12:17:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What? I thought all he did was click on the Facebook post accusing him of homophobia. Shhh. You’re giving out the secret way of determining identity! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/31 "2014-06-04T12:49:00Z")
There’s a combination of Kindergarden antics by both parties along with a bit of ‘free publicity through drama’ antics by the owner. That being said the customer and at least one of his enablers are really, truly over-entitled douchebags. They seem to be demanding through their limited experience that this place change its business model just for them. I mean: > [@](#): > > Boy are you a real jackass. I’ve worked in the restaurant business for over 15 years before I got into the career that I’m in now. I know firsthand that that is not too much to ask for someone to start an order before people arrive so that they can eat when they get there because they are in a hurry. You are not running a goddamn five-star restaurant like Nick and Sam’s. It should not be too much to ask for you to start a fucking burger on the grill so that someone can eat real quick and get to work. > [@](#): > > isten guys, none of you were on the phone with this man when he was chastising me for making a simple request to his establishment. I only asked them to start my burger so it would be ready when I got there! I have worked in many restaurants and we used to do that all the time for busy people that were dropping in to eat at the bar and leave. This guy does not seem to get that _this is not this place’s business model._ Just because place ‘a’ does deliveries does not mean place ‘b’ has to. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/32 "2014-06-04T14:21:25Z")
I don’t really see anything wrong with what the owner did. He simply made the customer’s statements public. If the customer doesn’t want to be embarrassed by his own statements then he shouldn’t make them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/33 "2014-06-04T15:46:45Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > I don’t really see anything wrong with what the owner did. He simply made the customer’s statements public. > > If the customer doesn’t want to be embarrassed by his own statements then he shouldn’t make them. What was that meme I saw on Facebook the other day? Oh yeah \*\*If you don’t want to be called on your bullshit, don’t spout bullshit. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/34 "2014-06-04T16:10:11Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What? I thought all he did was click on the Facebook post accusing him of homophobia. This. You act like a complete jackass, don’t be surprised when others use the _easy to find, readily available_ information _that you provide_ out there against you. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/35 "2014-06-04T16:33:11Z")
I think the owner 's actions are completely understandable. The patron started all of the social media hubbub by posting his accusations. I thought the response by the restaurant was nicely snarky. If I lived anywhere near there, I would have to go check out their burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/36 "2014-06-04T17:02:07Z")
I still feel uncomfortable about the business owner poking the erstwhile customer on facebook. It just seems petty. That stuff should be left for twitter. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/37 "2014-06-04T17:10:53Z")
The customer is a total douchebag. I support the owner, quirky though he may be. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/38 "2014-06-04T17:32:17Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I still feel uncomfortable about the business owner poking the erstwhile customer on facebook. It just seems petty. That stuff should be left for twitter. Meh…it was good for a laugh, and in fact it appears to have generated a lot of traffic on M&M’s FB page, possibly even more interest in his restaurant. The owner’s participation in the comments (after that initial post) was straightforward and courteous. Michael Moran is a whiny little boy, has been called out on it, and is refusing to admit that he was wrong to make a fuss over this. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/39 "2014-06-04T18:56:38Z")
Having glanced over the FB pages of a few other retail sites I can say that I am more on the owner’s side now. Lots of retail vendors have occasionally vented about special snowflake customers on their FB pages, mind you usually without naming names. However since this customer went beyond being a jerk in the store and started a fight on FB I don’t see any reason he should be protected in any way. Its not like the owner posted his personal address or anything. Just info that was smack dab on his FB page. More to the point, the customer’s handful of enablers are really clueless (one suggested contacting the BBB about this?!) and the overall attitude of 'I’m busy so therefore I am special!". Reminds me of days back in college when Freshmen would try to call the pizza place collect (yeah, that was a thing, I’m old.) and where shocked and whiny when the pizza parlor refused to take the call. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924/40 "2014-06-04T19:48:48Z")
Just found this response from the owner. It seems to clarify his position a little more. Also, the [article](http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2014/06/02/facebook-war-between-maple-motor-customer-and-owner-right-or-wrong/) which the owner is responding to makes no mention of the customer’s use of profanity, which I find unfortunate, as it fleshes out the poor character of Michael. > [@](#): > > I would loved for this to have ended with the phone call that I made to Michael to explain the policy and ask him to quit calling the restaurant to badger the ladies working there. He wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted to let me know that I would pay dearly for not acceding to his demand. Simply not coming to the Maple & Motor was not an option. > > Had he posted on his Facebook page that he disagreed with my policy and would never go back, I would never have acted. If he had told every person in Dallas that I’m a dick, that would have been fine with me and at least partially true. > > What he did instead was post that because we didn’t go outside of this policy, which we never have, that we were somehow anti-gay. That crossed a line. Think of all the ways that I could have negatively responded. What I did was to post a link to his business website with a tongue in cheek response to his threat. It’s funny. We laughed and waited for it to become public forum for me to respond to the anti-gay charge. I now have. > > I’m a playful guy. I don’t mind that some people think of me as a curmudgeon. Call me whatever nonspecific name you want. Asshole? OK. Prick? No problem. Shitty restaurateur? Prove it, but fine, whatever. I can roll with all of that. > > If you allow people to make specific, unfounded charges without response, that is how you will become known. I could not let this one pass. I hope you all defend yourselves if it ever comes to that, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-vs-patron-who-was-in-the-wrong/689924.md?page=3)