Terrible experience today with one of their drivers. When we returned home, we looked up their website, where it says things like "family-owned", "respecting social distancing", and "friendly staff". Well, I'm here to tell you none of these things are true, at least for this one employee. I also find it interesting that when I called the Burton number and asked who the owner was, a woman told me "they were slammed, and this company is corporately owned, could I call back Monday." Which is it? Are you family-owned, with someone who actually cares about the business' reputation or a corporate-owned entity that will get me lost in a maze of bureaucracy? Hopefully others can try one of the other reputable businesses in the area instead of Crooked River after reading this.
So here's what happened: My wife and I pulled up to unload our kayaks at Eldon Russell Park. It was pretty crowded, lots of people getting ready to put in, including a group from Crooked River, along with Mr. Friendly, respecter of social distancing (I wish I got his name, but he was probably in his 50s, short grayish hair, very tan, wiry build, maybe 5'9-ish). I'm minding my own business, and he begins to harass me, because I'm choosing to wear a mask. He goes out of his way to say "Hey, I hear there's a lot of coronavirus out here." I just nod at him and ignore it. I leave to take my truck back to the parking lot only to return to find Mr. Friendly and my wife having a heated exchange. My wife doesn't back down...apparently, he went out of his way to harass HER too! He's questioning why she's wearing a mask, asking if she's a democrat, spouting to whoever will listen that it's all "a bunch of misinformation." Apparently, when he's not driving a van, he's an epidemiologist as well, so he also began quoting stats. According to him, there's only a .0001-something chance of something. I didn't catch the whole "fact", but apparently, I have nothing to worry about. I'm so relieved.
The irony of of this whole confrontation is that us wearing masks protects HIM. Why should he care if I'm wearing a mask? And why should he go out of his way to confront and harass us? He's on the clock--for YOU. The family-owned business that is respecting social distancing. Is that right? He wasn't wearing a mask. You're dropping off a van-load of about 10-12 people--were they all the same household? I doubt it. Further, we paddled down river, then back up. There was another Crooked river van dropping off more customers, another van load, your workers not distancing, not wearing masks. Don't put it on your website if it's not true.
I'm sure your response will be "you didn't know," but this cavalier attitude of your employees starts somewhere. And I suspect it starts with ownership and/or management.
My wife said to me later, "I could have just taken off my mask to fit in. But what if I had a different color skin than him? Would he have singled me out in the same way?" I wonder....got his pic, but missed his face. read more