For May and June, my coworkers and I met at this Haggen in their dining area for a few hours each morning. At least half of us ordered something every day, even if we didn't want anything, just because we felt we should since we were using their space (though it's not required to buy something to use their space). We were always very aware of the other customers, so the more people who came in, the more we tried to consolidate and use less space, fewer tables and chairs. We also made sure to clean our tables, and put them back before we left.
The employees of Haggen were very rude to us.
There were other groups that met there, all bigger than ours, and they didn't take any of the steps we took not to be a bother. But they weren't there every day, so they weren't treated badly. Also, a single person drinking a cup of coffee and nothing else could take up a whole 4 person table by themselves and sit there for hours, and not be treated badly. I don't know why our meeting there daily made our presence such a bother to these employees, but they went out of their way to make us feel incredibly unwelcome.
Two people specifically - the main cashier in the area, Suni, and the Store Manager, Andy Haggen. Mr Haggen would pace about us looking irritated, and would grab chairs away from us to put at other tables, even if we were using them. One day I had my arm resting on the back of the chair next to me, and he literally just grabbed the chair out from under my arm, yanked it away, and went and put it somewhere else. Not even an "excuse me." He would clean around us in such a way that made it clear that we were in his way, and he was trying to make us uncomfortable.
Suni would give us dirty looks, even when I was going to buy food. Occasionally I would just buy coffee, but most days I bought a full meal - sometimes I even bought several meals, so I would have stuff to last me the rest of the day. On more than one occasion, I even bought groceries. Yet when I would go to pay for my stuff, she was always rude to me. I was a paying customer, and I was not responsible for the company's decision to meet in this location, but she treated me like it was my fault, and that we were horrible for being there.
I hadn't been back for a few months, now, and I was in yesterday. I bought a full meal to eat for lunch, and she was the cashier (now calling herself Annavieve). She looked at me like "Oh great, it's you" and was rude to me! Not only was I a paying customer who had never done anything to her, but we weren't even meeting in their store anymore.
I don't know why she seemed to take our presence so personally. She's just an employee. But she definitely seemed to be territorial over the place, and bound and determined to drive us out and make us never want to come back.
I would've understood their frustration if we were loud, or messy, or didn't buy anything, but I will never understand their downright hostility, and then add to that that we were considerate and polite and clean, we did not deserve to be treated that way. And I certainly don't deserve to be treated that way now when I go in as a regular customer. read more