I don't normally (read never) do this to a new business, but what I experienced in the minute I stood inside i-Vape was so beyond the pale, I feel compelled to tell everyone in the East Village to take a train or walk to Soho and hang out at the sleek, modern vapor bar/store, Henley Vaporium.
I went in because I left my backup in my friend's car and he's a flake. I don't want to buy a new battery before he mails it back to me or I go back to CA.
I was in the E Village (Veselka and Cafe Mocha), saw this store, and figured I could charge up. All I needed was an outlet (which I got at Cafe Mocha along with a glass of wine and coffee), but I like to look at new vape stores, so I went inside.
Well, it's not a bar. It's just a store.
One lady was buying a new tank (40 bucks, a fancy one which did look nice).
When that transaction finished, I explained my plight and asked to charge up.
This white guy with an obnoxious non-New York and faintly Southern accent was rude from the get go. He said they don't charge people's things and with not a soul in the store playing that truly odious country music s***-kicker song, I was annoyed.
I said, "Really? I've never had that happen and I visit lots of stores." Then he not only states the policy of the owner, but enforces it with gusto. No apology, no sheepish, "The boss is very strict about this." Nada.
Upon reflection, what so angered me is that vapers are supposed to stick together. There is a code among vapers: it's US vs the ANTZ (anti-nicotine and tobacco zealots).
I used to write for the Huffington Post (as a blogger not staffer) until the mess surrounding my article about e-cigs and the NYC City Council usage ban on 12/19/2013 (time flies!).
I went on a podcast in February to discuss my apparent dismissal and found myself blocked days later.
With all the stupidity, the propaganda, and the lies, solidarity among vapers is key.
This guy was a hostile jerk with no social skills. He's also a bear of little to nonexistent brain, because when a girl in a pretty coat with a fur collar and lots of jewelry walks into your hideous, empty store (more on this in a moment), any employee with half a brain obliges her.
I am quite sure this man is single and not happy about that inevitability, but it's not my problem/fault he developed his personality in a car crash (line from the film adaptation of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, About Last Night) and chose to do nothing about his personality problems.
I was so shocked by his rudeness that I asked how long this store had been here (and keep in mind I was Miss Smiley at the outset). He said not long. I said, "Oh, well, I'll tell everyone I know to go to Henley in Soho." He was sullen and hostile to the end.
So I'm delighted to be the first person on Yelp to say this: After you've had a blintz or matzoh ball soup or borscht at Veselka, get thee to Spring Street and hang out at a true place of community which doesn't look like something in a Reseda strip mall. (That's a not very desirable part of the San Fernando Valley, though not nearly as bad as Van Nuys or Canoga Park--for New Yorkers who, if they know the Valley at all, know Calabasas from Ray Donovan/the Kardashians, or Encino, an upscale Jewish suburb).
It's tacky, overly bright (fluorescents) and all those garish bong-like objects are clearly pitched to cannabis users, rather vapers proper. I can tolerate ugly decor and terrible music on a road trip through the middle of nowhere (Inyokern, somewhere between Bishop/Mammoth and the Mojave Desert/Death Valley), but only a blind person could have designed this store. It's not funky or bohemian: it's just ugly.
Yes, they sell some very high-end stuff (not your basic EVOD Kangertech or Vision spinners). But so do a lot of other places which don't employ a man who has no business in *any* branch of customer service.
Lest you think I'm being too harsh, look at my graphs. I am enormously generous on Yelp. A preponderance of my reviews are 4 and 5 stars. I love helping worthy businesses and sharing cool places with Yelpers and others who read my work.
This is the worst vapor store *ever*. read more