Can you imagine a scenario where a manager comes to your table, stands, unmasked, 3 feet away from your face and says, "I'm running a business here. Finish your drink. Pay your bill, and you are not welcome back in here." ?
You would think that he was talking to some rowdy, loud, rude, drunk people, yes?...not a couple of senior-aged, professional women quietly tucked into a corner table.
Here's the story. We were the first two to show up of our usual group of ladies who live nearby and rotate weekly through the restaurants on that corner for happy hour Thursday evenings. Regulars. During the pandemic we would sit outside on the patio on the Keegan week, enjoy great service. Yesterday, it was hot, the patio was closed, and the two of us decided to sit inside in a corner, figuring we would make the visit short if it started to get too crowded. Our server took our drink order, and brought it back fairly quickly. We thanked her, smiled..(who would know, behind our masks). And then my friend asked her, "so I'm curious why none of the servers here are wearing a mask?" The sever stepped back, said, "excuse me?" (somewhat defensively), and then my friend continued, "I'm sure you're aware that we are in the middle of a surge with the Delta variant and I am concerned that you are not protecting yourself. It's spreading so fast...". And then she was interrupted, told "you can't speak to me that way. if you have a complaint, I will get the manager." My friend told her no we don't need to speak to your manager, just let him know that we are leaving because staff are not wearing masks.
You see... we are in that very vulnerable age and health status bracket that are much more likely to experience serious consequences of the 'rona. We take on our own responsibility for where we choose to go and we continue to either stay outside or wear masks inside... And the website for Keegan's actually says masks are required! Otherwise we wouldn't have gone there. But, my friend was only leaning in and expressing her concern, not being rude at all. Maybe she was not heard behind her mask? But that doesn't matter. No reason to be treated that way.
We paid our bill, sipped our drinks a bit more quickly than usual, and a minute later, the manager walks right up close to our faces and says "I understand you have a problem". I asked him to please step back, gesturing, saying, 6 feet, please, you know? He did NOT budge, stayed aggressively in our faces. My friend continued with her same concern, was rudely interrupted, told to pay our bill (which we already had) and leave, don't come back.
No, he did not step back, no he did not hear us when we said we already paid our bill, he simply kept loudly repeating I'm running a business. Pay your bill, finish your drinks and leave. And you are not ever welcome back in here again.
Really? I'm not feeling quite the loss, because I enjoy the other restaurants more, much better food and wine selections at our other 32nd and Camelback corner options. But my friend has been going to this place for years, long before our happy hour habit. And she had known that manager, had friendly conversations, and was known by a number of the staff. A regular. You know, the kind of older retired woman who goes out and has a single drink once a week or so... so one day she walks in with a mask on and is treated like this? Of course, we don't want to go back.
PS: 2289 new cases in AZ yesterday. read more