So my family & I LOVE Summers Farm! We went for the third year last week & it was even better than the last two years. HOWEVER. Last year at the petting zoo/animal farm section, we encountered a man taking care of the livestock who was incredibly rude to us, particularly our youngest who was FOUR at the time. He was using a pitchfork to put hay into the donkey's pen & our girl was standing at the fence. He, obviously irritated that there was a child there while he was working, swung the pitchfork OVER her head & literally dumped hay onto her while at the same time risking injuring her with a pitchfork, which was about an inch from her forehead. We said something to him, & he told us, in front of her, that it was "HER FAULT" IF SHE WASN'T "BRIGHT ENOUGH TO MOVE." We spoke to the ownership & they handled it well, we thought. They gave us tickets to come this year & ensured us that they would take care of this man. They also insinuated that we were not the first to have an issue with him.
Last week. We had a great day. We went to visit the animals. We even had a "haha" moment remembering our donkey experience from last year.
Our now-five-year-old was lovingly petting the donkeys while her dad was using the restroom. I walked over to the signage on the donkey fencing & made SURE it didn't say anything about not petting them. They all said the same thing: do not FEED the donkeys. Okay.
Not one minute after she started petting the donkeys do I see an angry looking, albeit somewhat familiar man hovering in the corner of the gate enclosure (but on the outside, so I thought for a moment he was just a customer like us). He was glaring at her, & then sternly said "THEY'LL BITE YOU." I looked closer & realized it was our friend from last year! What fun.
I felt my blood pressure rising but calmly said "She's fine. There is no sign that says they are not to be pet. There are tons of kids petting all of the animals here. I just double checked, & they say just to not feed them." He yells back at me, "& WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU." Umm... don't feed them?? I stared at him & said "What." He repeated the question like I was a three-year-old. I said, "You know what? You're the same guy that almost poked her in the head with a pitchfork last year & we had to speak to the owners about you! If there isn't a sign saying don't pet the donkeys, why would all these kids assume they're not supposed to pet the donkeys?!" He says, "Well I'll have to make sure they say that. Talk to the owners about whatever you want, but they'll bite." OK buddy.
There was a group of women with small children witnessing this, who then said that he had just yelled at them before we came over.
Meanwhile, our older girl (10) is pounding on the bathroom door: "Dad, get out here NOW." I look at the bathroom door for five seconds & then back to the friendly man. He vanished! I'm pretty sure he remembered his encounter with their father the previous year & when he heard him barreling out of the bathroom, he decided to disappear.
Our doting protector waited around for a WHILE to catch this guy, with the goal of forcing him to apologize to us (swoon). He also, again, spoke to the employees about this guy & even referenced our experience with him from last year, saying they obviously did not take care of the situation if our encounter with him this year was even worse. They gave us tickets AGAIN for next year (How about a refund? Obviously, we are not having a great experience by coming there anymore!) & tried to find the man because my guy was still determined for him to apologize. They couldn't find him, said they'd "get us in contact" (they didn't take our information) & that it's "weird this happened because he's only there for five minutes to take care of the animals" - ok, well, he obviously optimizes his time while he's around other humans.
I'm not about messing with people's livelihoods. It's not our goal to get this guy fired. But if this business prioritizes the customer experience, it's their responsibility to actually take care of it. I can't believe how we've been treated not once but twice - it's not right, & I'm sick about having to tell our little girl that she did nothing wrong, again, & that some people are just not very nice. We should NOT have to have this talk with her because Summers hasn't taken this concern seriously. read more