RE: Harassment/Hostile Environment Brent Smeltzer
DATE: 6-19-2019
On June 19 2019 at 14:17 I entered TSS and met with a group of African American guest three of which were there to shoot and one for me to observe, not instruct observe in the range area to witness safe operation and handling of a firearm. The range was empty, with approximately three other guest at the time. I was instructed that my waiver had expired, and the young lady very politely ask me to complete a new one. As I was completing the form, Brent Smeltzer who I had no interaction, eye contact or conversation with at the time, yelled, "YOU ARE NOT GOING IN THE RANGE IF YOU ARE INSTRUCTING!" I continued to complete the waiver, and responded that I was shooting and would be observing. He continued to hostilely insist that I was instructing. It was clear from the onset that he had an issue with not only me, but the group of African Americans as a whole. As they selected firearms and targets with the Groupon, he appeared agitated, as another lady entered to use the range, which I invited her to solely for the purpose of observation, he confronted her, ask her why she was there, and any affiliation with me. She explained that she was there to practice and demonstrate safe pistol operation techniques. After his confrontation with her, he angrily shouted at me, YOU'RE NOT GOING IN THE RANGE! I replied, "really is this what we're doing today?" He walked away from me and I explained to my group that I would not be entering the facility with them, and proceeded to exit to the parking lot, where I conversed with other family members.
I have been a client and always felt respected and welcome at the establishment, I have recommended the facility to family friends and other NRA instructors. This experience has dimmed my view and if this is representative of your business practices, as exhibited by a manager I will cease to be a customer. If he truly felt that I was acting in a capacity that was not allowed, surely a respectful conversation versus yelling at me in a public forum as witnessed by others would have been received appropriately. At no time was I disrespectful, nor did I respond in anger in an effort to de- escalate any further aggressions from I left the interior of the building. Brian continued to harass the group in the range area, by peering and continuing to watch the shooters, and this was explained to me it was not in a manner of the capacity of a range safety officer. When the group completed the session we met up in the parking lot, and conversed. Shortly after they came out, Brent proceeded to approach me in the parking lot at my car, in a harassing manner and throw a screenshot of my website at me, why? I had left the building, we had no interactions for at least an hour at this point. In my mind it was over. Let me be clear, I do not, nor have I held any class or instruction at the facility, as I have my own office to conduct business. From a business perspective, I cannot understand why during a downtime such effort was made by a manager to dissuade business.
I have reviewed the waiver, range instructions, store policy and privacy policy. At no point are there any restrictions that would NOT allow me to be in the range area as an observer or instructor. If this is a policy surely, it must be applied to ALL that would fall into that class. In this case, there was a policy enacted by your manager that were applied ONLY to me. It is a fine line between justifiable denial of services and discriminatory practices. Brent stated that there was a note in my file that I was an instructor, I have no issue with that as long as it is a practice applied to every instructor. I have reviewed your policies and practices and have complied with all of them. Such notations would be a violation of your privacy practice as it pertains to my personal information, as well as him accessing my phone number and email address to search for my website; None of which have an impact of my experience at TSS, and threatening me with correspondence from attorneys.
I have been a client, and am not interested in any form of litigation; perhaps this is a coachable occurrence and training as it regards to customer service can improve relations in the future. I believe at a minimum, an apology is due. MANAGEMENT NEVER RESPONDED...STOP PATRONIZING BUSINESSES THAT DON'T RESPECT US! read more