Unfortunately today, I am not writing you about how outstanding your salad bar is. Today, I am writing this notification to The Sandwich Board to make those in management that may care, aware of an extremely uncomfortable situation that took place this past Friday, February 3, 3017 around 12:45 pm at your 1560 Broadway St. Denver, CO location. A co-worker of mine and I walked into the sandwich board excited to fix a nice healthy salad for lunch. Brad, an employee of this location, who is typically very helpful, came over to us as we were fixing our salads to let us know that some new and amazing items had been added to the salad bar (power greens, etc.) As I had finished packing my salad in the box, I grabbed a sandwich board bag and placed utensils and a napkin inside (like I always do). Strangely though, my co-worker nudged me and we noticed that at this time the employees Brad, Karena (manager) and the Hispanic woman with tattoos on her face were all standing by the register whispering and pointing at us. It was in this moment that my co-worker informed me that her past two visits into this Sandwich Board location, the three aforementioned people had stared her down as she made her salad and made her feel extremely uncomfortable. I was shocked. Never had I been pointed and glared at while making my salad (my mother taught me that it wasn't polite to point). I was completely clueless about what this behavior could possibly be about.
As my co-worker finished preparing her salad, we walked over to the register that Brad was working at. We waited for Brad to finish ringing up the customer that he had. Our turn came, and I greeted Brad with a hello. Brad immediately looked to his right (where Karena was standing and making a sandwich), and asked her, "should I check her bag?" I was livid. The words that I would like to say would be completely inappropriate to put onto paper. I immediately asked Brad, "check my bag?" I moved to open my bag to show Brad what was in it and then stated, "why would you need to check my bag? What could I possibly have taken?" Clearly taken back by my response or my willingness to speak up for myself, Brad was speechless and Karena jumped in the conversation. I looked Karena straight in the eyes while she explained (in complete laughter) that "people" had been coming into the restaurant all week and "walking out" with salads without paying so they just needed to "make sure". I was appalled. I then asked them both what that had to do with me? I hadn't been into SB all week and I was clearly at the register to pay for my salad, so why would Brad indicate that my bag should be checked? And also, the customer in front of me did not receive this same treatment, nor did the customer being serviced to my right. I made all of this clear and stood my ground. Karena laughed. She couldn't stop this nervous giggle and continuously said, "no it's not you, it's just that people have been walking out with salad". I told Karena that maybe I should "go live" on FaceBook or some other social media app so that others can determine if I am inaccurately judging the way that I am being treated in this place of business. Again, Karena laughed. No apology or rectification of their intentions. Nothing. I took pictures of their nametags that unfortunately had no last name on them so that I could later document this experience. Fortunately, an older white woman was standing to my right as this was happening, waiting to ask a question about the soup. She witnessed this entire situation and came to speak with me after I walked out of the restaurant to encourage me to report this to the administration at SB. The woman also provided me with her information in the event that her statement to attest her witnessing this conversation is needed. Another customer stood there and witnessed me being treated completely different than other customers around me. This is solid proof that both Brad and Karena did very little to hide that there was in fact an issue with me. I gave both Brad and Karena many opportunities to discuss any issues that they had with me and they claimed that I was not a concern and their lack of explanation showed that this was clearly some type of acceptable treatment due to something another customer(s) did. Five days later and I am still extremely pissed about this. It's not like I stood there awkwardly and didn't attempt to find out what the issue was. I gave them multiple chances to speak with me about why I was treated this way. I am not sure of SB's mission and values, but I surely hope that something like this is not tolerated. This world is already so UGLY and full of hate. Life is already uncomfortable. Why should I be treated so distastefully when I paid full price for my lunch just as everyone else in the restaurant did? Why would Brad think to turn to another person and ask about checking my bag prior to greeting me at the cash register? What kind of common decency training is provided. read more
