wow, I am not one to normally write reviews of places I visit, unless my experience as a customer stands out in a truly memorable way, and this smoke/vape shop--called The Smoke Boutique & Kava Bar, located at 13201 Ranch Road 620 N, Austin, TX--sure stood out, in the absolute WORST, most unbelievable, almost incomprehensible/unfathomable way! There was only one employee working there, and I hope for the sake of the business owner and any/all future customers, that she doesn't last long! My partner and I were the only customers in the entire store and looking at the table with all the vape pack deals, trying to examine the different flavors included in the various packs on display (Without taking the packs apart of course, just picking them up and trying to see if we could read the different flavor vapes included in the two Lost Mary packs on the display table (each pack contained 10 vapes, hence the discount price). In any case, the first jaw dropping moment of utter disrespect occurred when the store employee (female w/ brown hair tied back in a low pony tail) made an entirely presumptious, completelty unmessage & rude comment about how we we're not allowed to take the packs apart, which neither of us was, by any means attempting to do! Rather, we were just trying to read the various flavors included in each pack of vapes, which can be seen on the individual box of each vape, stacked back-to-back beside one another in the whole pack of ten. (If they were smart, they would have positioned the 3-4 different flavors of vapes included in the pack at the front of the box, so that the flavor name could be easily read, without having to try to gently lift up the different color vape boxes about two inches out of pack, to see the corresponding flavor name, distinguished by the different box colors within the 10-pack. After barking at us unnecessarily and for literally NO reason, accusing us of taking apart the packs, which we were not even doing(!!), my boyfriend and I calmly explained that of course, we were not trying to separate the individual caps from the whole pack, but rather, simply trying to see what flavors were contained in the ten pack of Lost Mary vapes, rather than apologize and employ good--or at the very least, descent--customer service skills for the remainder of our short time in the shop, her blatant rudeness, eye rolling, snide remarks and absolutely INSANE disrespectful attitude towards us continued at check out, as we were purchasing the ten pack of Lost Mary's that we had decided on. I am still in such shock at what just happened in there, as is my boyfriend!! As we were paying the $50 or so for the vapes, my partner had handed the employee the cash, was waiting for her to count and give him his change and meanwhile, was looking at the pre-rolls positioned right on the counter right by the cash register where you check out. She handed him the change (I had to ask her for the receipt, but that was fine, perhaps she just forgot to give it or is new to customer service, idk, that part really didn't bother me), but once we got our change back, my boyfriend kindly and respectfully asked the same one employee to see the pre-rolls, as he was about to purchase several but wanted to see the available flavors. And mind you, this was Immediately after we had just spent over fifty bucks at the store buying nicotine vapes and were still standing there right in front of her at check out. Rather than simply taking a look for herself and informing us of the different flavors of pre-rolls available, the employee lifted one up, and told us, "after this, I'm going to need you to go." My bf and I were both completely taken aback by this comment, considering not only had we just made a purchase seconds prior, but we were quite literally about to make another one!!!! My boyfriend, confused at why in the world the store employee had just asked us to leave the store for absolutely no apparent reason--considering that in spite of her extreme rudeness and disrespect towards us (i.e., the only 2 customers in the store), at no point during our brief time in this vape shop, had either one of us been anything other than completely polite, respectful and kind to this undelightful, unkind, extremely rude female employee--explained to her that he was about to buy one (if not more) pre-rolled joints right there on the counter in front of us, by the checkout. She then said something about how her boss doesn't allow "loitering" and that she had other (apparently invisible) customers to assist. At this point, my boyfriend and I, both baffled by her accusation that we were "loitering," when in fact we were paying customers who had already bought one thing and were seconds away from handing over the cash for a pre-roll or two, not to mention the abenfe of any other human customers (or employees) in the whole store, looked at each other, and without needing to speak so much as a word to one another, just walked right out. read more
