On Sunday, April 14th, I attended a Bike House event as a volunteer. I had put my name on the…read morevolunteer list and, since I did not know better and wanted to have my bike looked at, signed the other sheet as well. I watched a volunteer help 2 people, caucasian, and he seemed knowledgeable. I had put my bike on a rack in anticipation. I had never used the rack before. The volunteer tells me we need to turn the bike around. I pick up the rack and turn the bike around. He scoffs while watching me, waits until I am done, and then says in a snotty manner, "Well, you could have turned it around this way, but okay..." I stopped myself before replying, "I told you I have no experience...but...okay....", simply because he was trying to help me but noted he did not speak to either of the two caucasian people he helped in this manner. He tells me that my derailleur is bent and needs to be replaced. I thanked him. He then asks if I need to ride the bike home. I tell him I do and use it for work. Without asking he takes my derailleur off. I asked, "So, I guess we can do something?", which he ignored and continued working. He works like I am not there. He barely speaks to me as he continues. He tells me to try the bike and the chain now slips for all of the gears and my gear indicator is broken. He tells me, "I don't know anything about that...", like it was not working before he touched my bike and tells me that my chairing is old and should be replaced every three years or so, which I am later told is not true. He makes another adjustment and tells me to try it. The gears are slipping worse. I biked by him so he could hear the chain slipping. When I stop he rudely tells me that I have to stop pedaling while changing gears. I grew tired of how he was speaking to me and in the same tone replied, "I was not changing gears, THAT was the point." His attitude goes from barely veiled to full display as he tells me, "Well, I do not know." I asked, "So, my bike is now broken and you are good with that?" He replied that he did not know, pulled up a picture of the part, and told me that is the part I need. I responded that we had determined that before he did whatever he did to my bike and we could have left it there if he did not know what he was doing. The only Bike House person there was LeeAnn who states she was not there to work but to fix her bike. She was there when I asked if this was what I was left with and the volunteer pulled up the picture of the part. I still stayed to move most of the equipment back in before leaving.
I posted on their FB page about my first experience there and how underwhelming it was. LeeAnn sends me an email with an offer of help which does not ask what happened. I appreciate the offer to correct the issue but the way I was treated was not addressed nor asked about. You can apologize until you are blue in the face but if you do not ask what happened, you REALLY do not care. I tell her that I am good and will take care of it and she responded, "We can work to try to get you in a better place together or you can treat me and the organization like we don't matter Do you want me to try and help you?" I responded by asking if she just tried to make me feel bad about what their volunteer did to my bike and how I feel about it. Again, ignored. We agree to have a professional come look at my bike on Tuesday, 04/16/24 (D.C. Emancipation Day). The professional, who was the best thing about the entire experience, and I are trying to sort it when LeeAnn shows up. She pours tea for me, without asking if I wanted any, and then clicks her tongue and sighs when I decline. She then proceeds to tell me how unfair it is that I am holding her and The Bike House responsible for what a volunteer did. I tell her that the worst part of it was how the volunteer treated me versus the two caucasian people he helped. LeeAnn THEN asks me what happened. I begin to tell her, she cuts me off to tell me how I am making her feel. I wait until she is done, start to tell he again, and she interrupts me again to say, "Yeah....but..." At that point I realize she is not interested in what happened. She is interested absolving her feeling of being blamed. I asked her when I directly blamed her and she refers to my post about my experience. Once again, implying that I should just shut up about what happened to me. I asked her what SHE needed to feel better because that seemed to be what was happening. She then snaps at me that I have not even told her what happened...like I just did not attempt that, twice. That was bad enough but she then denied that she cut me off. When I pointed out how and when she had, she replied, "Well, I had to defend myself!" I asked, "From what, me telling you the story of what happened?" I kept telling her I was good and thanking the professional but LeeAnn kept trying to get me to see how wrong I was. She REALLY came to tell me, on D.C. Emancipation Day, that I should shut up about my racist experience.
