Nathan W.
May 2026
★★★★★
Editing: one of the owners reached out to me to explain that it’s a running joke. A black employee was telling a white employee something along the lines of, ‘of course most people don’t see those napkins, how typical.’
The owner didn’t apologize for the misunderstanding, just mentioned that it was me who took it super out of context.
it is weird to assume a customer wouldn’t assume it was them being talked about after staff immediately Said A Thing that triggers or warrants a follow up response when a customer originally Said A Thing.
The owner said when I responded, the employees assumed I was joining in on their joke, prompting more ‘light-hearted’ laughing. I guess. I can see that it is now a Blown Out of Proportion Thing that snowballed; did not feel welcome enough in general to assume anything else could have been possible. I texted (friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing; the shop hosts events, I’m assuming this friend of a friend who offered the phone number is someone who had to coordinate with them via text at some point), and emailed, and the owner also asked how I got the number, like I set out to just poke at them until getting a response back. I mentioned I emailed and used the number a community member provided because I assumed different employees had access to different accounts, like instagram, business pages where people leave reviews, website email, etc.)
Really bizarre experience here. Came to work on homework with a classmate. All seats taken, so pulled a chair up to the one empty table towards the back of the shop no one had grabbed.
The person making drinks said it was empty because people a little closer to that table, at a bench style table a few feet further away, were using that table for an event, just waiting for more attendees to arrive to claim the table, so check in with them first. So, I confirmed the table wasn't able to be used, put the chair back, then waited for someone to leave to be able to seat myself and have a table ready for the classmate on the way over.
When someone did, they left their leaky coffee glass behind. I went up to the counter to ask for a napkin because I didn't spot any. The worker said, 'it's the black ones over in that corner.'
I said 'oh, I didn't notice that area, thanks.'
Started to walk away to grab some to clean the table and hear a different worker saying, 'kind of racist, they can't see the black ones.'
On my way back to the table I say, 'I'm also a black person, I just need new glasses.' It is also ~dark, gay low lighting ambiance~ so it was generally dim in there.
Both workers and the person they were talking to all just laughed at me instead of acknowledging that they found it completely fine to trash talk a guest.
Just an uncomfortable experience. I know they provide our community with tabling and event space and opportunities, not sure why I got such weird treatment.
