From today's Charlotte Observer. I heard about this right after it happened. I'm glad there has been some resolution.
Bar spat spurs Facebook boycott page and apology from Dixie's Tavern
By Eric Frazier
Posted: Wednesday, Jan. 05, 2011
Two women who launched a Facebook page to organize a boycott of a Charlotte bar - after they say they were told to leave because the bar didn't serve lesbians - have won an apology from the manager and a promise of sensitivity training for the staff.
Tracy Thomas said she and her friend Kelly Johnson created the page after visiting Dixie's Tavern on Seventh Street in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 17 at around dinner time. She says they grew upset after about 20 minutes passed and no waiter came to their table, although waiters were serving tables nearby.
When they finally got to put in their drink order, Thomas said, another 10 minutes passed before it came and they decided to leave. She said a member of the staff asked if they were going to pay for the drinks and they said no.
They said as they walked out, the staffer said, "Good, we don't want to serve lesbians here anyway," followed by cuss words and other degrading comments. Thomas said when her friend burst into tears and asked what the man's name was, he said he was "one of the owners."
"Never, ever would I have dreamed that anybody would be treated like that," Thomas told the Observer Wednesday. "I was just shocked."
She said Johnson declined to talk about the situation with the Observer because she's still shaken by what happened.
Thomas says she posted a note on her own personal Facebook page about the encounter several days after it happened, and found herself flooded by 60 responses within hours.
The women created the boycott page on Dec. 30. By this week, it had more than 500 followers, many of whom angrily denounced the bar.
On Wednesday, Thomas posted a note on the page saying they'd met with the bar's manager and found him to be "very sincere in (his) apology for what happened."
The bar's general manager, in a telephone interview with the Observer, said a bartender had been placed on unpaid suspension because of the incident. He added that all staff would be given sensitivity training.
The manager, who identified himself as Danny but declined to give his last name, said the bar took issue with some parts of the women's account, but he said he ordered bar employees not to post their opinions on the boycott page.
He said he wanted to focus on resolving the situation and didn't want to get into "a he-said, she-said thing" about the details of what happened.
"I wasn't there, so I don't know if it was just his word against theirs," he said. "I had a good long talk with these ladies yesterday. We're very sorry this happened to them."
Thomas, an former bank employee who does bar promotions, said she had considered legal action, but can't afford to pay for a lawsuit. She says she's happy with the result, and hopes it will help prevent similar incidents.
"We're angry about what happened," she said. "But if what comes out of this is that everybody has more awareness and a more sensitive side, I guess that's the best-case scenario."
Read more:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/201...#ixzz1ADJBircR