RI Ice Cream Shop Considering Closing After "Disrespectful, Abusive Behavior" From Customers
GoLocalProv News Team
RI Ice Cream Shop Considering Closing After "Disrespectful, Abusive Behavior" From Customers
Brickley's -- with locations in Narragansett and Wakefield -- said that some customers have been refusing to wear masks -- and berating employees who ask them to do so.
In May, an ice cream shop in Cape Cod opened during the coronavirus pandemic only to close after customers harassed employees, according to MassLive.
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Brickley's posted the following on Monday:
"The summer weather is here along with the crowds coming to visit our beautiful area. With these crowds come some disgruntled people. The larger majority of our customers are understanding of the how and why we are doing business the way we are right now ... a reduced menu, fewer flavors etc in order to keep things moving and to help avoid congregating.
Over the last two weeks at both our locations we are have experienced on multiple occasions customers who will not wear their mask (asking us to show them the law) or are angry they can't get exactly what they want due to the reduced menu. I personally had one man yell at me "what's your f_ _ _ ing problem" because I told him he needed to move his car which was blocking incoming traffic. A few more expletives hurled toward me and I (for the first time in 26 years) told him to take his business elsewhere.
Some of these customers are being verbally abusive to our young staff. That is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. I cannot ask our high school and college staff to police the behavior of some who choose to ignore our rules.
Another customer who could not get exactly what he wanted told our staff member "you are babies, are you going to let Gina hold your hand all summer" and "I hope you go out of f _ _ _ ing business"
A group of 8 last night came up to cashier, all without masks, was asked to wear them, refused to do so and then ordered. They moved to the patio (Wakefield) and were told they can't congregate on the patio. They told our staff to call the police. The police were not called. This type of thing is becoming an everyday experience.
There are still more stories but I'm sure you are getting the gist of this.
This is incredibly frustrating, stressful and exhausting for all of us. There is a point where it is not worth doing and as July approaches I don't see this getting better. Could we pull the plug on all of this .... at this point my answer is yes. It would be the last option but it is an option. I don't feel that anyone should have to tolerate this disrespectful, abusive behavior. Our staff is made up of mostly young, high school and college students. They don't deserve to be treated like this.
I truly want to thank the majority or our customers who have shown patience and understanding through all of this. We appreciate you.
We will continue to monitor this situation going forward. We want our customers and our staff to be safe.
Thank you"