So, on Saturday night my boyfriend and I were celebrating the birthday of a friend- eleven of us all together, when we were physically and verbally assaulted by the owner of a local restaurant!
We had eaten some moderately good food, and were finally working on splitting up the bill (which we had to take care of completely on our own, the waiter saying that he just absolutely couldn’t keep track of what we’d ordered as couples, and that he had no way of dividing it up, etc…). I remembered I had a Groupon, and while it had expired, it was supposed be worth the $25 I originally paid.
I mentioned the Groupon to our server who told me that the Groupon wouldn’t be honored, as it had expired long ago . When I pointed out that the initial value of $25 never expires, he immediately deferred to the owner, telling me I could talk to the owner about it myself. Knowing I was in the right, I was fine with this, though it really seemed like it shouldn’t have been an issue.
When the owner came over to us he was already very agitated, and we hadn’t spoken a word. I explained the issue, and pointed out that the Groupon explicitly states that the $25 spent on the coupon NEVER EXPIRES, and that this statement was literally in all capital letters on the voucher. I showed him the voucher, to which he said “I can read.” He refused to honor the Groupon, saying that it had expired long ago, and that the language ensuring its original value was incorrect, that it had actually been “added after he signed the contract”! He got increasingly angry during the course of our short conversation, and insisted that if I had an issue I needed to take it up with Groupon. Our table’s tab had to have been over $500 all together, so arguing over the $25 seemed like a waste of energy.
I agreed that I would take it up with Groupon, even though I couldn’t understand the problem, because he was clearly very upset and the deliberations were starting to garner attention from the few other guests in the restaurant.
Even though I agreed to do as he said, he wouldn’t leave and kept shouting at me, at which point my boyfriend pointed out that I had already agreed to do what he wanted, and that he needed to leave me alone. Suddenly the owner GRABBED MY BOYFRIEND BY THE BACK OF THE NECK, squeezing aggressively! I was shocked, and stood up asking him what he thought he was doing, grabbing a customer’s neck and so on. He kept yelling and yelling at us, and physically drove us from the restaurant shouting expletives and calling us names all the while. He repeatedly said that he was going to kill my boyfriend! The owner also told my boyfriend to come back inside if he had a problem, and that he’d kick my boyfriend’s ass, and he continued to threaten to kill my boyfriend!
Our friends had been cowering in horror, and were understandably very confused, as the situation had gotten heated so suddenly, and for no apparent reason. While I had some cash with me and tossed it to my friend to help defray part of the bill, we weren’t allowed to pay our whole portion, and, despite the horrible conflict, nothing was removed from the bill! Our friends were stuck paying the remaining $251 tab! (This was after half of the party had already paid and left, so the bill was exorbitant.)
The situation, what with the physical aggression and the death threats, has left me incredulous.
I want everyone to know that the owner did this to us, as his behavior was clearly out of line, if not criminal.