I am reporting an incident that took place on Saturday May 10, 2008 and another one approximately 2 months prior involving a bartender named Scott and myself (unfortunately I do not know his last name). This involves a physical assault, verbal physical threats and sexual harassment. As I approached the door at Barfish Lounge in San Marcos Texas I politly handed the door guy my identification and reached for the door. As I open the door it flung open quite quickly and quite unexpectedly. I weigh approx. 100 pounds and so out of pure habit I put most of my strength in when I open a door and in this case I did simply because the door appeared to very heavy, and I automatically assumed it was going to be a bit difficult to pull. However to my surprise the door flung open very easily and quickly. I thought nothing of it and continued inside. Walking through to meet my friends a man chases me down grabs my arm, not violently at this point, but begins to lash into verbally me for bumping him with the door. I explained to him that I did not even see him until the door was already being open and I thought nothing of it because I figured it was clearly an accident on my part. He had been standing behind the doorman in a dark corner directly behind the entrance door. Like I said, I barely saw him out of my peripheral vision after I had already open the door. Honestly, I was not paying much attention because I just wanted to meet my friends inside who I had kept waiting. Once he approached me he began to verbally attack me. He accused me of doing it on purpose. I politely said to him that it was not on purpose, but I did not see him until it was too late to stop the door. He got in my face approx. 6-8 inches away from me and started raising his voice and verbally attacking me for my mistake. I told him that I would not do something like that intentionally even though he wronged me in the past and I told him that he was over-reacting. I simply do not play games like that and I do not have an angry nature and it would be completely out of character for me to behave in such a manner. I was not brought up that way. Scott continued to get in my face and speak to me louder and louder with an extremely scary and threatening look on his face. He kept asking "Do you want to be here? Do you want to be here?" I replied by saying "Honestly, I do not want to be here. I do not want to be in a place where I am treated with such disrespect. The only reason I am here right now is because my best friend is moving states tomorrow and this is her favorite bar. I'm here for her." He then asked me "Well then, do you want to be with her? Because I will ******* throw you out of here so quick if you don't start acting right." As he is saying all of this to me I am simply, calmly, and politely without raising my voice once "How am I acting?? What have I done? I haven't done anything to deserve to be kicked out. I am just standing here while you attack me." I repeated these words several times because it was the only thing I could say to defend myself. At this point I am quite surprised by this and I stand there like a deer in headlights. After my attempt at defense was failing my friend finally stepped in and said "I have known her my whole life. This is how she is. She is not going to engage with you or fight with you. She..." He rudely interrupted her, put his finger in her face and yelled "You need to shut up or you're next!" in a very threatening tone. After saying this to her I continued to point out that neither she, nor I had done anything wrong. He began rolling his eyes at me and calling me names. He called me "a ******* stuck up bitch" etc etc, abusive names along those lines including curse words. He continued to make his threats of throwing me out of the facility and finally he took it way too far. He told me if I didn't straighten up that he would, and I quote "Rip me up by my panties and throw me out on my ass." Once again I tell him "I am not acting up, I have not had one single drink, and I am simply standing here taking your abuse. You are the one continuing this scene; you are the only one engaging. I'm not in the wrong you are. You are the one acting crazy and irrational and completely inappropriate." This was said with quite a few interruptions from him and I had to very calmly and politely insist that he let me speak for one second. And with that said he yelled at me "THAT'S IT, YOU'RE ******* OUT OF HERE!" As he went to get someone to escort me out of the facility. I would like to note that the entire time this is going on I am very scared. I am shaking and sweating and extremely uncomfortable. The ONLY reason I stayed, unfortunately allowing this to progress, was to be there for my friend, who still did not want to leave. This was the second encounter I have had with Scott at Barfish Lounge. The first time he physically assaulted me was approx 2 months prior to the incident on May 10. The events 2 months ago all started when he overcharged me $10 for my order. I calmly and politely said "um, excuse me; I don't think this is right." I gave you a twenty-dollar bill and I did not get my correct change. You owe me a ten." After seeming to ignore me for a few minutes one of my male friends had to step in and politely ask him to give me the ten dollars he still owed. He was extremely rude, slamming stuff down and throwing things around behind the bar and was clearly being disorderly. His entire face was bright red and as he got the cash out of the register to give back to me he wadded it up into a ball and threw it at me hitting me in my chest and it fell to the floor at my feet while screaming at me "HAVE FUN!" in an extremely rude and sarcastic tone of voice. I consider him throwing the money at me and hitting me in the chest physical assault. Note: I consider him threatening to "rip me up by my panties..." sexual harassment. I decided to ignore the first offense simply because I did not believe that the owner/manager of the bar would care at all what he had done to me. They are friends and it was my belief that he would have played the roll of a friend rather than a boss and authority figure. I have chosen to come forward in hopes that this does not happen to another innocent victim. This person scares me, and to be completely honest, I am nervous about even reporting this because I'm afraid he will do something to me or someone I care about. This is a very serious issue to me and it has implanted a fear inside my head about going out to The Square and enjoying the company of my friends. I am afraid of being attacked again, by anyone because of his manner. I would also like to note that I used to have a friendly relationship with this person. I believe at one point he had a romantic interest in me, however I did not feel the same. I don't know if this is relevant, but it could possibly have a little something to do with his attitude and hate towards me. I would also like to note that there are witnesses who saw the entire episode. I truly hope someone will step in and justify this situation. I feel defenseless to this person who has wronged me and I don't know where to turn to make this right. Thank you for your time and consideration of this issue. I really do appreciate it. Sincerely,
I agree, you have to be an employee to be sexually harrassed. Still, it sounds like a bad situation and I'm sure your history with him plays a role.
Personally, I'd go somewhere else. Lucy's isn't even that cool a place, IMO. There's definitely no shortage of bars and hangouts in this town. There's no way I'd go someplace where some retard treated any of my friends that way.
In Response To "barfish Complaint," I Would Personally Like To Apologize To The Author For Any Recent Unpleasant Experience In Barfish. I Take Great Pride In The Staff As Being A Very Hard-working And Above All, Courteous Group. We Strive To Provide The Best Quality Of Service And Are Expected To Behave In A Manner That Is Nothing Short Of Complete Appreciation And Thoughtfulness For Our Customers; In No Way Do We Tolerate Disrespectful Treatment Of Our Customers. As To The Above Matter, I Would Like To Assure You That This Situation Has Been Addressed, Now That It Has Come To My Attention. It Is My Regret That I Was Not Aware Of The Situation As It Occured, For I Assure You It Would Have Been Handled Differently. Again, I Apologize And Hope That This Incident Does Not Leave A Lasting Negative Impression On Barfish, Although I Fear It May Be Too Late, But Especially The Square Itself. Downtown Is Full Of Great People Who Take Great Pride In Doing Their Jobs Well And Responsibly. This Incident Is In No Way Indicative Of The Atmosphere At Barfish. I Would Also Like To Assure You That You Need Not Expect Any Negativity For Voicing Your Opinion, As I Completely Understand Why It Was Done So. Again, I Apologize On Behalf Of The Staff And The Bar Hoping That This Can Be Resolved.
Fro
Barfish Manager
Great reply. It is always nice to see an owner or manager own an issue like this, rather than deny it and throw around accusations and conspiracy theories, as has sometimes been the case with complaints raised here about other businesses from time to time.
Just curious what "As To The Above Matter, I Would Like To Assure You That This Situation Has Been Addressed, Now That It Has Come To My Attention" means?
Barfish staff suck! I was banned because the owner can't keep his personal friends under control!! Then they open black rabbit and I'm banned there too! When I never started any confrontation at either place. Instead had them brought to me by his friends who obviously don't know what acting like an adult is. . Needless to say the owner still hasn't let me back in and it's been well over a year!! Can't believe the owner/manager even considers himself a "professional." He obviously needs to be reminded on how to run a business!!!