BREWSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - A Brewster restaurant shut down for a “Day of Kindness” after customers’ insults and threats drove its staff to tears, and they’ve gotten support from servers across the country who say angry diners are out of control.
Brandi Felt Castellano, the owner of Apt Cape Cod, said customers frustrated by wait times or service have been berating servers, even threatening them.
“Patrons have crossed the line from being just like rude or upset to verbally abusive,” Castellano said. “They told one of our workers that ’I hope you get hit by a car when you leave work today’.”
Castellano said the restaurant has struggled with supplies as it re-opened post-pandemic, and that younger, less experienced staff have been worn down by the harsh words.
“It just makes them like not wanting to come to work, the young ones crying or going home and crying,” Castellano said.
So she decided to close the restaurant for a day and treat the staff to a “Day of Kindness” free from abuse, telling them to decompress and focus on their own well-being. Castellano posted about the closure — and the reason for it — on the restaurant’s website, and soon heard from workers across the country about how they’re facing similar issues.
“We’re hearing from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Las Vegas, like all over the country [people] are like ‘its happening to us too’.”
Since the closure, Castellano said customers have been more polite and more appreciative of workers at the restaurant.
“These are people who are showing up every day for work and they are human beings and that’s what everyone needs just to be nice to everybody, everywhere,” Castellano said.
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