Homeless advocates and homeless in general? Do you realize what they cost?
The story isn't that long. A man comes to my walk up window and asks for a cup of ice. Employee says it will be .25 cents. Man throws a fit, complains and then urinates on the wall below the window. Good customer waiting behind the man gets ill, leaves, and never returns. Police are called and won't do anything because its a minor misdemeanor. Me and employees have to wash off the wall and close window for the day.
Two days later a woman comes and buys a drink from us, and asked for a cup of ice. I give her the ice and she tells me she's going to file a complaint against me for discriminating against the homeless man I refused to "give" ice too. That is unless we "donate" to the homeless group she represents. I told her to get her lawyer. What am I doing wrong? By the way the customer I lost was a good one and with a few more like that our business will close anyway.
Answers:
Many years ago I worked in a small store and a drunk homeless woman came in and nonchalantly urinated in one of the dressing rooms. The cop didn't arrest her, but he made her completely clean it up. She felt discriminated against and swore that she would never want to set foot in our store again, as if that was some sort of punishment for us.
Don't worry about the discrimination B.S., there's no statute or case history anywhere to support such a claim. She was just looking for a handout of her own. There's nothing unethical about giving complimentary ice and cups to paying customers, it's not actually "free" by any definition of the word. Now, if you were to give out free stuff to the general public to everybody except homeless people, then she could say you're discriminating. But it still wouldn't be illegal discrimination because federal and state anti-bias laws only apply to commercial activity (i.e. if you refuse service to a customer because he's black, refuse to rent an apartment to somebody because he's hispanic, refuse to give somebody a job because you don't like his religion, etc.). They don't apply if you're just giving stuff away for free. The only thing that would be illegal and actually could get you in trouble with the homeless advocates is if you routinely refuse service to homeless people and kick them out of your establishment even though they're perfectly willing to pay and not being disruptive in some manner.
I couldnt tell you but if i were you i would contact a lawyer. That almost sounds like blackmail to me. Plus, she did make a purchase, the other man did not.
You don't mention why you didn't charge the woman 25 cents for the cup of ice?
She made a purchase, the homeless man did not. Ice generally comes with a purchased drink. Tell her to get a lawyer and I would contact my own. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP VIDEO AND RECEIPTS FROM HER PURCHASE. Also, get signed witness statements that she made a purchase and attempted to blackmail you. Best of luck!
You aren't doing anything wrong. You gave her the ice because she was already a paying customer.
I would suggest you offer the customer you lost a free meal, to make up for their invconvenience--since they're a good customer, it should be worth that investment.
Yea let em fork up a lawyer Your just getting shook down, if you give in they will be back on a regular basis. and there is no reason why you can't have a policy that entitles a customer who already bought items to a little lignappe.
I can sympathize with your situation. It seems that in some cities like Los Angeles, Los Vegas, and several others with a high transient population.now have a unique issue.
Homeless people ask business owners for water, if you give them water, they often will claim you gave them something to make them sick......if you dont give them water, and they "pass out" on your premises you are guilty of "depraved indifference" if they die or get really ill.
It seems the lawyers are sending bums in to ask for water, then they offer to settle with you before things "get out of hand"
is the USA being dragged down to the gutter by some lawyers, greedy to make a score.???
I dont have the answer, but I know I will never ever go into the food business.
Homeless are an issue, but what can be done??
Other countries are gaining on us, they have many advantages....for one.there are very very few "repeat offenders" there......the other advantage they have...is they dont have so many rules to prevent them from defending themselves......
America is in a death spiral, we need to do something quick.....Abe Lincoln knew this day would come..he had good advice
The really sad part of this story is that your failure to realize that your problem all came about because you refused to give a homeless man a cup of ice on a hot day.
Would you make a pregnant women sleep in a manger too?
Show some kindness to people down on their luck instead of being mean to those out of luck and maybe your business will improve.
You did nothing wrong. The woman was a paying customer she did purchase a drink after all. The homeless man was just looking for a handout. I manage a hotel and we have homeless people come in once in awhile (On their own not from a social service agency) and give us some bullshit sob story about how they are entitled to a free room. Usually they come in claiming that they are friends of the owner.I tell them ok If you can tell me the owners name I will give you the room. It hasn't happened yet.
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