KS
Keely Surprenant
3 days ago
This needed to be a phone call with management but they are impossible to reach. So here I am! We dropped in as we were passing through town during a road trip and upon walking in, the situation was tense. A customer was leaving (refusing to eat here), another customer walked up to me and quietly suggested I wait to order until the current store employee making sandwiches (who we later learned to be Eric Rader, who was not wearing a name tag) was pulled from the line. He quietly told me Eric was “slamming things around and being out of control” - we waited for a second and watched this play out as the other employee (Micah) asked if he (Eric) was okay. They exchanged some angry words and Eric seemed to be angry that Micah had arrived late for his shift and stated he had been there for ten hours and just wanted to go home. Micah told him to go ahead and go, “I got this” and Eric proceeded to make food while grumbling about his time being disrespected - all while slamming items around, basically throwing sandwich ingredients down the line, disheveling and ruining people’s orders, and snapping at customers. When a customer suggested he (Eric) just leave as he had been given permission to do so, he began yelling at customers. Another customer snapped back and stated she would be calling his manager and he called her derogatory names under his breath. When she asked him “what?” he repeated it out loud with an expletive and made eye contact. His other colleague did NOTHING to intervene, and at this point all of the customers were getting involved to defend her because the situation started to feel intense, all the while Micah worked quietly beside Eric. Eric proceeded to make himself a sandwich and storm out of the restaurant. When asked for the restaurant manager phone number, Micah suggested a Google review - when again asked for the number, he gave it to me…but I made the mistake of calling after we had left only to realize he had given me a wrong number. If this isn’t obvious, let me just say EVERY part of this is unacceptable!!! Eric’s behavior was BEYOND inappropriate - being rude and downright abusive and aggressive to customers because of a bad day is inexcusable, and allowing that behavior from your colleagues or in your restaurant is reckless and irresponsible. He humiliated and berated a loyal local customer with zero shame, and was allowed to do so with no repercussions. I can only assume Micah has his reasons for covering for his colleague (perhaps protecting his own job due to tardiness?) but either way this store needs better management and some serious accountability for its employees. Other customers mentioned prior visits to this store with similar issues with Eric. He is clearly struggling with some emotional or mental health issues and needs help. He does NOT need to be engaging with people in a customer service position - I would not be surprised if something dangerous went down in that store in the future based on the volatile behavior I witnessed today.