As you know, our business is only a block away. I did ask Nick, and he said there wasn’t much conversation among the customers on the subject, which is fine.
Being in the service business for almost 30 years, we’ve run across almost everything you can imagine. Kids, 100 year olds. Almost every nationality in the world. Men AND women. And people of different lifestyles, some of which can be construed as truly strange indeed.
These are all learning opportunities. As such, it’s not too often that we’ve thrown people out of the Shop. And in all of those cases, it’s due to the person’s behavior. If they’re combative, rude, or similar behavior, they have to go, it doesn’t matter what else.
BUT… those different nationalities, just like they might have different skin color, they also have different hair characteristics. And some are more difficult than others. Blonde hair bleaches with the sun, and as I cut it, the hair below is slightly darker, and all of what I do shows up. I have to be careful. Same applies with African hair. It has a very tight curl, and it combs and cuts differently. And since we don’t see too many black men in our area, we don’t cut black men’s hair that often, so if they wish for a fade or just buzz it off, it’s fine, but if they want the Seahawks logo on the side, we have to tell them we can’t do that, and to recommend another barber. It’s indeed a form of refusing service based on an ethnicity, but in every case, the customer understood and appreciated our honesty.
When you start a business where you’re working with the public, or ON the public, it’s a tough learning curve, but you learn what works, and what doesn’t. You pay attention, and your business can succeed organically.
As a moderate/libertarian (the real liberal, ya know, the ones concerned with personal liberty and such) these debates are a two edged sword. On one hand, a business should have the right to refuse service, regardless of reasons, and customers can vote with their wallets. But then it harkens back to segregation and the south and that can’t be allowed either. And of course, the courts have already affirmed that the Nazis can march and hold rallies, regardless of what the rest of society thinks about it. But then, we belong to a fraternal organization that doesn’t allow women.
It’s not an easy answer. I do wonder, how did the subject even come up in the first place? If it is just making sandwiches, why was there any mention of the sexual orientations of the couple at all?
This whole thing just makes me shake my head at the landmines society has decided to set up for its citizens to blunder into.
Playing devils advocate, what if the restaurant owner lived in a community, city, state where her actions were supported and voting with our dollars encouraged that kind of behavior? I agree, I feel that we are overly regulated in most aspects of our lives. As a homeowner with a swimming pool, I’m required to keep my gate locked to make sure someone doesn’t come into my yard and drown in my pool. Not that they would be trespassing.
The market doesn't always get it right; the slave trade thrived until it was forcibly stopped by government intervention.
Yeah, I don’t get this.
As you know, our business is only a block away. I did ask Nick, and he said there wasn’t much conversation among the customers on the subject, which is fine.
Being in the service business for almost 30 years, we’ve run across almost everything you can imagine. Kids, 100 year olds. Almost every nationality in the world. Men AND women. And people of different lifestyles, some of which can be construed as truly strange indeed.
These are all learning opportunities. As such, it’s not too often that we’ve thrown people out of the Shop. And in all of those cases, it’s due to the person’s behavior. If they’re combative, rude, or similar behavior, they have to go, it doesn’t matter what else.
BUT… those different nationalities, just like they might have different skin color, they also have different hair characteristics. And some are more difficult than others. Blonde hair bleaches with the sun, and as I cut it, the hair below is slightly darker, and all of what I do shows up. I have to be careful. Same applies with African hair. It has a very tight curl, and it combs and cuts differently. And since we don’t see too many black men in our area, we don’t cut black men’s hair that often, so if they wish for a fade or just buzz it off, it’s fine, but if they want the Seahawks logo on the side, we have to tell them we can’t do that, and to recommend another barber. It’s indeed a form of refusing service based on an ethnicity, but in every case, the customer understood and appreciated our honesty.
When you start a business where you’re working with the public, or ON the public, it’s a tough learning curve, but you learn what works, and what doesn’t. You pay attention, and your business can succeed organically.
As a moderate/libertarian (the real liberal, ya know, the ones concerned with personal liberty and such) these debates are a two edged sword. On one hand, a business should have the right to refuse service, regardless of reasons, and customers can vote with their wallets. But then it harkens back to segregation and the south and that can’t be allowed either. And of course, the courts have already affirmed that the Nazis can march and hold rallies, regardless of what the rest of society thinks about it. But then, we belong to a fraternal organization that doesn’t allow women.
It’s not an easy answer. I do wonder, how did the subject even come up in the first place? If it is just making sandwiches, why was there any mention of the sexual orientations of the couple at all?
This whole thing just makes me shake my head at the landmines society has decided to set up for its citizens to blunder into.
Playing devils advocate, what if the restaurant owner lived in a community, city, state where her actions were supported and voting with our dollars encouraged that kind of behavior? I agree, I feel that we are overly regulated in most aspects of our lives. As a homeowner with a swimming pool, I’m required to keep my gate locked to make sure someone doesn’t come into my yard and drown in my pool. Not that they would be trespassing.