Defending my favorite restaurant

I am not sure when deliberatly giving false information in retaurant reviews became such a huge amount of fun for people who, apparently, have very small minds, but that seems to be the case.


A site called Yelp, which carries restaurant reviews for various spots, ran a review - obviously written by a troll - which told people to stay away from Maddie's in East Hartford, as people of color are treated badly there.  


To me, that was the worst thing they said, but there were others.  They claimed to have been overcharged for drinks (Maddie's does not serve liquor), and also said the waitresses are rude, inattentive, and that they threw their change back at them.


Nothing stings like injustice, in my opinion, and the fact that a wonderful, family-owned and operated diner is getting a bum rap is injustice in my book.  The owners - a mother and daughter combo - would never be guilty of being disrespectful to any patron in any way whatsoever, and if any waitress ever treated a patron badly, they would be fired on the spot. 


This is what I had to say when I submitted a review/rebuttal last night:


"I eat at Maddie's nearly every day of the week and, not even mentioning how great the food and prices both are, a big part of the reason I go there so often is the fact that they NEVER judge people.  


I notice that some comments have been made about the waitresses being rude and short tempered.  This is not the case, nor is it true that they overcharge for drinks - that is impossible for them to do, since they don't even have a liquor license!  


I hate to contradict other people, but I also hate to see a good, family-owned and operated business get bad ratings just because people can give them out.  


Many times I have had people of color as a part of my dining group, or seated near me, and I have NEVER seen or heard them being treated any differently than anyone else.  


We are talking about waitresses who will go out of their way to actually deliver meals to customers who, for one reason or another, cannot make it in for breakfast or lunch.  


Reviewers, let's be fair.  People looking for a good, inexpensive place to eat breakfast or lunch deserve to be told the truth and not to see snide remarks online just because it is so easy to make them."


I remember a time when Freedom of Speech allowed people to express their true feelings...it was never intended to give people with too little to do and too much time to do it in free reign to lie about others, and, in some cases, to deliberately try to do harm to their reputations.


When did the citizens of this country, and others, decide it was alright to be so cruel?  The jury in the recent case involving Alex Jones and the surviving family members of the Sandy Hook massacre certainly did not think it was fine.   


I suspect part of it lies in the fact that things can be said online without people having to actually see what their words do to other people; if they cannot see the hurt, embarassment or surprise those words are immediately causing, how can they  understand the pain they have caused?


The Internet is a wonderful thing.  Speaking for myself, I am online for many hours each day.  Unfortunately, the Internet is also a place where cruel, unfounded remarks are made everyday on one social media platform or another.  


I think we all need to remember that, if we would not like a particular thing said to us, or about us, then we should not put others in a position we would not want for ourselves.


As old-fashioned as it may seem, there was nothing wrong with the Golden Rule, and I think there are a lot of people out there who need to repeat it every day.    





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