Seattle Diner Booting Customers For Wearing Google Glass
Source: Forbes
David Meinert is the owner of the venerable 5 Point Café in Belltown, Seattle, an old-school dive bar that made news earlier this year when it announced that Google Glass smart eyewear would not be allowed in the bar. People locally were amused and the story was tagged as a sign of things to come.
Lost Lake Café is a new-ish 24-hour diner at a busy intersection in the hip mecca that is the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle. It is owned by Meinert and his business partner, Jason Lajeunesse, another local entrepreneur. Last week, a Seattle video teleconference network engineer named Nick Starr went to Lost Lake with some friends. Starr was wearing Google Glass and was asked by a server and manager to either take the headset off or hed be asked to leave.
Starr and his friends did end up leaving, apparently unhappily, because this morning Starr took to Facebook to air his grievances to Meinert and his Lost Lake crew, saying in part that he informed the server that he was [sic] well aware of the policy at The 5 Point Cafe but asked to see where it was policy for Glass to be disallowed at Lost Lake. She said she couldnt provide any and when asked to speak with management she stated she was the night manager. I again inform her that the two venues are different and have different policies. She refuses and I leave.
Starr goes on to say that I would love an explanation, apology, clarification, and if the staff member was in the wrong and lost the owner money last night and also future income as well, that this income be deducted from her pay or her termination. Starr is clearly miffed.
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthickey/2013/11/26/seattle-diner-booting-customers-for-wearing-google-glass
rucky
(35,211 posts)the glassholes or the hipster dives
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)thecrow
(5,519 posts)JackInGreen
(2,975 posts)But I work about 3 blocks from the 5point. They're one of the few 24 hour bar and grills left in this city and is a mainstay for my middle of the night lunches (I work graves). It's far from a 'hipster' location. They've probably got the best chicken fried steak I've ever had. I don't agree with their policies (I'm a glass fan), but please come try it before you label it?
snooper2
(30,151 posts)since they banned plastic bags in 2012 you can now only get dime satchels
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)Mojo Electro
(362 posts)Love it!
I actually think Glass is pretty neat though. I might be a glasshole.
Edit: I should clarify that I would never use it in a restaurant. (I try to never take my phone out of my pocket at any meal table) And what an absolute dickhole move to try to get the staff member fired over it. What pompous douchbaggery.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I think those things are creepy. At least if someone is filming with a cellphone, you have a chance of knowing it. There are security cameras everywhere, but if you walk around looking for them you can usually find them.
Maybe if those things had a noxious blinking light so anyone could know when it was aimed at them, the innocent bystanders could at least have a fighting chance of getting "out of the shot" as it were.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)" Anyone wearing Google glasses must also wear a paper bag over their head "
MADem
(135,425 posts)quadrature
(2,049 posts)RKP5637
(67,111 posts).... but almost certainly not legal.
RKP5637
(67,111 posts)petronius
(26,602 posts)without wearing his special google glasses? Completely asinine, but his choice, certainly. But then he tries to get a server docked in pay, or even fired, for not catering to his childish 'need'? It boggles my mind that this guy would be so unaware of his own asshattery that he'd be the one to blow this up...
KT2000
(20,583 posts)If a person wants social isolation there are plenty of restaurants that will deliver to the home or they can go pick it up.
nolabear
(41,986 posts)She was very nervous about the idea she could be videotaped without her knowing it. I can understand the concern.
Btw I live in that "hip mecca." That's a pretty damned funny designation. One of the reasons cafe owners (more than one btw) cite being nervous about people wearing them is that they can video or take photos of peoples' credit or debit card transactions. I don't know that it's a real problem but patrons have said they don't like being around them so I can see the point in not wanting them there.
Brave new world, eh?
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)or cameras that can be pointed at other people, with or without their knowledge.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Hell, there's a bar here in SF that bans patchouli, and kicks people out if they smell like it.
TeamPooka
(24,229 posts)night either if I owed the place.
Privacy is now a commodity that businesses can sell you, along with the meal.
calimary
(81,321 posts)Lajeunesse doesnt see it that way. Should someone lose their job over this? No way. Right or wrong, theres no way wed fire one of our employees for something like that. Wed much rather 86 an entitled-acting tech nerd.
Were not trying to be jerks at all, Meinert says. If you walked in here with a video camera wed ask you to stop. If youre speaking too loudly on a cellphone wed ask you to leave. That should be obvious. With Glass, there should be etiquette around its use, and we feel that in a setting like a café or bar they should just be taken off and not used.
"Wed much rather 86 an entitled-acting tech nerd.
OMG!!! LOVE it!!!
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)If you're subtle enough you can easily record anything, google glasses or no....
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)And most restaurants are implicitly trusting their customers to not behave in an asinine manner.
Apparently this expectation is too much for some people to cope with.
Response to onehandle (Original post)
Cronus Protagonist This message was self-deleted by its author.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)But why in the hell would you want to go out to dinner with the internet on your face?
Don't get me wrong I love my computer and the internet but not better than my friends...and not while I am eating out.
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)"Why in the hell would you want to go out to dinner with the internet on your face?"
A keeper.
Johnny Noshoes
(1,977 posts)What is it with people who feel the need to take a picture of what they're eating and post it on Facebook?
DeschutesRiver
(2,354 posts)because of a self possessed public demands it LOL
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)On your face seems more rude, but I am not sure why. I guess most people with smart phones at least stow them while they are actually eating dinner with someone else. And it is easier to secretly video someone with the glasses - does a light come on at least so people know they are being recorded?
zeemike
(18,998 posts)Even if the grocery store there are people talking on the phone while walking down the isle...and usually they are not saying anything improtant...just like "I am walking down the cereal isle now"...I just don't get it...it reminds me of some Si Fi dystopia world of disconnected people that I never thought I would live to see.
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)Not sure that actually happens but would not be surprised.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Why would you want the internet on your face at all?
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... that might keep certain customers away from their place if they didn't have policies like this?
geomon666
(7,512 posts)I will now make it a priority to visit this establishment when I'm in the Seattle area.
Lancero
(3,003 posts)Google announces a partnership with eyeglass companies to sell prescription glasses with Glass built in.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Though I still cannot imagine a scenario where that would be something I found convenient when at a bar or restaurant
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)if I see some asshat glasshat in an eatery where I am - I'm outta there in a heartbeat.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Look buddy, not so sound old-fashioned, but... get off the fucking fence. Either grow a beard or don't. "The lintbrush" is not an acceptable style for facial hair.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Can you imagine these nuts driving around while trying to film things and surf the 'net?
Julian Englis
(2,309 posts)The odds are better than 47%
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)myrna minx
(22,772 posts)gopiscrap
(23,761 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)Allowing them to sell your personal information to marketers and hackers.
Wearers look like this:
gopiscrap
(23,761 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Essentially, they are going to be like wearable smartphones. And like a smartphone, yes, you can also take pictures and record video, but you can do all of the other things as well.
Right now, they look as pictured. but the plan is to have regular looking glasses.
The idea is similar to a fighter pilot's HUD or Heads up display.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)stating the policy. I agree they shouldn't have to, but some people will just try to pick a fight because they want to be bullies.
The customer was rude not only in their failure to comply, but then to insist someone should have their pay docked.
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)There is a clear privacy issue here and a restaurant would have liability issues if they allowed diners to videotape other patrons without their permission. A restaurant should not have to provide a written policy for something as basic as this. Besides the liability issues, there is an issue of basic courtesy. Restaurants have the right to ask patrons to be courteous to other patrons and staff. Wearing a videocam at a restaurant is just rude.
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)Demanding that she be docked so he could wear his stupid fucking glasses? What a selfish, entitled prick.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Meinhert too:
@NickStarr thanks for the publicity. Would love to buy you a beer at Lost Lake or The 5 Point. Just, you know, no Glasses.
Retweeted by Nick Starr
https://twitter.com/NickStarr
Wow, Starr has really nailed "playing the victim." Poor baby.