The whole IHOP thing. Getting kicked 'cos I'm queer.
Okay, I was really pissed off and I left out some details that would help the situation.
For the last four years I've been going to IHOP randomly with the same group of friends. The majority of them are pretty femmes and often one or two of the club DJs. This particular manager always came over when it was me and the girls, bought them food, discounted their tickets, etc. My best friend Whitney was the sole reason that I went, usually. She moved to Hawaii and I quit going for awhile, not on purpose, it just happened to wind up that way. Every time I did go in, however, the same manager would come over and talk to me and my girlfriend and every time he'd ask me where Whitney and the rest of the girls were, no big. Always a nice guy, always funny. Kept things brief, etc. Well one night, about six weeks ago, my girlfriend and I were in there with another group of friends. It was 2 AM. We're talking, etc., and my girlfriend leans over and kisses me. No making out, just a quick peck, etc., and before I know it, this manager comes over and starts bitching me out saying that what we did is public indecency and that he's got people complaining about lude conduct and told me that he'd be monitoring my behavior, basically. Ever since he saw Rita kiss me, every time I'm in there, he's completely different. He doesn't talk to the girls anymore, he doesn't talk to me, he mean mugs me every time I'm in there and this last time was the final straw. We were tucked into the back corner, there was no one else on our half of the restaurant. Half way through us being there, two tables sat in smoking in an in closed room, fifty feet away.
Annyyyway. We were talking, etc., I was sitting across the table from any of the girls but Whitney and I were holding hands briefly and he comes over and starts bitching me out again, saying that I'm rude to the server, he's talked to me about my behavior before and that my friends are welcome to stay but I can't and that I'm not welcome back.
What's interesting is that I go in off and on and the only time there's ever a problem is when this one manager is there. I'm the same always, and yes, I get loud sometimes but, frankly, it's 4 AM in the middle of bar rush. There are drunken people and other people making out and he never says a damn thing to them.
He also claimed that he's had serves complaining that I don't tip. Not that my friends don't, but that *I* don't. Of all the things he could make up as a basis for kicking me out, the fact that I don't tip and am supposedly rude to the server isn't a basis for kicking me out. I've been in the restaurant industry for literally almost a decade and I've never, ever, EVER had the luxury of not waiting on people because they were rude to me or didn't tip. In the real world, we have to suck it up and bitch about it later. Also that's a ridiculous claim because the servers who know who we are argue over who gets to take us because they know that it's a sure 20 to 50 bucks.
And I don't even really think it's this guys fault. I think there are complaints. And it's from the security guard who doubles as their host at 3 AM on the weekends. She hates me. And she's the only one in ear shot, the only one who is around, and the complaints always come when she's there. There have been nights when neither one of them are there and nothing happens. In fact, the other managers wave at me when I'm with Rita and wave at our group when we're there. But if this chick is there, all of a sudden all kinds of people are complaining. No.