Be careful what you tweet about, restaurant patrons.
Allison Matsu was at Down House, a restaurant in Houston, sitting at the bar, when she reportedly sent a tweet calling the bartender a “twerp” and adding the hashtag #jackoff. The restaurant’s manager, Forrest DeSpain, who wasn’t working that night, noticed the tweet and called Down House. After speaking with the bartender, DeSpain asked to speak to the woman at the bar and Matsu was put on the line. He then asked her to leave.
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“She called him a twerp,” DeSpain told the Houston Press. “I immediately called up here and talked to her for a few minutes and asked her if she had any kinder words.” Matsu described a different conversation—tweeting that the GM had cursed her out—though she did end up leaving the bar.
According to Houston Eater, the restaurant’s co-owner, Chris Cusack, has said that he wished things were handled differently, but he stands behind DeSpain’s decision. “At the end of the day, it is our responsibility to protect our staff, and I think standing up for them when someone calls them a jackoff is a positive move.”
The altercation quickly spread both on Twitter and blogs as local media stations picked up the story. Unsurprisingly, arguments about cyber-bullying and freedom of speech also started swirling. And despite the clash, no one involved seems to have learned much from the incident: both Matsu and Down House have continued tweeting about the incident, though, we presume from a distance.
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