A farm-to-table restaurant closed for a ‘day of kindness’ after an influx of rude customers made the staff cry

The owners of the farm-to-table restaurant, Apt Cape Code had reached their limit after they were invaded by rude and nasty patrons who verbally abused and made their staff cry.

To make up for such a stressful and frustrating event, they gave their staff a break and closed the restaurant for a “day of kindness.”

Brandi and Regina Felt Castellano, the co-owners of the restaurant shared that many of their patrons have demonstrated unacceptable behaviors toward their staff.

They all tried to deal with the customers nicely but what made them lose their patience was when a man lashed out at a staff. The customer got angry when the staff told him that they could not take his takeout order as they had not opened yet.

The next day, they made a surprise announcement: the farm-to-table restaurant would be closed until 5 pm to give their staff a break from dealing with customers.

They explained on a Facebook post that an “astronomical influx” of customers had been yelling and screaming at their employees and some were even threatening to sue them.

Such actions made their team members cry so the owners wanted to give their staff a break from the rude, abusive customers.

“This is an unacceptable way to treat any human,” they wrote on Facebook. “We will be open again for breakfast tomorrow. Please remember that many of my staff are young, this is their first job or summer job to help pay for college.

We have had to make adjustments due to the increase in business volume, size of the kitchen, product availability, and staffing availability, we are not trying to ruin anyone’s vacation or day off.” 

Regina Felt Castellano, one of the owners said that a lot of businesses did not survive the pandemic and it was disheartening to see people become so aggressive.

She said that it was not the case before the pandemic and their customers used to treat the staff nicely. However, since the restaurants have been fully opened, many of the customers have become rude and abusive to their 24 employees.

“Patrons have crossed the line from being just rude or upset to verbally abusive,” says Brandi Castellano.

“They told one of our workers that ‘I hope you get hit by a car when you leave work today.’ It just makes them not want to come to work, the young ones crying or going home and crying,” she added.

The owners of the farm-to-table restaurant as well as their staff were all heartbroken and disappointed by the customers’ recent behaviors.

“It’s like abuse,” Regina said. “It’s things that people are saying that wouldn’t be allowed to be on TV because they would be bleeped. People are always rude to restaurant workers, but this far exceeds anything I’ve seen in my 20 years.”

Like other restaurants, Apt Cape Cod was also short on staff and supplies, which led to limited menu items and longer waiting times.

These small shortcomings made the customers angry and behave negatively towards the servers who were all kind and patient.

“These are people who are showing up every day for work and they are human beings and that’s what everyone needs just to be nice to everybody, everywhere,” Brandi said, talking about their employees.

A lot of people showed their sympathy on social media and expressed their disappointment. Some of the restaurant’s customers also showed their support by dropping off gift cards for the employees. A parasail and Jet Ski shop offered to give their employees a day of fun.

These kind gestures made the owners and the staff feel better as they tried to focus on customers who treat them nicely and appreciate everyone’s work.