On Feb. 11, popular Main Street destination Peephole Bar & Grill made a Facebook post asking for some feedback from their loyal patronage.
The issue concerned the decision to allow smoking in the establishment again versus keeping it banned, and they received plenty of feedback, racking the comment count up to 202 in the thread – most of which I feel was relatively positive.
People expressed their opinions on both sides, and it seemed to me like a pretty fair way to go about doing things.
However, feedback took a turn for the worse when they announced their decision the next day. The following is an excerpt:
“Thanks to everyone for the feedback. In addition to the numerous Facebook posts, we have received literally dozens and dozens of e-mails, texts, and phone calls from customers expressing their opinions. The feedback was about 2-1 in favor of allowing smoking. I was hoping for an overwhelming consensus, and to be honest it would have made life much easier for me if the majority favored non-smoking. But, that didn’t happen…”
This post went on to make a proposition to its customers who opposed the decision, consistently operating on reason and utilitarian belief.
But that didn’t stop the comment thread from being dominated, at times, by bitter opposition.
Many people seemed to take personal offense to the decision, as if it were somehow being unfair to them.
People even used words like “exclusive” and phrases like “backward-thinking,” which I found to be both inaccurate and petty.
I, for one, would like to commend Peephole for taking the initiative to leave it up to its customers. If anything, this step was inclusive and operated using forward thinking.
But on Feb. 22, Peephole made another post announcing that the decision had been reversed and that they would again be a non-smoking facility. I assume they felt that the costs were going to outweigh the benefits.
Personally, I would have to agree. If I were starting up my own business, and I had to designate it as either smoking or non-smoking, I would side with the latter.
But, if I left it up to a communal vote, I would just hope that my customers remained faithful to their patronage or at least put forth a slight effort.
