Some Dallas brunch-goers on Sunday were treated to an eventful day’s start when a man nonchalantly wandered in wearing a “Fuck Trump” T-shirt. Andy Ternay of course knew (could say hoped) that his expletive-laced anti-Trump shirt might offend some of First Watch café’s other guests — “Fuck you for voting for him,” the shirt also said, followed by “Fuck the racist alt-right” on the back. You can’t say that he was surprised, then, when management cut his breakfast short.
But as he wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post yesterday, his being booted was merely the start of the drama. After causing a scene, Ternay says two servers and a customer complimented his choice of attire, an angry table ultimately cheered his removal, and a worker quit on the spot to protest Ternay’s treatment.
Here’s how it went down: Things soured almost right after Ternay entered. A group of customers told the manager that they were “very distressed” that kids might see the curse words on Ternay’s shirt. “I expressed deep sympathies,” he says, “and let [the manger] know that explaining ‘grab ’em by the pussy’ and golden showers to my daughter was equally unpleasant.” He says that they let his table order anyway.
A cook emerged after the drinks came out, though, and asked them to leave. Ternay says that they tipped the server, asked for their drinks to go, and left, adding that at this point, “[o]ne table of white people applauds.” Once in the parking lot, they reportedly noticed one of First Watch’s servers, who’s black, exit, too. He reportedly says that he’s done working there, explaining, “You should hear these people asking not to be seated near Muslims.”
Ternay’s Facebook post has currently amassed 130,000 likes in less than a day, a sign that he’s got sympathy, but he is requesting that nobody punish the restaurant. “I’m fine with being asked to leave and I don’t urge a boycott. These things are never easy for businesses, and the workers were polite and professional,” he writes. “Besides, we hope to be back soon …”
This post has been updated to reflect the fact that Ternay deleted his Facebook post after this story was published.
