Waiter fired after comments about refusing service to some Trump officials
http://nypost.com/2024/12/14/us-news/d-c-server-fired-over-refusing-service-to-trump-officials/
By David Rutz, Kristine Parks, Fox News
Published Dec. 14, 2024
A Washington, D.C.-area restaurant server has been fired after she spoke out about possibly refusing service to incoming Trump administration officials.
“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” Suzannah Van Rooy, a server at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill, told the Washingtonian this week. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.”
Her remarks were part of a report about whether there would be local “resistance” to certain Trump figures when they were in public settings again after several high-profile incidents during his first term. They included then-aide Sarah Huckabee Sanders being ejected from a restaurant in Lexington, Va., and protesters swarming then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a D.C. Mexican establishment.
“People were a lot more motivated the first time around to do those kinds of shows of passion. This time around, there is kind of a sense of defeat and acceptance,” Van Rooy said, according to the Washingtonian. “But I hope that people still do stand up to this administration and tell them their thoughts on their misbehavior.”
According to a review of her LinkedIn page on Friday, which has since been taken down, Van Rooy listed her duties as doing daily operations, messaging strategies for the restaurant, developing relationships with influencers, and managing in-house events for political figures and VIPs.
Her page also said she worked as an organizer for Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s failed run for governor in 2022.
Beuchert’s Saloon told Fox News Digital that Van Rooy’s remarks were “reprehensible” and she had been fired for violating their “zero-tolerance policy on discrimination.”
Beuchert’s said the former employee was a part-time server and not a manager. It put out statements on social media condemning her remarks after being made aware of them on Thursday.
“Recent comments made by a member of staff who had no authority to speak on behalf of our entire restaurant have been, quite rightly, flagged as inappropriate, hostile, intolerant, and unacceptable. This staff member does NOT speak for us as a restaurant,” Beuchert’s initial statement on Thursday said.
“After the inauguration in January, we will begin serving our fourth administration as a neighborhood restaurant on Capitol Hill open to all and welcoming to all. We have always been a safe space for all. Everyone, especially anyone who feels prejudged or misunderstood, will always find friendly service and a sympathetic ear at Beuchert’s Saloon. Again, we deeply apologize for the comments made by a member of staff. They are NOT representative of our restaurant and do not reflect how we operate as a business, and how proud we are to be a gathering place on Capitol Hill.”
By Friday, the restaurant said it had decided to dismiss the server because of this incident, calling her comments and subsequent behavior, “unforgivable.” It also said she had signed on to the restaurant’s social media accounts to speak on behalf of the restaurant without authorization.
“Not only do Ms. Van Rooy’s comments clearly violate our zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, but her decision to sign into our social media accounts in the middle of the night to post her own rhetoric in wildly offensive responses to comments is a further breach of conduct and protocol. She has no authority to speak on our behalf, and her comments do not reflect the positions of over twenty other people who make up our staff,” the Friday statement read.
“For these reasons as well as the sheer dismay and disgust we feel at her unforgivable behavior, Ms. Van Rooy has been dismissed immediately. Our staff and families (many of whom are personally offended by Ms. Van Rooy’s comments about them) are still reeling from what Ms. Van Rooy said and did, and we as a restaurant are simply horrified to be associated with base prejudice.”
The comment went on to urge the entire restaurant not to be blamed for her rogue actions.
“We are still the same restaurant known for its warm service and friendly staff, and hope you will all visit us soon. We look forward to serving you. All of you,” it wrote.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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