Irate customers leave Midlands restaurant workers distraught over COVID-19 safety

Jennifer Hall has worked in the food industry for all of her adult life. While the coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on her business, Hall’s biggest concern lately has been customer service at the restaurant she manages in Lexington.

How do you serve someone who refuses to abide by restaurant policies to wear a mask?

What do you say when someone tells you you’re stripping their human rights and free will?

Hall, 37, is in the same position as many restaurant workers. She’s trying to keep her fellow employees safe from the virus, trying to keep customers happy so the business will stay afloat, trying to abide by CDC recommendations and trying to enforce safety procedures all at once.

“This has just escalated to such a level that people are scared to come to work,” said Hall. The State has agreed not to name Hall’s restaurant at her request, out of concern for the privacy and safety of the employees.

Hall recalled an incident when a husband and wife came to her restaurant in Lexington refusing to wear face masks. When the 16-year-old hostess told them the restaurant’s mask policy, the customers became irate, Hall said.

Hall came to the front of house, at which point the customers yelled in her face, towered over the 5-foot-9 waitress and informed her that they had a gun, she said.

In South Carolina, it is legal to carry a gun in public only with a concealed weapons permit.

“I get calls to the front anywhere from three to five times a day,” Hall said. “That is unbelievable how many times a hostess feels uncomfortable enough they have to walk away and go get help.”

Hall said she tries to protect the underage workers in the restaurant and encourages them to bring every customer-service issue to management.

“For the most part, I’d say 99% of people are super nice and super supportive and super grateful,” said Jessica Shillato, owner of the Spotted Salamander in downtown Columbia. “But there is that 1% of people that are awful, like so awful.”

Shillato recently went to social media to share her frustrations

“Today we would just get the strangest, sometimes angry sometimes not, comments from people. Not about food or service, just COVID- related stuff that we can’t control,” said Shillato in an Instagram post.

Her post went on to say that after struggling “so hard to not shut down,” dealing with hate from customers during the pandemic is a lot to handle for herself and fellow restaurant workers.

Bobby Williams, the owner of 15 Lizard’s Thicket restaurants, said that at the beginning of the pandemic, his employees had to act as police to customers refusing to wear masks. He said the issue has since gotten better, but only because of his no tolerance rule.

“With us, it’s no mask, no service,” said Williams.

His policy has caused divisions among friends and even cost him customers, but Williams said the No. 1 priority is protecting his almost 700 employees.

“The thing about it is that we asked them to wear masks to walk from the front door to the table, then they can take it off. Or if they go to the restroom, to put it back on to walk to the restroom. That’s all we ask of them,” Williams said.

The main issue that Hall hears from customers is that the mask policy is a violation of their rights.

“A lot of people have said they feel like we’re taking away their rights,” said Hall. “That’s what I keep hearing — ‘It’s my rights, it’s my body’ — over and over and over again.”

Columbia’s face mask policy was extended through January and states, “face coverings are required while entering, exiting, waiting for a table and ordering. Face coverings can be removed while eating or drinking but must be worn otherwise. If a patron is not seated at their table or at the bar, a face covering is required.”

On Nov. 4, Lexington’s face mask ordinance expired, and the city did not extend it. The city is now considering enacting a new face mask ordinance, as COVID-19 cases rise. Neighboring West Columbia renewed its face mask ordinance into the new year.

A report this week from the National Restaurant Association said that the restaurant industry is in a “free fall,” with 10,000 restaurants closing nationally in just three months.

The average drop in sales revenue from 6,000 restaurants surveyed was 36%, and the association reported that most restaurants survive on a profit margin of 5%-6% on average. For S.C. restaurants, the report estimates 22% will close in the next six months.

“Right now, we need everybody’s business. I don’t want to upset anybody, but I know that something somewhere is going to upset somebody so bad that they’re never going to eat here again,” Shillato said.

Daily COVID-19 case numbers in S.C. have risen more than 71% in the last 30 days and are the highest they’ve ever been, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Hall said she has seen the effects of COVID-19 in her restaurant when one of her older, regular customers came in one day without his wife, who’s usually with him. When asked where she was, Hall received the dreadful answer: “She passed away from COVID.”

“These people are just coming to work. We’re all trying to do our best because nobody has a rule-book on this,” said Hall.

This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 1:01 PM.