(Annie Black) – In America, we’re blessed to have the freedom to run a business however we see fit. Want to set your own rules, serve whoever you want (or don’t want), run your place with quirky policies? Go right ahead.
That’s the beauty of the free market and why, as a conservative, I’ll always back a business’s right to operate the way they want—even if I don’t agree with it.
Now that that’s clear, let me tell you about this restaurant in town (Mesquite, NV) that we’ve loved for years: Rain Thai Sushi.
We’re regulars – big fans of the food and the atmosphere. For my birthday last year, my family even booked a table there, bringing in friends and loved ones for a surprise birthday meal. We had a great time, and yes, that dinner came to over $800!
It was a splurge, sure, but we all agreed it was worth every penny.
Not only that, I’ve gone the extra mile in singing Rain’s praises to family and friends who’ve heard mixed things about it. I’ve convinced skeptics to give it a chance, and now they’re frequent patrons, too.
Tonight, though, things took a turn.
We arrived at Rain, hoping for our usual delicious dinner, but right away, something felt off. I’ll be honest, the server usually isn’t the most jovial guy around, but today, he seemed even more curt than usual.
We shrugged it off and had a laugh about it, jokingly wondering if it was because my son Tommy was wearing a MAGA hat. We didn’t think much of it, though, and settled in.
We ordered our drinks and food and, as you do at sushi joints, told them we planned to order more as we went. Drinks came, some food came, and we got to eating. But soon we noticed that part of our order hadn’t arrived, and the server didn’t come back to check on us.
We waited…and waited…and waited some more. The place had gotten busier, but it seemed like we’d been abandoned intentionally.
Finally, after a solid amount of time with no service and a missing food, it hit me: this might just be about the MAGA hat on Tommy’s head.
Annoyed, I thought about stiffing him on the tip. But that’s not my style, and I decided to go the opposite route, leaving the usual 20% and deciding to talk it out. Maybe it was all in our heads.
When the time came to pay, everyone but the server came to take our ticket. When I got his attention, I pulled him aside and told him, “Hey, we come in here all the time and we spend a lot of money here. We left you a 20% tip. I just want to let you know the service wasn’t very good tonight.”
With a smug grin, he looked me right in the eye and said, “We got slammed, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
I nodded and calmly said, “I get it.” Which I do. I’ve worked restaurants a lot in my life.
Then I pointed to my son’s Trump hat and said, “I hope it’s nothing political?”
Without missing a beat, he shot back, “I know what stupid looks like.”
Well, there it was. He tried to play it off as a joke, but the message was loud and clear. I told him, “Ok, so it *is* political. Don’t worry—we won’t be back.”
And he finished with a shrug, saying, “It’s okay if you don’t come back.”
This experience has me thinking deeply about the way we treat each other over differing beliefs. Persecuting anyone over their politics isn’t right—ever.
That’s not what my family believes in, and it’s certainly not what we want. America is built on freedom, including the freedom to think differently. But that freedom goes both ways.
I wanted to share this story because, while everyone should run their business as they see fit, we should also be treated with the same respect we show others.
We don’t have to agree on everything, but we should be able to sit down, order some sushi, and enjoy dinner as paying customers without politics ruining the meal.
It’s simple: treat others with the respect you expect in return.
So, Rain Thai Sushi can do its thing, and we’ll go somewhere that remembers the old rule about respecting folks, no matter what’s on their hat. Like DThai Bistro!
Ms. Black is a former Mesquite councilwoman and former Nevada state assemblywoman