Low Road Cafe takes back control following backlash over calling customer an ‘arsehole’
An ongoing online spat between a Brisbane cafe and a customer it branded an “arsehole” has escalated, with the café owner fighting back an online backlash.
The heated argument started after customer Kylie Lindsay left a one-star Google review about the Low Road Cafe for not having highchairs to use for her 15-month-old-son.
Lindsay said she was “attacked unmercifully” and called a “racist” and an “arsehole” when she sent a response to the cafe.
The Queensland mother then shared the series of back and forth comments between her and the café owner, resulting in a wave of criticism of the tone used by the café owners.
However, café owner Naomi has taken to Facebook to defend their actions.
“I want to talk about power, and the way it is wielded by people that don’t like what you do and want you to GOD DAMN PAY FOR IT,” she wrote in the post.
“That kind of power can be so incredibly damaging and hurtful for a small business. It’s unregulated and impossible to remove. You literally wait on the kindness of strangers to rectify your ratings.”
In her post, Naomi said the cafe “won’t be bullied or intimidated by bullies who underestimate us”.
“Sure, it’s unprofessional — but have you MET us? And if some folk think we’re damaging our brand, to that I say at least it’s us who gets to do it, not some entitled ding-dong who storms out because we don’t have airconditioning or stock newspapers.
“So we try and take back the power. And we feel like it works for us. And do you want to know what that looks like?
“It’s countless messages of support flooding our page and our inbox. It’s the beautiful family that don’t know us but drove all the way to Windsor to tell us they care.
“It’s the knowledge that despite the utter sledging we are getting, we have some control.”
Sheridan Randall, 18th June 2019
