I won't speak for everyone here, but for me; fries, onion rings, tater tots , hush puppies, hash browns, and home fries are all just yummy ketchup carriers. So, yeah, I guess!
TLDR some Cincinnati entrepreneur opened a restaurant that didn’t take off, many complaints about the restaurant came after, one being the fact they don’t serve ketchup. Owner went on a local podcast and blamed the lack of success from his restaurant on the city, said the citizens are racist and didn’t want him to succeed, which then lead to some local viral posts about him, making him to be a big laughingstock.
From what I’ve heard is that there were complaints from the start about Crispies not serving ketchup and not taking cash. The manager then blamed it on not being “the other color” that they would’ve gotten the support from Huntington and people lost their shit…..and rightfully so, to call an entire city racist is ridiculous. I also heard (allegedly) that a bunch of the staff quit but the manager is saying they all got fired due to not being able to handle the work environment. I’ve never been there but heard from some that it’s good and others that it’s mediocre. Whoever is handling their social media page is going to tank their business in Huntington. They keep bashing people in the community saying they’re being negative towards the restaurant.
I heard about this happening. I only really ever saw the response video from the manager. Never saw the video that was taken down tho.
It’s a shame too. Went to go try something of theirs for the first time in case they just go belly up from the situation.
That sweet Thai chili sandwhich was pretty killer.
Don’t understand not serving ketchup. I can’t really see that as anything else as someone forcing some food philosophy similar to people not serving ketchup on hot dogs like some food gatekeeping elitists.
It’s fucking food you ninny. Not life principles. People be insufferable for real.
Refusing to serve ketchup when you have fries on the menu isn’t a good choice. To not serve the #1 condiment for fries is a bad career move imo. I’ve seen places that only take one type of payment and they made sure it was advertised.
I’m from Mason county and for a restaurant to not have ketchup, is crazy. I dunno, I thought that was just standard? Is it not? Then saying the whole town is racist is wild, you were mad that your restaurant wasn’t working out because you weren’t providing what people expect. Like being able to use cash if possible and get some ketchup, like the basic condiment you find at most places in the US.
Not serving ketchup when you have fries on the menu is crazy. Idk what crispies sauce is but I know not everyone is going to like it. They need to advertise if they aren’t going to accept cash so people just don’t go there. I know one of my favorite pizza places in Ohio is a cash only place but it’s advertised and they get great business.
Yeah! It isn’t that weird to have a business that just takes cash, especially in rural areas. But they generally advertise it, or word gets out. We had a pizza place that was cash only too! And it was the best pizza ever
I’ve only eat their food once. I’m not a huge ketchup fan, but I’ve never before seen a fast casual place not serve ketchup. To be fair, I got delivery - it was 2 pretty good tenders on a bun that completely disintegrated about 5 bites in. The fries were underdone. I’ll give them another try, but their negative blasts on social media aren’t especially heart winning.
Ketchup is always on the table around here but I'd say ranch is the king of the condiments around here. Used to make it by the bucket when I worked at a pizza joint years ago.
Now when it comes to the Crisippi situation, I think multiple things can be true at once.
1. Ketchup is a staple for dipping fries not only in this state, but the entire country. I can see why that's irritating to people and refusing to budge on this seems really weird.
2. I've noticed in larger cities there's a trend toward cashless transactions. That hasn't become prevalent here and being one of the first ones bringing a new practice to an area is tough.
3. As a white guy in an extremely white state, I have no clue what it's like to be black. I don't know what this dude has faced and what he continues to face. Could a customer have said or done something racist towards him? It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Is some of the backlash to the video and the restaurant racially motivated? For some folks, it very well could be.
4. Taste is subjective. My personal opinion on the place is that it's overpriced mediocre food. There are plenty of really good restaurants in that area I'd rather spend my money at. I ate there once, and haven't been back. Nothing to do with service, ketchup or cash -- it just ain't all that in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if others felt the same.
5. The location is terrible. Multiple businesses have failed there. I don't know why, but it wouldn't surprise me if parking or signage is an issue there.
6. The PR of this restaurant has been a dumpster fire. From posting the video onwards, a a decision was made to keep digging the hole. Kurt might have legitimate concerns but as things played out I just can't understand why the hell he kept at it in this way.
7. Alligator Jackson kept fanning the flames. And with that platform, he whipped others up too. He could've chosen to not engage and this wouldn't have gotten so crazy.
I think 4 and 5 are the main reason they weren't doing too hot to begin with, leading to this whole fiasco. If I'm going downtown to get food I can park in one garage and have 10+ options within a 5 minute walk. There are some really great restaurants on the same block as Crisspi's. They genuinely just don't have a good enough product to beat the nearby competitors.
Man that’s a really even handed assessment of the whole thing.
I especially appreciate you touching on the racial element in a fair, non judgmental way.
Thank you. I guess I shouldn't have included the restaurant issue on here but I was trying to explain my train of thought. I should have known that the restaurant issue would be hijacked.
I used to eat ketchup sandwiches as a kid, and I still use it as my go to condiment for most foods. Maybe we like it more than other states? I’m not sure
It’s not the ketchup it’s telling the customer you aren’t interested in meeting their request for something pretty simple. Especially when your alternative sauce is not good
Exactly. I have an egg allergy and cannot eat anything mayonnaise based. Ketchup is a safe food for me I know I can eat at restaurants without accidental allergen exposure
"Owner went on a local podcast and blamed the lack of success from his restaurant on the city, said the citizens are racist and didn’t want him to succeed, which then lead to some local viral posts about him, making him to be a big laughing stock.
This is what I was referring to. The owner is moss, but that wasn't him in the video.
From the very start when Crisspi's opened, they were very snarky on their social media.
I grew up near Huntington, live in Charleston now, and i've watched all this unfold. A lot of people thought their social media responses the first week or so were funny. Turns out Crisspi's is just run by assholes.
I haven't been there to eat, but i saw somewhere they charge extra for their special sauce shit if you want some for your fries. If anyone can confirm this for me, i'd appreciate it
They don't serve ketchup because they want to push their 'sauce' whatever it actually is.
They don't accept cash because that would require a safe, cash on hand, a proper relationship with a bank, and a few other things.
This isn't a serious business - trying to cash in on the name of a has-been who had some choice negative things to say when he left Marshall/Huntington.
None of my friends in Huntington actually care about the ketchup/cashless issue. If you look at the people complaining online, they mostly live outside of Huntington.
What? Name any other fast food restaurant that doesn’t serve ketchup with fries. It’s ridiculous. I hate ketchup and don’t eat it anyway. But I totally understand why people who do eat ketchup expect it at a restaurant that serves fries. I know people who have tried this restaurant who live in Huntington and the first thing they said when asked how it was…they don’t serve ketchup.
Then go visit those fast food restaurants. It’s not that difficult. How dare a restaurant run their business as they see fit. The audacity! A business doesn’t have to be everything for everybody. They don’t serve ketchup and that’s a deal breaker for you, then go somewhere else. It’s just that simple.
The near constant complaining about this ketchup “issue” is beyond childish. I can’t even imagine caring so much about a condiment that I had to take to social media to whine about it and harass a business over it.
I literally said I don’t even eat ketchup. I hate it. But a restaurant isn’t going to survive if they don’t give the people what they want. It’s that simple. lol. Are you an employee there or something? You seem very defensive.
You hate ketchup, but still feel compelled to whine about this. That says more about you than me.
To answer your question, I am not employee, but I do feel compelled to defend a business trying to run their operation as they see fit. If they want to run their business into the ground, that’s their prerogative. None of that requires all of these people coming out of the woodwork to antagonize the business over ketchup and credit cards.
that is a big issue to a lot of people in the area to which they are going elsewhere and they still wonder why they’re not getting any business. Then they go on a podcast and attack one of the most influential people in the whole tri state and wonder why people are mad and refuse to eat at their restaurant when it’s actually all their fault because they blame it all on race when in reality they have a terrible business model and are assholes to the people they expect to get money from.
That’s an entirely separate issue. I think the essence of the business model is fine, but they have absolutely no idea how to run a business or execute a concept. There are a million things to hit them with, but a lack of ketchup seems like such a silly complaint in comparison to what’s really wrong with the place. Everybody seems to care more about ketchup than Crisspi’s firing nearly all of their Black employees en masse. That’s something to complain about.
Honestly I think it was just a dumb idea to open a chicken restaurant where the best chicken restaurant in town (roosters) is only a few blocks away (and they offer ketchup!)
Like others, I can only speak for myself regarding the ketchup question. I like everything but ketchup, however, that's only because I spent a few years across the big pond where it's not *that* common in many countries. Until then, though, I put ketchup on everything.
As for the restaurant ...
The first day it opened, there were people clear around the corner and into the alley waiting to eat there. Honestly, I've never seen a line like that for any new business in H-town. They were doing fairly well, at the start; however, they've got interesting policies that rubbed people wrong. They don't accept cash, for one, and two, they don't have any other sauces besides theirs.
We're a university town and the students can make it break a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop. One person gets pissy and posts some shit comment on socials and all the others pile on. The cash thing, I don't think, was a big deal, but deny someone simple, like a choice in sauces, and there goes the business.
I can see how a Black owned business could feel that it is about race. White individuals are a majority here, so if the manager is strictly going off a visual aspect of those who visited the establishment, that may be how it's perceived.
I truly hate the idea that someone feels that way toward H-town , though, but who are we to argue with their perception of what's happening. Racism is here but we work very hard to be an inclusive and diverse city. Bystanders are few and far between when it comes to doing what's right when supporting Black individuals, other people of color, and the LGBT+ community, too. I take pride in H-town for being better and working hard to shed the stigma of West Virginia's racist, sexist, and homophobic stereotype.
It’s not about the ketchup. It’s about the whole place being stuck in their ways and being afraid of anything new and/or different, along with a big dose of stubbornness. I lived there for ten years; everyone wants to bitch about nothing new going in, but when something does, it’s never good enough and it gets nitpicked until it closes.
It’s also about a business that’s failing, and wanting to blame everyone but themselves.
Arguably, if the problem is being stuck in one's ways, then the restaurant is at fault. The issue being presented here is that people wanted ketchup, the restaurant refused to provide ketchup, and the restaurant failed as a result. In this fantasy scenario, if the restaurant could buy ketchup and have been a success, it is absolutely at fault here.
To survive you have to adapt to your environment, you don't just expect your environment to adapt to you, and then get angry when it doesn't. That's not reasonable behavior. If you want to succeed, especially in the service industry, then the appropriate response is to listen to and graciously accept criticism, and try to make changes that address it.
I am not yet a Huntington resident, but I am physically sitting in Huntington as I write this.
I ate breakfast at Butter it Up the other morning. 3 men around age 50 were finishing their breakfast and jawboning about whatever. One of them had been to the new place, and they had run out of whole breasts so they were serving sandwiches with 2 tenders instead of one larger piece. Something about the bun falling apart and the challenge of eating it, blah blah. And then the ketchup issue came up.
The other two really piled onto the whole thing. As they discussed it, I thought: wow, what a tempest in a teapot. One vaguely negative experience at a new restaurant, and these three guys were ready to dismiss the place entirely. It was definitely something that I will take as a learning experience as I relocate.
On the other hand, I understand that the founder plans to build this out as a chain. Why not just add ketchup to the menu? Or some special spin on ketchup like a spicier version? Successful start-ups constantly tweak their offerings until everything takes off.
There’s a chicken place. Poor customer service place called crispies. People complained was no ketchup, people complained you couldn’t move chairs around. So a family of 5 couldn’t sit together. The owner says “oh it’s cause we’re black” race was never an issue. Instead of “the customer is always right”. His attitude is we’re right and Huntington is just hating on us . Full story below.
https://www.herald-dispatch.com/business/crisppis-manager-responds-to-attacks-on-social-media/article_d5d37072-68c4-5987-8060-15072c8ba0c5.html
Ketchup is well loved here yes. If a place doesn't serve ketchup it will be looked at as an insult cause ketchup is served in literally every establishment here. You have to listen and cater to what people want to be successful. If they love ketchup and want that as an option make it be so.
I know ketchupgate is a thing right now, but the fiasco was not ‘about ketchup’, it’s about costumer service and racially calling out all races in the community (blacks for not supporting the business more and for having a poor work ethic), initially whites for being too critical about food quality and costumer service. Ketchup was just used as an example, a ludicrous one to hang your hat on but here we are. But yes sugary ketchup on fries, onion rings, tater tots is a big thing and it’s an easy cultural accommodation if you are getting a lot of requests for it. Just like in southern restaurants a lot of people like vinegar on their fries and will request that, or southwestern restaurants being heavy on the hot sauce due to costumer preference.
If an alcoholic sat at a bar and was told they don’t serve alcohol, they’d be upset.
If a sugar addicted person asked for ketchup and was told they don’t serve ketchup, they’d be upset.
People were complaining about ketchup initially before the restaurant gave their statement on it. That’s what people are leaving out. If it’s not McDonald’s or Burger King, people are uncomfortable with it.
Like imagine being so bored that this is something you’d legitimately throw a tantrum over. For the record, I think the restaurant handled this very poorly. Not defending them at all. They should have just opened a restaurant and stole the ingredients from any number of shitty fast food restaurants downtown so people wouldn’t have to experience anything slightly different.
Race shaming an entire community when you own / operate a small business isn't silly.
The facebook PR nightmare continues. The non apology, apology exchanged "the other color" with ethnicity...
Except if its right. I mean we don't know his story. We don't know what he might have had to endure with employees or getting started. Its a bit much to automatically assume no racism involved isn't it?
Isn't it occam's razor to think that as a black business owner in WV he has at least experienced some racism that gives his words weight?
Sir. Have you watched the Facebook video that was deleted quickly thereafter?
Have you been to Huntington, WV?
The ownership is making this a race issue.
I live down the street. I bought a sandwhich the other day.
Racial etiquette might say that when a black man alludes to racist behavior that has made his life harder we stop look and listen.
I think that making his life harder is kind of on the opposite end of that compassion spectrum don't you think?
There is no apology needed because everything of substance in the video is coming to fruition. Watch the video again. Does he mention ketchup?
A person's color and racial background doesn't demand respect, provide authority or necessarily garner favorable attention if his intentions are improper.
Customer service is a simple formula.
He goes from "the other color people" , to a different "ethnicity" and then called out Chinese and Indian culture.
With all due respect your reply IMO very clearly falls into this Aversive racist category. Race is a reality in america that we have not necessarily moved on from and still has barriers that people have to overcome everyday.
Bringing attention to that barrier and that adversity should not be avoided, shunned or demeaned. You are talking around that point and around this communities cruelty.
If this was Boston Mass, I would give this man much less leeway for his words. But this is huntington WV. and your reasoning does not move me to change my opinion.
It's only a barrier when you make it one.
And not surprisingly you are the one making it an issue along with Crisspi's ownership.
Community cruelty?
Edit: Boston Massachusetts racism is ok? I'm confused. Boston is well known to have very strong feelings about this subject, including their sports teams.
Please look up almost any article on Aversive racism.
I understand you think you are being morally right and just. I get it and in a vacuum you might be. We don't live in that vacuum we live in a real world with real people.
If you have any faith in me as a stranger on the internet please meditate on my words and think hard after reading some articles or books on the subject at hand.
Minorities live a very different life than whites in states like WV. Thats not to say that their race is a barrier but its obvious to me that other people still can make it so.
In the modern age its never explicit or direct. But can you believe that these negative interactions still exist in small ways?
Can you confidently say that people in WV are not racist at all? I invite you to introduce yourself to the ownership and ask them for their story. It might humble you.
I'm just someone who knows customer service.
The ownership messed up calling the community racist.
Edit: I was born in Huntington. My parents are from different parts of the city. One went to a segregated High School.
I have traveled all but 2 of the Continental 48 US states. I'm well aware that bigotry and prejudice exist. I choose to focus on acceptance.
Nah, a place not having ketchup for fries, not taking cash, and saying we don't like their fried chicken because they're Black isn't "being silly for attention."
I can smell my downvotes already.
bear with me: Its covert racism from a cadre of loud old and dull people that have only discovered the internet recently. Its not their fault, they are the salt of the earth - you know, morons.
I'd love to be corrected by anyone that claims to be better read in social justice but this seems like a textbook case of averse and covert racism and a lack or racial etiquette from the people of WV.
it has never been about the ketchup. the ketchup is a strawman - a natural but childish debate tactic when the owner was alluding to racial bias. "Its not racial! how dare a black man suggest that. He doesn't even serve us ketchup. Thats the problem! its ketchup!" SMH
If you watch the video he talks about other issues but I don't think he mentions ketchup at all. In fact his words seem to have predicted and forecasted this type of behavior from people because some communities just wants to spread negativity where they can find it.
It seems pitifully obvious to me and I'm left with a pikachu face with how this community can be so blatantly cruel and hurtful.
A black man cries racism and our response is to dog pile his business and digitally beat him up? Woof.
Again, this community is hyper sensitive to anything. Bunch of snowflakes if you ask me. And the education level is some of the lowest in the country. And racism is a complicated conversation to have with anyone, let alone poverty stricken white people.
Ketchup and calls for ketchup is the absurd reality dogwhistle that masks a type of racism that has already been written about in text books and more.
**TLDR: this town doesn't understand black people or culture. And finds the choice of language and social media threatening and scary. Old people do old people things that are super predictable and pitiful. Not enough young people or black people or education for this town to learn from its mistakes. Rince wash repeat.**
Bonus: Money and capitalism is the only language that poor whites respect and automatically assume that the business is failing because of social media. Their unsolicited advice comes off as productive in their minds and is hyper focused on because of their sensitivity to being called racist.
Media wins by drawing out outrage and dancing around moral judgement because the Editors are also idiots that know how to milk the drama. Business wins because ultimately their product is OK at worst. Old and dull people move on to the next outrage. Ketchup lives on as a meme that the future might say was just "alittle" racist.
In huntington? NPR's opiod capital of the US? At marshall? where they have a 98% acceptance rate? In WV where we are 45-50 dead last in education? yes.
None of what you said denotes any kind of real progressive actions or education. The least racist part of a racist state is still racist. "BUT It could have been worse if it was in another part of WV!" omg its still bad! jesus christ people.
Y'all think huntington is the jewel of west WV and you deserve better judgement? Congrats on not actually lynching the man and only doing it digitally.
So I think that all these things can simultaneously be true- I've spent all of the happy years of my adult life in Huntington organizing/working with the community.
As an openly queer guy in a gay relationship- yes Huntington has its issues but I really don't think that the city has enough racists that CARE to make the effort to overtly destroy crisppis, a place that has had plenty of its own issues as a business.
What happened here was a repetition of culture war bullshit that's happened many, many times combined with typical new restaurant issues.
Crisppis just isn't that good of a place to eat, the foods ok and their wait staff was really, really, awkward/aggressively nice. (At least this was my partner and I's experience) the restaurant wasn't doing well then got dragged into culture war discourse through both the management and Alligator Jackson. Shitty situation to be in.
I do not think there is an overt attempt to ruin black businesses in Huntington though.
Huntington lined up around the block to eat there and really supported the place at the start, and there are plenty of successful black owned restaurants in town like JoJo at Soulfood Twist! They're doing great.
You gotta live in a less impoverished area to have gentrification, the city bulldozed the pj's for Marshall, and CHHE, not for my gay son and my wierd haircut. Grow up friend.
I mean I'm renting on the west end, we aren't particularly close to owning a home within the next 10 or so years and don't plan on having kids so please allow me to allay your gentrification fears in this case.
Nononono Stay, buy a house! DINK it up in huntington! Buy a fixer upper! Its cheap! This town needs more gay couples to buy houses and fix them! No kids no problem! spend all your money in town and open a wine shop or something! Do it, you won't.
I'm not entirely sure what my partner and I's life plans, property status or sexuality has to do with Crisppi's- it kinda feels like you harbor some (slightly homophobic) concerns about gays and gentrification?
Don't worry, my partner and I aren't gonna open a wine shop or start gentrifying the west end it's a little weird that's what you immediately jumped to rather than the topic at hand.
Still it's been interesting talking to you- even if it's been a complete waste of energy/time.
Hope to see you around.
I'm sorry my energy isn't coming across right. I'm very friendly with the gay community and I admit the tone shift in retrospect has not been communicated properly.
My tone is of ironic excitement and not derision. There is what I think is an open secret in the gay community and in real-estate that Gays and generally all LGBTQ+ peoples are very beneficial to the economy.
A rising LGBTQ+ population in towns usually means good investments and rising property prices. I'm sorry if I missed communicating that context. I forget sometimes the subs I'm in and the positive stereotypes I aim to be inclusive about.
I'm not gay and I'll be sure to be much more careful.
Apologies. This has nothing to do with Chicken. I'm just excited to get a reasoned opinion from someone that I trust to understand what it might mean to be discriminated against.
I would much rather talk about houses and the brighter future of Huntington than debate others about their questionable benign racial talking points. Thanks for chiming in.
Is this Kurt? Seriously, you're doing exactly what he did, claiming the business did nothing wrong, and that Huntington is just old, dumb and racist.
I mean, he obviously didn't treat the staff well based on everyone quitting, and that awkward rambling lie he tells about the circumstances around that. The ketchup is a strawman, and so is the racism. Place just wasn't run well.
Anyone with two braincells to rub together understands that if you work in the service industry, you don't just openly insult your customer base. The appropriate response to criticism is to accept it graciously, be grateful for the feedback, and try to make improvements to make your customers happier. You don't criticize them for not-liking the product, you aren't entitled to their money, you have to *earn* their money by providing a service, which means you have to compete with all the other people trying to earn money by providing similar services. This seems like econ101, and yet somehow it's a novel concept to a manager.
If you want to survive, you have to adapt to your environment. It is unreasonable, borderline mentally ill to expect the environment to adapt to you, and get angry when it doesn't.
If I opened a soup restaurant in France, and everybody said it was amazing, but it was too spicy, I'd dial back the spice a bit. If I made it even spicier and then everybody stopped buying it, that's on me.
Listen everything you said could very well be true, I won't debate anything sketchy with his managerial practices. I expect this city to treat racism much more seriously.
A strawman is usually a weaker argument. Racism is arguably a really big arguement.
Any one of these issues will not fix his balance sheet.
And its not like claiming racism is a magic word that is going to bolster his bank account overnight.
If you want to make this an issue of business or an issue of ketchup go for it. I won't defend him on either customer service or money practices.
If he closes in a few months No skin off my back.
This city's approach to a business owner lightly alluding to racism is my issue. and i have kept it there. I'm not the one tying it back to money or issues of customer service.
Everyone is allowed to "play the race card," and when it is in play we should treat is seriously instead of dismissing it or reacting to it like its the plague.
Besides, what are you his banker? I don't care. Go after his money, sue him for slander against the town.
None of your reaction is helping him with his business more than it is constantly tearing it down. Just let it be then. This spectacle doesn't need to be as big as it is. Its just you snowflakes getting sensitive when a black man plays the race card.
There is nothing borderline about. I've maintained situations like this are played out and old. This is not my first time on this train of thought.
His business could be shit and I would still think it important that we take the racism part seriously. Its the fact that people like you aren't that kinda paint you guys badly. If the business is bad - focus on that. But don't pretend that we shouldn't care about racism. We should all care about racism.
I've seen everyone saying he will go under in the summer. Lets wait and see. Like I said I don't care for the business more than I care about this city's sensitivity to racism.
I'll take my money and my family elsewhere if people like you aren't going to take racism seriously. Thats all. Thats my stake in this.
climbonapply24head You basically are taking the position that racism is a magic word that should bolster his bank account overnight. It isn't, and I'm glad we live in a place where it isn't. I don't know how you can possibly expect me to interpret that differently.
That's obviously what he wanted to happen. He's whines about how people usually support his own, he said something about indians and 7-11 iirc, which I thought was a pretty racist and embarrassing thing to say. The manager is the most racist person in the story. If you feel so strongly about racism, you should boycott the business.
What is the alternative you're proposing here? What do you want to have happen instead?
No Im not. I explicitly say that I'm not saying that. I'm not the best writer but I do explicitly say that i'm not advocating that. I don't want to rag on anyone's reading comprehension but comon.
And the thing is - i've been writing some very kindly worded paragraphs on what I think is an appropriate community response to an out of pocket video post from the owner.
I think an appropriate response is not making fun of him and not dragging his name and his business through the mud.
Its not outrage. Its not judgement. Its not revenge or retribution. Its tolerance, Patience, understanding, quiet. Let it be.
Its not an issue to raise a fuss over. In the modern age any idiot with a platform can get up and talk about something. Our peace is worth more than this bothersome thing. The problem comes with the lack of media literacy and modern social graces that paint this town a bit racist.
-Old people that don't understand modern social media and have to catch up and go through the gambit of outrage and false opinions.
Thats why its blowing up because the editors of modern media see that and easily see real SJWs and more jumping on this to catch fire and jump on the story. You think I'm bad? You have never argued with real SJWs. They are the worst.
I'm here only talking about how people like you and more have to shut up and stop talking with your light racist shit before someone says something really stupid. I bet you Kurt is already sitting on a treasure trove of hateful messages and media thrown at him by both fake and real accounts.
You want the rest of america to come down on this town and judge us? Keep talking, keep up with the ketchup jokes. Stay ignorant. If and when the hammer comes and we got the nation looking at us mocking the city for being backwards dont say I didn't warn you. Its already happening. Y'all could have just shut up about it and educated yourselves but no.
I like this town because its quiet and there is very little shitty drama like this. But then many of you just have to have a freaking opinion about a black guy's fried chicken video. I swear you can't make this stuff up. Thats a TV show premise.
I want this town to sit quietly and let this shit play out and stop saying obviously racist shit. cause I can tell you now the screenshots and the comments being made are not going to age well at all.
**edit**: For anyone else reading you might see that he changed accounts. He also blocked me which prevents me from seeing or replying to his replies.
Good conversation and good faith etiquette don't really encourage this behavior.
I stand by my words with integrity and I would invite anyone to get to know me and my opinion better. Anything might be better than this person who thinks conversation can be weaponized like this. Be better than this online and offline.
>No Im not. I explicitly say that I'm not saying that. I'm not the best writer but I do explicitly say that i'm not advocating that. I don't want to rag on anyone's reading comprehension but comon.
**Reading comprehension is what lets me make that statement. It does not matter that you explicitly state you're not saying that.** You also advocate for that by suggesting the outlandish claims here should just blanketly be believed and respected, and ignoring the racist things Kurt said and his poor leadership skills. You're making an assertion that racism is taking place here, and is the reason for the business' failure. I don't think that has been demonstrated, I think it's a baseless assertion of a man desperate to defend his own failures who is unwilling to accept accountability.
**But thanks for calling me stupid.**
>And the thing is - i've been writing some very kindly worded paragraphs on what I think is an appropriate community response to an out of pocket video post from the owner.
You said basically nothing here... don't tell me what you've wrote other places offhandedly, we are having a discussion here.
>I think an appropriate response is not making fun of him and not dragging his name and his business through the mud.Its not outrage. Its not judgement. Its not revenge or retribution. Its tolerance, Patience, understanding, quiet. Let it be.
He isn't entitled to be free from the consequences of his actions. He brought this attention on himself. Men with guns didn't force him to say racist things into the camera. I don't do any of those things, I am just going to continue to not support the business, I see that as the appropriate consequence here.
>Its not an issue to raise a fuss over. In the modern age any idiot with a platform can get up and talk about something.
You seem extremely out of touch, people get cancelled all the time "in the modern age."
>Thats why its blowing up because the editors of modern media see that and easily see real SJWs and more jumping on this to catch fire and jump on the story. You think I'm bad? You have never argued with real SJWs. They are the worst.
I feel like you're trying to find common ground with me here, but it just feels greasy and manipulative. I really don't care about other people in the context of our conversation, someone else being right or wrong about something unrelated doesn't make you any less right or wrong about what we're talking about.
>I'm here only talking about how people like you and more have to shut up and stop talking with your light racist shit before someone says something really stupid. I bet you Kurt is already sitting on a treasure trove of hateful messages and media thrown at him by both fake and real accounts.
I genuinely do not care about Kurt. It seems like he objectively deserves to lose his job, but that's not my call to make. I hope he takes self-inventory, looks at this as a learning experience, and makes positive change. **Thanks for calling me racist though.**
>You want the rest of America to come down on this town and judge us? Keep talking, keep up with the ketchup jokes. Stay ignorant. If and when the hammer comes and we got the nation looking at us mocking the city for being backwards dont say I didn't warn you. Its already happening. Y'all could have just shut up about it and educated yourselves but no.
Have you tried growing up? Why do you care if people make fun of you, what are you, five? If you're actually secure in yourself, people saying things about you that aren't true shouldn't bother you. People are going to think what they're going to think, but I think most rational people are going to understand Kurt's not on the right side of history here.
Also, what would the rest of america 'coming down on us' even look like, and why do you think this is the thing, have you seen any political ad here ever? They're already judging us. **Thanks for calling me ignorant and uneducated though.**
>I like this town because its quiet and there is very little shitty drama like this. But then many of you just have to have a freaking opinion about a black guy's fried chicken video. I swear you can't make this stuff up. Thats a TV show premise.
So you just want to repress other people's opinions? You know that's a bad thing, right? That's what a tyrant does. Or a narcissist.
It doesn't sound like a good premise for a racist TV show to me. They literally make movies like that now, have you seen the one based on the Key and Peele magical negro sketch? Of course you haven't, no one has, but it exists.
>I want this town to sit quietly and let this shit play out and stop saying obviously racist shit. cause I can tell you now the screenshots and the comments being made are not going to age well at all.
'Kay, then if I were you, I'd stay off social media for a while and ignore it, and then it'll go away like any other headline. If I were Kurt, I'd just apologize, say I was scared of losing my job, I had a long, rough day, and I tried to shift the blame on anyone but myself; but that I've realized at the end of the day it takes a big man to admit that he's wrong, and to own up to and learn from his mistakes.
**You're the racist one here**. You're the one making sweeping generalizations, about the people of Huntington, and me specifically. This has been a wholly unpleasant exchange where you've insulted me and made baseless generalizations about me multiple times. **You should alter your approach if you genuinely want to reach people, Daryl Davis is a personal hero of mine, I would look into him/his philosophy on changing racists minds if you're not just out to virtue signal.** Otherwise, good luck finding a masochist cuck (I believe the kids are saying) to listen to you, and good luck in life in general moving forward.
**Edit**:You blocked me first, bitch, that's why I made this account to reply to you, and why this account has exactly one post. Good faith discussion went out the window a long time ago. Go ahead and stand by your words, it's almost impressive how confidently you can be wrong. Almost.
If there was any post I don't expect people to understand its this one sure. For a state so backwards that racial education and more is decades behind I can't blame you.
I'm not here to nominate myself as this city's racial etiquette police. Read a book. Get off the internet. Anyone that wants to know more or have a real discussion can DM me and I'll make time. Honest - good faith.
Oh, you're on a pretty high horse about this one, so let me clarify before you go on another arrogant smug screed
I understand the words you said and the meaning behind them, I was expressing incredulity that you were converting the issue to a racial one that absolved the business owner of any potential blame, on the premise that the people that weren't happy were merely taking exception with his race. I think that's deranged, that proving absence of intent is almost impossible thus making it an almost irrefutable claim that you insist people refute, and that the simpler answer is that he's not particularly good at public relations and marketing given that at the very least, he did not offer them an essential condiment and instead escalated directly upwards without reinforcing his position at all, and thus it's somewhat likely poor service played a factor
Dm me. I live down the street. I can afford a few conversations in good faith. I'll buy you a chicken sandwich.
its a complicated topic. I own that. Its hard to understand. I believe in people and I beleive in growth. Thats why I took the time to write the way I did and thats why I'm taking the time to address you in this way too.
I still feel absolutely shocked at the community response. But I believe in good people growing to understand my points.
I think you are focusing on the wrong thing here and you are not approaching this out of compassion more than you are reacting to the accusation of racism.
I've said this in another thread but I was taught growing up to pause, think hard in prayer and meditate when sensitive topics like this come up. I don't think anyone is doing that. I think this is a large pile of sensitivity that we as a city can grow from.
Tbh the going cashless was a blatant lack of understanding of the area. Coming in and being pretty much being one of the few places to do it just shows that the chain didn’t bother to research the area at all.
So covert racism? Eh, the chain didn’t even give a modicum of time to understanding the area. And pushing it just dumb.
Hell even wal mart got some push with their card only self check outs if that says anything.
I know people who still hate that shit.
It seems petty to be upset about a restaurant not serving ketchup but it feels equally as petty for them to force something like that. You at least give the customer the option like literally every other restaurant.
And how is making a sweeping generalization about a community not a damn basis for stereotypes?
Stereotypes being the damn basis for things like racism.
Nah man. This was a case of the chain being tone deaf of the community they tried to serve. And honestly could’ve just stayed a petty thing about ketchup and cashlessness. No. It had to be escalated to calling a community racist because sweeping generalizations like that go over so well don’t they?
The community being sensitive when the damn manager was the one who got butthurt of the negative responses being about ketchup. And THEN thought the best response was to call a community racist for it. Bringing race into a non-race issue.
Who’s really the damn sensitive one? Like lmao bro wtf are you smoking?
You have a dumb take on this for real lmao.
I took the liberty of scrolling through your post history.
I see you might understand the pain or the anxiety that comes with feeling lonely, outcast, bullied, or something like that.
I'm not sure if you have ever talked to minorities about their lives but some people who just happen to be minorities live with a daily struggle of anxiety because of racist histories in the past. Sometimes its history that they weren't even around for.
That really can influence a person and their ideals.
You might call it generational trauma. To think, that our daily traumas or just little inconveniences might pale in comparison to the weight that some people carry around is humbling to me.
How the business learns and grows is its business. It should not be our concern. And these rumors of it performing badly seem kinda unfounded. I think you are falling for a conservative media trap.
I think there is a type of racial etiquette that you and many in this city lack. Its easy for all of you to fall back on hard numbers and call it just business. Nothing personal its just a failing business.
If you take out the business its all personal. Everything is personal. The difference is how we as a community choose to respond to these things. I don't know this guy. I don't pretend to know this guy. Maybe he has gone through some stuff. Maybe he is stressed. Maybe the raw fact that he is black in america in a majority white town has him second guessing himself.
What is our response to that? Make his life harder? Bully him? Digital lynching?
Man that all sounds wrong. It all sounds based in hate and disguised bias. It can't be real bias. Everyone wants to deny that. Everyone wants to say they don't have any real explicit biases. "its just ketchup, its just business." Bro, Its not your business, right? You don't need to have an opinion on everything and when people like you come out of the woodwork specifically to address the racism stuff it just looks bad.
Compassion is the way we should respond to these things and the things stopping us from doing that seem to be more racial etiquette, poor internet etiquette, poor social media graces, low education and an aging population.
yes these are sweeping generalizations but we can't be in denial about them. Thats why we have stats and math and productivity numbers to measure and confirm these things.
This black man has cried racism and the community has responded seemily without compassion or concern. They act as if it isn't true but don't do anything to try to understand. Seems pretty one sided. Seems like bullying.
If we all took more time to understand each other it wouldn't be this bad.
But its WV. Its really poor here, and the education is really low and the people are getting old and dying. There doesn't seem to be time to do that. So what's left is hateful comments like yours. You da bully here man.
Bro, don’t try and use my post history against me especially since it’s irrelevant.
The man turned a non-race issue into a race issue.
Why are you defending that? It being a race issue was never true.
Why haven’t you even acknowledged the tone deafness of even going cashless for an area clearly not used to that?
If it had been a race issue that’d be a different story but not everything is about race.
I didn’t even know who Randy Moss let alone that he was black until after I tried their food.
With how people can be cancelled for being racist it’s not shocking for people to want to be pissed to be lumped together as a community. Why WOULDNT the community be understandably pissed.
Even people of color that I know think him turning it into a race issue was a weird left field move. It didn’t make sense.
If it was such a conservative trap why do even my most left leaning friends think it was also left field?
My LGBTQ friends also felt it was unnecessary. Like just serve ketchup. Get a box of bottles.
You are acting like his generalizations actually hold water. I just said too how people also didn’t like wal marts cashless self checkout. So people being bothered by the cashlessness isn’t a shock.
Why are you downplaying that the man made a sweeping generalization of a community?
Like gee thanks for calling a person racist because they don’t care for a business practice or product.
You don’t like my product? You must be racist.
You are being weirdly apologetic for a single guy.
This community has been shat on enough and has dealt with too damn much for someone to come in make up shit like this.
Look, the man didn’t address the community with compassion. He didn’t even address it professionally.
Calling me a bully because I’m aggravated because some dude on the internet is defending a single guy who generalized an entire community because he was upset that negative comments were about not serving ketchup.
Yea, well compassion should be the default response for everything.
Not just hate. And any real LGBTQ person would understand how to separate a business problem vs a identity problem. try looking at this from a different perspective and it might open your mind a bit. Consider that it isn't just a race issue. Its multifaceted.
I don't have time for this type of conversation today. If you want to DM me we can hop on a discord and hash it out. Otherwise feel free to stew in these comments as you are.
You seem to have an agenda here and I don't think you are listening to me or treating me with compassion.
I think going into your post history sometimes can give context that allows me to write to you with greater compassion and to know how to speak to you effectively. Its not manipulation. Its kindness.
If you haven't been taught that or shown that before I'm sorry.
I'm offering to buy people a free chicken sandwich. If you want to test me test me. But I think we've done as much as we can by text.
I'm a real person with real opinions and real stories. Dont forget that.
Did you seriously just say “real LGBTQ person”
Really? I guess my friends who are minorities aren’t “real minorities” then. FFS.
I don’t have an agenda. I’m pointing out bullshit. It’s bullshit that you say “compassion should be the response to everything” when the man clearly did not and lumped a community into all being racists.
Maybe treat the community that has been shat on by companies and taking advantage of for fucking generations instead of single dude butthurt about ketchup.
I would’ve figured a person who speaks of kindness would know how wrought this community has suffered.
It was not a race issue. Stop saying it is. The guy made it about race and that’s shitty.
Playing the race card over something so baseless.
Also, lay off the kindness and virtue signaling. We both know this conversation isn’t going anywhere outside of here and offering free chicken serves nothing but your self righteousness. Don’t pull that bullshit with me.
People can have opinions, but doesn’t mean your opinion is more valid than anyone else’s. But one can be more right based on facts. And the fact is the man made a mountain from a molehill.
for some reason you think that you are in the right here after everything that not only I have said but others have said too.
If you wanna show kindness maybe show it to the community who doesn’t deserve to be generalized and called racist.
I'm real. I live in town. Don't be afraid. I have a decent life with a girlfriend and dogs and a house. Whole nine yards. This city is filled with trauma and mental issues. And Its gonna take a few generations to heal that.
I'm very happy to take this offline and IRL. Don't say I'm not. I've done it before. I'm just normal guy.
I'm sorry I can't reach you. I bet there is a ton of stuff I could learn from you. Offer stands.
On my comments regarding "real LGBTQ+" I'm probably a bit spoiled on good friends being highly educated and informed and very active and inclusive. Some of the best communicators I know are in that group.
I think some of the best lessons and learnings on compassion, love and understanding can come from those groups. I would hope Huntington can also rely on its diverse community to teach it compassion when people like you have little to give.
Thats what I'm doing now in this chat. Trying to teach and show compassion. Please give me some grace for that. Sometimes I have to meet stupidity with truth and bigots with reality. Take the time to get out of your shell and cultivate a better understanding. Otherwise you are just gonna get harder and more recluse.
You haven’t even addressed the big talking points of my comments.
Plus you just called my friends not real minorities and apparently they are uneducated in comparison to yours even though all of my friends have degrees.
And saying things like “I have to meet stupidity with truth and bigots with reality” when you have beat around the bush with my comments and apparently not having the time for a conversation like this. Implying I’m the stupid one and I’m the bigot.
You’ve just shat on our community by defending the dude. You’ve insulted my friends and you still continue to stand on your high horse. And insulted me.
Nah. You can actually go fuck yourself, honestly.
Oh please. Dont play victim.
Anyone reading these comments can tell you just insulted my friends, me and the community.
And you’ve done nothing or said anything to explain yourself.
You purposely avoided every talking point.
You are really really not good at meeting people where they are at all. And will continue to do so because you have blissfully disengaged yourself.
Go ahead and go to your friends, have them validate your opinions while you invalidate others as well as inadvertently insult them like you’ve done.
You’ve done nothing to back anything here but instead point to your halo and hope for praise.
You’re in the wrong here. Completely. And won’t even admit it. Shocking absolutely no one.
Bro I know some people at River Park. I can get you a bed asap lmao
On a real note, the restaurant business is *hard*. Look at how many come and go in Huntington. We are getting new restaurants and losing them seemingly every month.
Putting a chicken business across from the best chicken joint in Huntington was a massive gamble anyway.
Putting a restaurant where one had just failed was a gamble. Ran by one of the most successful businessmen in the state.
At the end of the day, you can open a restaurant then I can open a restaurant. Opening a restaurant doesn’t bring 10,000 more people into the community to eat at our restaurants. Our restaurants just gave the limited number of people two more options to choose from. If they choose us they’re taking away from other restaurants.
If you choose to go cashless and not offer ketchup with potatoes in Appalachia that is on you. Don’t expect a positive response when you don’t offer basic condiments. Calling a community racist because your lackluster restaurant didn’t succeed will be a quicker way to closure. I’m exhausted at these types of things. Being accused of being racist because I choose Rooster’s over Crisppi’s literally sounds like a comedy script. It’s so exhausting.
But the OLD PEOPLE! They are in the trees man. In the TREEES.
Who will scare the old people when I'm gone? When they reintroduced wolves to yellowstone it revitalised the landscape. The old elk kept the herds from being a benefit to the ecosystem. Wolves help keep a herd healthy and thus the ecosystem.
The social ecosystem in Huntington is stagnant. We all know it. We all know that the industry and the economy is hanging on by the thread that is Mountain health, special metals and marshall. and even then they all have their own problems.
You want this city to grow you have to embrace some of these new ideas, new dramas, new challenges. Change. Hope, Faith in a brighter future. Not status quo. Not business as usual.
The best business leaders I know could be called crazy. This city should rise to the challenge of racism and not shy away from it.
Thats a lot to add to an edit. And I got words to say on that.
I've said this before, I think y'all need a lesson in racial etiquette.
Like this hyper focus on ketchup or customer service or business practice isn't how to address a racist allegation. To me its a deflection that paints you guys hyper sensitive and kinda racist.
Don't respond to it.
Just let it be. You aren't his banker. Why are you in here with this type of response?
If you wanted to help you would have introduced yourself and talk to him yourself. It would take just as much time to do as you spend thinking about it.
Instead many people like you are just tearing him down and making fun of him. And when its in response to a racism call it makes it look pretty convincing that its racism. If you want me to be blunt. Its a social trap that white people fall into every few years.
You aren't being called racist because of your business choices. You are being called racist because all of you are dog piling on him. Fucking huntington.
We are dog piling him because he called us racist for not eating at his restaurant. End of story.
You’re taking the ketchup thing too seriously. I would argue that they took it too far by not supplying ketchup when that was one of the biggest complaints upon opening. They chose to die on that strange hill and now they’re the ass end of a meme that you’re taking entirely too serious.
Not sure what’s so hard to comprehend about that. I can sympathize with what their community has gone through and defend myself at the same time.
Not sure how you can sit here and argue that a city is genuinely racist when they didn’t visit a subpar restaurant when there is a better option quite literally across the street with a bar and sports on the television.
Its not that simple. And its diminishing the issue of racism if you think it so simple. Again the restuarant issue can well enough stand on its own. I don't care. But for people to conflate the issue with his call of racism thinking it isn't serious is not appropriate. The town is showing its worst colors when facebook and your comments here don't seem to respect that divide.
The dog pile does not help at all.
I'm just tired of people oversimplifying the issue to ketchup or business practices while still talking about racism. Its wrong.
I'm confident that our definitions of racism are different. Yours being pretty abhorrent or this absolute evil and mine being a reality of living in modern american in WV.
I can sit here and argue about these things because I care about how my family might ever be treated if we ever cried racism. Who would listen?
For a city that claims idealism and equality its a bit rich for people to justify a dog pile out of revenge.
Locking this post since there are personal attacks and everything else.... Come on people just be adults!
I won't speak for everyone here, but for me; fries, onion rings, tater tots , hush puppies, hash browns, and home fries are all just yummy ketchup carriers. So, yeah, I guess!
Hush puppies deserve honey butter and nothing else
TLDR some Cincinnati entrepreneur opened a restaurant that didn’t take off, many complaints about the restaurant came after, one being the fact they don’t serve ketchup. Owner went on a local podcast and blamed the lack of success from his restaurant on the city, said the citizens are racist and didn’t want him to succeed, which then lead to some local viral posts about him, making him to be a big laughingstock.
Oh it was the Randy moss restaurant or something, wasn’t it?
Correct
That guy is not Randy Moss
Randy Moss is an investor / major partner in the restaurant chain.
But that wasn't him in that video
I don’t think anyone said it WAS Randy Moss. Everyone familiar with the incident knew it was the other partners.
I can't help myself. This is the pace of your average conversation in Huntington WV.
That wasn’t the owner. It was a manager at the location. Randy Moss is the owner.
Thought they were from Philadelphia, but I could be wrong
From what I’ve heard is that there were complaints from the start about Crispies not serving ketchup and not taking cash. The manager then blamed it on not being “the other color” that they would’ve gotten the support from Huntington and people lost their shit…..and rightfully so, to call an entire city racist is ridiculous. I also heard (allegedly) that a bunch of the staff quit but the manager is saying they all got fired due to not being able to handle the work environment. I’ve never been there but heard from some that it’s good and others that it’s mediocre. Whoever is handling their social media page is going to tank their business in Huntington. They keep bashing people in the community saying they’re being negative towards the restaurant.
I heard about this happening. I only really ever saw the response video from the manager. Never saw the video that was taken down tho. It’s a shame too. Went to go try something of theirs for the first time in case they just go belly up from the situation. That sweet Thai chili sandwhich was pretty killer. Don’t understand not serving ketchup. I can’t really see that as anything else as someone forcing some food philosophy similar to people not serving ketchup on hot dogs like some food gatekeeping elitists. It’s fucking food you ninny. Not life principles. People be insufferable for real.
Refusing to serve ketchup when you have fries on the menu isn’t a good choice. To not serve the #1 condiment for fries is a bad career move imo. I’ve seen places that only take one type of payment and they made sure it was advertised.
I’m from Mason county and for a restaurant to not have ketchup, is crazy. I dunno, I thought that was just standard? Is it not? Then saying the whole town is racist is wild, you were mad that your restaurant wasn’t working out because you weren’t providing what people expect. Like being able to use cash if possible and get some ketchup, like the basic condiment you find at most places in the US.
Not serving ketchup when you have fries on the menu is crazy. Idk what crispies sauce is but I know not everyone is going to like it. They need to advertise if they aren’t going to accept cash so people just don’t go there. I know one of my favorite pizza places in Ohio is a cash only place but it’s advertised and they get great business.
Yeah! It isn’t that weird to have a business that just takes cash, especially in rural areas. But they generally advertise it, or word gets out. We had a pizza place that was cash only too! And it was the best pizza ever
I’ve only eat their food once. I’m not a huge ketchup fan, but I’ve never before seen a fast casual place not serve ketchup. To be fair, I got delivery - it was 2 pretty good tenders on a bun that completely disintegrated about 5 bites in. The fries were underdone. I’ll give them another try, but their negative blasts on social media aren’t especially heart winning.
Don't judge places on delivery unless they deliver it themselves.
If you try them again get their chicken and waffles, that's where they really shine
Ketchup is always on the table around here but I'd say ranch is the king of the condiments around here. Used to make it by the bucket when I worked at a pizza joint years ago. Now when it comes to the Crisippi situation, I think multiple things can be true at once. 1. Ketchup is a staple for dipping fries not only in this state, but the entire country. I can see why that's irritating to people and refusing to budge on this seems really weird. 2. I've noticed in larger cities there's a trend toward cashless transactions. That hasn't become prevalent here and being one of the first ones bringing a new practice to an area is tough. 3. As a white guy in an extremely white state, I have no clue what it's like to be black. I don't know what this dude has faced and what he continues to face. Could a customer have said or done something racist towards him? It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Is some of the backlash to the video and the restaurant racially motivated? For some folks, it very well could be. 4. Taste is subjective. My personal opinion on the place is that it's overpriced mediocre food. There are plenty of really good restaurants in that area I'd rather spend my money at. I ate there once, and haven't been back. Nothing to do with service, ketchup or cash -- it just ain't all that in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if others felt the same. 5. The location is terrible. Multiple businesses have failed there. I don't know why, but it wouldn't surprise me if parking or signage is an issue there. 6. The PR of this restaurant has been a dumpster fire. From posting the video onwards, a a decision was made to keep digging the hole. Kurt might have legitimate concerns but as things played out I just can't understand why the hell he kept at it in this way. 7. Alligator Jackson kept fanning the flames. And with that platform, he whipped others up too. He could've chosen to not engage and this wouldn't have gotten so crazy.
I think 4 and 5 are the main reason they weren't doing too hot to begin with, leading to this whole fiasco. If I'm going downtown to get food I can park in one garage and have 10+ options within a 5 minute walk. There are some really great restaurants on the same block as Crisspi's. They genuinely just don't have a good enough product to beat the nearby competitors.
I completely agree with you.
Man that’s a really even handed assessment of the whole thing. I especially appreciate you touching on the racial element in a fair, non judgmental way.
I’m going to say that WV in general is a big connoisseur of ketchup.
Thank you. I guess I shouldn't have included the restaurant issue on here but I was trying to explain my train of thought. I should have known that the restaurant issue would be hijacked.
All things aside that restraunt has many other problems going on more than just the ketchup issue.
I used to eat ketchup sandwiches as a kid, and I still use it as my go to condiment for most foods. Maybe we like it more than other states? I’m not sure
It’s not the ketchup it’s telling the customer you aren’t interested in meeting their request for something pretty simple. Especially when your alternative sauce is not good
Exactly. I have an egg allergy and cannot eat anything mayonnaise based. Ketchup is a safe food for me I know I can eat at restaurants without accidental allergen exposure
"Owner went on a local podcast and blamed the lack of success from his restaurant on the city, said the citizens are racist and didn’t want him to succeed, which then lead to some local viral posts about him, making him to be a big laughing stock. This is what I was referring to. The owner is moss, but that wasn't him in the video.
From the very start when Crisspi's opened, they were very snarky on their social media. I grew up near Huntington, live in Charleston now, and i've watched all this unfold. A lot of people thought their social media responses the first week or so were funny. Turns out Crisspi's is just run by assholes. I haven't been there to eat, but i saw somewhere they charge extra for their special sauce shit if you want some for your fries. If anyone can confirm this for me, i'd appreciate it
They don't serve ketchup because they want to push their 'sauce' whatever it actually is. They don't accept cash because that would require a safe, cash on hand, a proper relationship with a bank, and a few other things. This isn't a serious business - trying to cash in on the name of a has-been who had some choice negative things to say when he left Marshall/Huntington.
None of my friends in Huntington actually care about the ketchup/cashless issue. If you look at the people complaining online, they mostly live outside of Huntington.
What? Name any other fast food restaurant that doesn’t serve ketchup with fries. It’s ridiculous. I hate ketchup and don’t eat it anyway. But I totally understand why people who do eat ketchup expect it at a restaurant that serves fries. I know people who have tried this restaurant who live in Huntington and the first thing they said when asked how it was…they don’t serve ketchup.
Then go visit those fast food restaurants. It’s not that difficult. How dare a restaurant run their business as they see fit. The audacity! A business doesn’t have to be everything for everybody. They don’t serve ketchup and that’s a deal breaker for you, then go somewhere else. It’s just that simple. The near constant complaining about this ketchup “issue” is beyond childish. I can’t even imagine caring so much about a condiment that I had to take to social media to whine about it and harass a business over it.
I literally said I don’t even eat ketchup. I hate it. But a restaurant isn’t going to survive if they don’t give the people what they want. It’s that simple. lol. Are you an employee there or something? You seem very defensive.
You hate ketchup, but still feel compelled to whine about this. That says more about you than me. To answer your question, I am not employee, but I do feel compelled to defend a business trying to run their operation as they see fit. If they want to run their business into the ground, that’s their prerogative. None of that requires all of these people coming out of the woodwork to antagonize the business over ketchup and credit cards.
[удалено]
So now we’re “analyzing” a business over a lack of ketchup. This is more sad than I thought.
that is a big issue to a lot of people in the area to which they are going elsewhere and they still wonder why they’re not getting any business. Then they go on a podcast and attack one of the most influential people in the whole tri state and wonder why people are mad and refuse to eat at their restaurant when it’s actually all their fault because they blame it all on race when in reality they have a terrible business model and are assholes to the people they expect to get money from.
That’s an entirely separate issue. I think the essence of the business model is fine, but they have absolutely no idea how to run a business or execute a concept. There are a million things to hit them with, but a lack of ketchup seems like such a silly complaint in comparison to what’s really wrong with the place. Everybody seems to care more about ketchup than Crisspi’s firing nearly all of their Black employees en masse. That’s something to complain about.
Honestly I think it was just a dumb idea to open a chicken restaurant where the best chicken restaurant in town (roosters) is only a few blocks away (and they offer ketchup!)
That’s what I said. Not only that that’s a heavy food area. Just look at all the options people have. It’s heavy competition
Like others, I can only speak for myself regarding the ketchup question. I like everything but ketchup, however, that's only because I spent a few years across the big pond where it's not *that* common in many countries. Until then, though, I put ketchup on everything. As for the restaurant ... The first day it opened, there were people clear around the corner and into the alley waiting to eat there. Honestly, I've never seen a line like that for any new business in H-town. They were doing fairly well, at the start; however, they've got interesting policies that rubbed people wrong. They don't accept cash, for one, and two, they don't have any other sauces besides theirs. We're a university town and the students can make it break a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop. One person gets pissy and posts some shit comment on socials and all the others pile on. The cash thing, I don't think, was a big deal, but deny someone simple, like a choice in sauces, and there goes the business. I can see how a Black owned business could feel that it is about race. White individuals are a majority here, so if the manager is strictly going off a visual aspect of those who visited the establishment, that may be how it's perceived. I truly hate the idea that someone feels that way toward H-town , though, but who are we to argue with their perception of what's happening. Racism is here but we work very hard to be an inclusive and diverse city. Bystanders are few and far between when it comes to doing what's right when supporting Black individuals, other people of color, and the LGBT+ community, too. I take pride in H-town for being better and working hard to shed the stigma of West Virginia's racist, sexist, and homophobic stereotype.
They had to shut down a lane of Rt. 60 when Bojangles opened. You must not have been here that long.
Naw. You're right. That place closed so quickly, I forgot it was even opened.
It’s not about the ketchup. It’s about the whole place being stuck in their ways and being afraid of anything new and/or different, along with a big dose of stubbornness. I lived there for ten years; everyone wants to bitch about nothing new going in, but when something does, it’s never good enough and it gets nitpicked until it closes. It’s also about a business that’s failing, and wanting to blame everyone but themselves.
Arguably, if the problem is being stuck in one's ways, then the restaurant is at fault. The issue being presented here is that people wanted ketchup, the restaurant refused to provide ketchup, and the restaurant failed as a result. In this fantasy scenario, if the restaurant could buy ketchup and have been a success, it is absolutely at fault here. To survive you have to adapt to your environment, you don't just expect your environment to adapt to you, and then get angry when it doesn't. That's not reasonable behavior. If you want to succeed, especially in the service industry, then the appropriate response is to listen to and graciously accept criticism, and try to make changes that address it.
I am not yet a Huntington resident, but I am physically sitting in Huntington as I write this. I ate breakfast at Butter it Up the other morning. 3 men around age 50 were finishing their breakfast and jawboning about whatever. One of them had been to the new place, and they had run out of whole breasts so they were serving sandwiches with 2 tenders instead of one larger piece. Something about the bun falling apart and the challenge of eating it, blah blah. And then the ketchup issue came up. The other two really piled onto the whole thing. As they discussed it, I thought: wow, what a tempest in a teapot. One vaguely negative experience at a new restaurant, and these three guys were ready to dismiss the place entirely. It was definitely something that I will take as a learning experience as I relocate. On the other hand, I understand that the founder plans to build this out as a chain. Why not just add ketchup to the menu? Or some special spin on ketchup like a spicier version? Successful start-ups constantly tweak their offerings until everything takes off.
There’s a chicken place. Poor customer service place called crispies. People complained was no ketchup, people complained you couldn’t move chairs around. So a family of 5 couldn’t sit together. The owner says “oh it’s cause we’re black” race was never an issue. Instead of “the customer is always right”. His attitude is we’re right and Huntington is just hating on us . Full story below. https://www.herald-dispatch.com/business/crisppis-manager-responds-to-attacks-on-social-media/article_d5d37072-68c4-5987-8060-15072c8ba0c5.html
https://youtu.be/KRSA3TuNTXw?si=oKnNom6p4d090ZHw
I don't think so I'm an A1 steak sauce or honey mustard dude
Ketchup is well loved here yes. If a place doesn't serve ketchup it will be looked at as an insult cause ketchup is served in literally every establishment here. You have to listen and cater to what people want to be successful. If they love ketchup and want that as an option make it be so.
ranch is better. LoL
I know ketchupgate is a thing right now, but the fiasco was not ‘about ketchup’, it’s about costumer service and racially calling out all races in the community (blacks for not supporting the business more and for having a poor work ethic), initially whites for being too critical about food quality and costumer service. Ketchup was just used as an example, a ludicrous one to hang your hat on but here we are. But yes sugary ketchup on fries, onion rings, tater tots is a big thing and it’s an easy cultural accommodation if you are getting a lot of requests for it. Just like in southern restaurants a lot of people like vinegar on their fries and will request that, or southwestern restaurants being heavy on the hot sauce due to costumer preference.
Never put pump bottles for ketchup, hand out six packets. Humans abuse anything free.
I put it on all my steaks. /s
If an alcoholic sat at a bar and was told they don’t serve alcohol, they’d be upset. If a sugar addicted person asked for ketchup and was told they don’t serve ketchup, they’d be upset.
People were complaining about ketchup initially before the restaurant gave their statement on it. That’s what people are leaving out. If it’s not McDonald’s or Burger King, people are uncomfortable with it. Like imagine being so bored that this is something you’d legitimately throw a tantrum over. For the record, I think the restaurant handled this very poorly. Not defending them at all. They should have just opened a restaurant and stole the ingredients from any number of shitty fast food restaurants downtown so people wouldn’t have to experience anything slightly different.
It’s just people being silly for attention
Race shaming an entire community when you own / operate a small business isn't silly. The facebook PR nightmare continues. The non apology, apology exchanged "the other color" with ethnicity...
Except if its right. I mean we don't know his story. We don't know what he might have had to endure with employees or getting started. Its a bit much to automatically assume no racism involved isn't it? Isn't it occam's razor to think that as a black business owner in WV he has at least experienced some racism that gives his words weight?
Sir. Have you watched the Facebook video that was deleted quickly thereafter? Have you been to Huntington, WV? The ownership is making this a race issue.
I live down the street. I bought a sandwhich the other day. Racial etiquette might say that when a black man alludes to racist behavior that has made his life harder we stop look and listen. I think that making his life harder is kind of on the opposite end of that compassion spectrum don't you think? There is no apology needed because everything of substance in the video is coming to fruition. Watch the video again. Does he mention ketchup?
A person's color and racial background doesn't demand respect, provide authority or necessarily garner favorable attention if his intentions are improper. Customer service is a simple formula. He goes from "the other color people" , to a different "ethnicity" and then called out Chinese and Indian culture.
With all due respect your reply IMO very clearly falls into this Aversive racist category. Race is a reality in america that we have not necessarily moved on from and still has barriers that people have to overcome everyday. Bringing attention to that barrier and that adversity should not be avoided, shunned or demeaned. You are talking around that point and around this communities cruelty. If this was Boston Mass, I would give this man much less leeway for his words. But this is huntington WV. and your reasoning does not move me to change my opinion.
It's only a barrier when you make it one. And not surprisingly you are the one making it an issue along with Crisspi's ownership. Community cruelty? Edit: Boston Massachusetts racism is ok? I'm confused. Boston is well known to have very strong feelings about this subject, including their sports teams.
Please look up almost any article on Aversive racism. I understand you think you are being morally right and just. I get it and in a vacuum you might be. We don't live in that vacuum we live in a real world with real people. If you have any faith in me as a stranger on the internet please meditate on my words and think hard after reading some articles or books on the subject at hand. Minorities live a very different life than whites in states like WV. Thats not to say that their race is a barrier but its obvious to me that other people still can make it so. In the modern age its never explicit or direct. But can you believe that these negative interactions still exist in small ways? Can you confidently say that people in WV are not racist at all? I invite you to introduce yourself to the ownership and ask them for their story. It might humble you.
I'm just someone who knows customer service. The ownership messed up calling the community racist. Edit: I was born in Huntington. My parents are from different parts of the city. One went to a segregated High School. I have traveled all but 2 of the Continental 48 US states. I'm well aware that bigotry and prejudice exist. I choose to focus on acceptance.
Nah, a place not having ketchup for fries, not taking cash, and saying we don't like their fried chicken because they're Black isn't "being silly for attention."
I can smell my downvotes already. bear with me: Its covert racism from a cadre of loud old and dull people that have only discovered the internet recently. Its not their fault, they are the salt of the earth - you know, morons. I'd love to be corrected by anyone that claims to be better read in social justice but this seems like a textbook case of averse and covert racism and a lack or racial etiquette from the people of WV. it has never been about the ketchup. the ketchup is a strawman - a natural but childish debate tactic when the owner was alluding to racial bias. "Its not racial! how dare a black man suggest that. He doesn't even serve us ketchup. Thats the problem! its ketchup!" SMH If you watch the video he talks about other issues but I don't think he mentions ketchup at all. In fact his words seem to have predicted and forecasted this type of behavior from people because some communities just wants to spread negativity where they can find it. It seems pitifully obvious to me and I'm left with a pikachu face with how this community can be so blatantly cruel and hurtful. A black man cries racism and our response is to dog pile his business and digitally beat him up? Woof. Again, this community is hyper sensitive to anything. Bunch of snowflakes if you ask me. And the education level is some of the lowest in the country. And racism is a complicated conversation to have with anyone, let alone poverty stricken white people. Ketchup and calls for ketchup is the absurd reality dogwhistle that masks a type of racism that has already been written about in text books and more. **TLDR: this town doesn't understand black people or culture. And finds the choice of language and social media threatening and scary. Old people do old people things that are super predictable and pitiful. Not enough young people or black people or education for this town to learn from its mistakes. Rince wash repeat.** Bonus: Money and capitalism is the only language that poor whites respect and automatically assume that the business is failing because of social media. Their unsolicited advice comes off as productive in their minds and is hyper focused on because of their sensitivity to being called racist. Media wins by drawing out outrage and dancing around moral judgement because the Editors are also idiots that know how to milk the drama. Business wins because ultimately their product is OK at worst. Old and dull people move on to the next outrage. Ketchup lives on as a meme that the future might say was just "alittle" racist.
In huntington? Near Marshall? Where people come from all over to go to school and the town is probably one of the youngest in the state?
In huntington? NPR's opiod capital of the US? At marshall? where they have a 98% acceptance rate? In WV where we are 45-50 dead last in education? yes. None of what you said denotes any kind of real progressive actions or education. The least racist part of a racist state is still racist. "BUT It could have been worse if it was in another part of WV!" omg its still bad! jesus christ people. Y'all think huntington is the jewel of west WV and you deserve better judgement? Congrats on not actually lynching the man and only doing it digitally.
So I think that all these things can simultaneously be true- I've spent all of the happy years of my adult life in Huntington organizing/working with the community. As an openly queer guy in a gay relationship- yes Huntington has its issues but I really don't think that the city has enough racists that CARE to make the effort to overtly destroy crisppis, a place that has had plenty of its own issues as a business. What happened here was a repetition of culture war bullshit that's happened many, many times combined with typical new restaurant issues. Crisppis just isn't that good of a place to eat, the foods ok and their wait staff was really, really, awkward/aggressively nice. (At least this was my partner and I's experience) the restaurant wasn't doing well then got dragged into culture war discourse through both the management and Alligator Jackson. Shitty situation to be in. I do not think there is an overt attempt to ruin black businesses in Huntington though. Huntington lined up around the block to eat there and really supported the place at the start, and there are plenty of successful black owned restaurants in town like JoJo at Soulfood Twist! They're doing great.
Thank you, A reasoned opinion! You should move back here and raise my property prices.
I'm still here on the west end! How would I raise your property prices?
Have gay babies and buy them houses in town too. Thats how gentrification works right?
You gotta live in a less impoverished area to have gentrification, the city bulldozed the pj's for Marshall, and CHHE, not for my gay son and my wierd haircut. Grow up friend.
Unironically It really is an open secret that gay couples and singles help boost economies. Legit look it up in real-estate forums.
I mean I'm renting on the west end, we aren't particularly close to owning a home within the next 10 or so years and don't plan on having kids so please allow me to allay your gentrification fears in this case.
Nononono Stay, buy a house! DINK it up in huntington! Buy a fixer upper! Its cheap! This town needs more gay couples to buy houses and fix them! No kids no problem! spend all your money in town and open a wine shop or something! Do it, you won't.
I'm not entirely sure what my partner and I's life plans, property status or sexuality has to do with Crisppi's- it kinda feels like you harbor some (slightly homophobic) concerns about gays and gentrification? Don't worry, my partner and I aren't gonna open a wine shop or start gentrifying the west end it's a little weird that's what you immediately jumped to rather than the topic at hand. Still it's been interesting talking to you- even if it's been a complete waste of energy/time. Hope to see you around.
I'm sorry my energy isn't coming across right. I'm very friendly with the gay community and I admit the tone shift in retrospect has not been communicated properly. My tone is of ironic excitement and not derision. There is what I think is an open secret in the gay community and in real-estate that Gays and generally all LGBTQ+ peoples are very beneficial to the economy. A rising LGBTQ+ population in towns usually means good investments and rising property prices. I'm sorry if I missed communicating that context. I forget sometimes the subs I'm in and the positive stereotypes I aim to be inclusive about. I'm not gay and I'll be sure to be much more careful. Apologies. This has nothing to do with Chicken. I'm just excited to get a reasoned opinion from someone that I trust to understand what it might mean to be discriminated against. I would much rather talk about houses and the brighter future of Huntington than debate others about their questionable benign racial talking points. Thanks for chiming in.
Is this Kurt? Seriously, you're doing exactly what he did, claiming the business did nothing wrong, and that Huntington is just old, dumb and racist. I mean, he obviously didn't treat the staff well based on everyone quitting, and that awkward rambling lie he tells about the circumstances around that. The ketchup is a strawman, and so is the racism. Place just wasn't run well. Anyone with two braincells to rub together understands that if you work in the service industry, you don't just openly insult your customer base. The appropriate response to criticism is to accept it graciously, be grateful for the feedback, and try to make improvements to make your customers happier. You don't criticize them for not-liking the product, you aren't entitled to their money, you have to *earn* their money by providing a service, which means you have to compete with all the other people trying to earn money by providing similar services. This seems like econ101, and yet somehow it's a novel concept to a manager. If you want to survive, you have to adapt to your environment. It is unreasonable, borderline mentally ill to expect the environment to adapt to you, and get angry when it doesn't. If I opened a soup restaurant in France, and everybody said it was amazing, but it was too spicy, I'd dial back the spice a bit. If I made it even spicier and then everybody stopped buying it, that's on me.
Listen everything you said could very well be true, I won't debate anything sketchy with his managerial practices. I expect this city to treat racism much more seriously. A strawman is usually a weaker argument. Racism is arguably a really big arguement. Any one of these issues will not fix his balance sheet. And its not like claiming racism is a magic word that is going to bolster his bank account overnight. If you want to make this an issue of business or an issue of ketchup go for it. I won't defend him on either customer service or money practices. If he closes in a few months No skin off my back. This city's approach to a business owner lightly alluding to racism is my issue. and i have kept it there. I'm not the one tying it back to money or issues of customer service. Everyone is allowed to "play the race card," and when it is in play we should treat is seriously instead of dismissing it or reacting to it like its the plague. Besides, what are you his banker? I don't care. Go after his money, sue him for slander against the town. None of your reaction is helping him with his business more than it is constantly tearing it down. Just let it be then. This spectacle doesn't need to be as big as it is. Its just you snowflakes getting sensitive when a black man plays the race card. There is nothing borderline about. I've maintained situations like this are played out and old. This is not my first time on this train of thought. His business could be shit and I would still think it important that we take the racism part seriously. Its the fact that people like you aren't that kinda paint you guys badly. If the business is bad - focus on that. But don't pretend that we shouldn't care about racism. We should all care about racism. I've seen everyone saying he will go under in the summer. Lets wait and see. Like I said I don't care for the business more than I care about this city's sensitivity to racism. I'll take my money and my family elsewhere if people like you aren't going to take racism seriously. Thats all. Thats my stake in this.
climbonapply24head You basically are taking the position that racism is a magic word that should bolster his bank account overnight. It isn't, and I'm glad we live in a place where it isn't. I don't know how you can possibly expect me to interpret that differently. That's obviously what he wanted to happen. He's whines about how people usually support his own, he said something about indians and 7-11 iirc, which I thought was a pretty racist and embarrassing thing to say. The manager is the most racist person in the story. If you feel so strongly about racism, you should boycott the business. What is the alternative you're proposing here? What do you want to have happen instead?
No Im not. I explicitly say that I'm not saying that. I'm not the best writer but I do explicitly say that i'm not advocating that. I don't want to rag on anyone's reading comprehension but comon. And the thing is - i've been writing some very kindly worded paragraphs on what I think is an appropriate community response to an out of pocket video post from the owner. I think an appropriate response is not making fun of him and not dragging his name and his business through the mud. Its not outrage. Its not judgement. Its not revenge or retribution. Its tolerance, Patience, understanding, quiet. Let it be. Its not an issue to raise a fuss over. In the modern age any idiot with a platform can get up and talk about something. Our peace is worth more than this bothersome thing. The problem comes with the lack of media literacy and modern social graces that paint this town a bit racist. -Old people that don't understand modern social media and have to catch up and go through the gambit of outrage and false opinions. Thats why its blowing up because the editors of modern media see that and easily see real SJWs and more jumping on this to catch fire and jump on the story. You think I'm bad? You have never argued with real SJWs. They are the worst. I'm here only talking about how people like you and more have to shut up and stop talking with your light racist shit before someone says something really stupid. I bet you Kurt is already sitting on a treasure trove of hateful messages and media thrown at him by both fake and real accounts. You want the rest of america to come down on this town and judge us? Keep talking, keep up with the ketchup jokes. Stay ignorant. If and when the hammer comes and we got the nation looking at us mocking the city for being backwards dont say I didn't warn you. Its already happening. Y'all could have just shut up about it and educated yourselves but no. I like this town because its quiet and there is very little shitty drama like this. But then many of you just have to have a freaking opinion about a black guy's fried chicken video. I swear you can't make this stuff up. Thats a TV show premise. I want this town to sit quietly and let this shit play out and stop saying obviously racist shit. cause I can tell you now the screenshots and the comments being made are not going to age well at all. **edit**: For anyone else reading you might see that he changed accounts. He also blocked me which prevents me from seeing or replying to his replies. Good conversation and good faith etiquette don't really encourage this behavior. I stand by my words with integrity and I would invite anyone to get to know me and my opinion better. Anything might be better than this person who thinks conversation can be weaponized like this. Be better than this online and offline.
>No Im not. I explicitly say that I'm not saying that. I'm not the best writer but I do explicitly say that i'm not advocating that. I don't want to rag on anyone's reading comprehension but comon. **Reading comprehension is what lets me make that statement. It does not matter that you explicitly state you're not saying that.** You also advocate for that by suggesting the outlandish claims here should just blanketly be believed and respected, and ignoring the racist things Kurt said and his poor leadership skills. You're making an assertion that racism is taking place here, and is the reason for the business' failure. I don't think that has been demonstrated, I think it's a baseless assertion of a man desperate to defend his own failures who is unwilling to accept accountability. **But thanks for calling me stupid.** >And the thing is - i've been writing some very kindly worded paragraphs on what I think is an appropriate community response to an out of pocket video post from the owner. You said basically nothing here... don't tell me what you've wrote other places offhandedly, we are having a discussion here. >I think an appropriate response is not making fun of him and not dragging his name and his business through the mud.Its not outrage. Its not judgement. Its not revenge or retribution. Its tolerance, Patience, understanding, quiet. Let it be. He isn't entitled to be free from the consequences of his actions. He brought this attention on himself. Men with guns didn't force him to say racist things into the camera. I don't do any of those things, I am just going to continue to not support the business, I see that as the appropriate consequence here. >Its not an issue to raise a fuss over. In the modern age any idiot with a platform can get up and talk about something. You seem extremely out of touch, people get cancelled all the time "in the modern age." >Thats why its blowing up because the editors of modern media see that and easily see real SJWs and more jumping on this to catch fire and jump on the story. You think I'm bad? You have never argued with real SJWs. They are the worst. I feel like you're trying to find common ground with me here, but it just feels greasy and manipulative. I really don't care about other people in the context of our conversation, someone else being right or wrong about something unrelated doesn't make you any less right or wrong about what we're talking about. >I'm here only talking about how people like you and more have to shut up and stop talking with your light racist shit before someone says something really stupid. I bet you Kurt is already sitting on a treasure trove of hateful messages and media thrown at him by both fake and real accounts. I genuinely do not care about Kurt. It seems like he objectively deserves to lose his job, but that's not my call to make. I hope he takes self-inventory, looks at this as a learning experience, and makes positive change. **Thanks for calling me racist though.** >You want the rest of America to come down on this town and judge us? Keep talking, keep up with the ketchup jokes. Stay ignorant. If and when the hammer comes and we got the nation looking at us mocking the city for being backwards dont say I didn't warn you. Its already happening. Y'all could have just shut up about it and educated yourselves but no. Have you tried growing up? Why do you care if people make fun of you, what are you, five? If you're actually secure in yourself, people saying things about you that aren't true shouldn't bother you. People are going to think what they're going to think, but I think most rational people are going to understand Kurt's not on the right side of history here. Also, what would the rest of america 'coming down on us' even look like, and why do you think this is the thing, have you seen any political ad here ever? They're already judging us. **Thanks for calling me ignorant and uneducated though.** >I like this town because its quiet and there is very little shitty drama like this. But then many of you just have to have a freaking opinion about a black guy's fried chicken video. I swear you can't make this stuff up. Thats a TV show premise. So you just want to repress other people's opinions? You know that's a bad thing, right? That's what a tyrant does. Or a narcissist. It doesn't sound like a good premise for a racist TV show to me. They literally make movies like that now, have you seen the one based on the Key and Peele magical negro sketch? Of course you haven't, no one has, but it exists. >I want this town to sit quietly and let this shit play out and stop saying obviously racist shit. cause I can tell you now the screenshots and the comments being made are not going to age well at all. 'Kay, then if I were you, I'd stay off social media for a while and ignore it, and then it'll go away like any other headline. If I were Kurt, I'd just apologize, say I was scared of losing my job, I had a long, rough day, and I tried to shift the blame on anyone but myself; but that I've realized at the end of the day it takes a big man to admit that he's wrong, and to own up to and learn from his mistakes. **You're the racist one here**. You're the one making sweeping generalizations, about the people of Huntington, and me specifically. This has been a wholly unpleasant exchange where you've insulted me and made baseless generalizations about me multiple times. **You should alter your approach if you genuinely want to reach people, Daryl Davis is a personal hero of mine, I would look into him/his philosophy on changing racists minds if you're not just out to virtue signal.** Otherwise, good luck finding a masochist cuck (I believe the kids are saying) to listen to you, and good luck in life in general moving forward. **Edit**:You blocked me first, bitch, that's why I made this account to reply to you, and why this account has exactly one post. Good faith discussion went out the window a long time ago. Go ahead and stand by your words, it's almost impressive how confidently you can be wrong. Almost.
What the fuck are you talking about dude
If there was any post I don't expect people to understand its this one sure. For a state so backwards that racial education and more is decades behind I can't blame you. I'm not here to nominate myself as this city's racial etiquette police. Read a book. Get off the internet. Anyone that wants to know more or have a real discussion can DM me and I'll make time. Honest - good faith.
Oh, you're on a pretty high horse about this one, so let me clarify before you go on another arrogant smug screed I understand the words you said and the meaning behind them, I was expressing incredulity that you were converting the issue to a racial one that absolved the business owner of any potential blame, on the premise that the people that weren't happy were merely taking exception with his race. I think that's deranged, that proving absence of intent is almost impossible thus making it an almost irrefutable claim that you insist people refute, and that the simpler answer is that he's not particularly good at public relations and marketing given that at the very least, he did not offer them an essential condiment and instead escalated directly upwards without reinforcing his position at all, and thus it's somewhat likely poor service played a factor
Dm me. I live down the street. I can afford a few conversations in good faith. I'll buy you a chicken sandwich. its a complicated topic. I own that. Its hard to understand. I believe in people and I beleive in growth. Thats why I took the time to write the way I did and thats why I'm taking the time to address you in this way too. I still feel absolutely shocked at the community response. But I believe in good people growing to understand my points. I think you are focusing on the wrong thing here and you are not approaching this out of compassion more than you are reacting to the accusation of racism. I've said this in another thread but I was taught growing up to pause, think hard in prayer and meditate when sensitive topics like this come up. I don't think anyone is doing that. I think this is a large pile of sensitivity that we as a city can grow from.
Tbh the going cashless was a blatant lack of understanding of the area. Coming in and being pretty much being one of the few places to do it just shows that the chain didn’t bother to research the area at all. So covert racism? Eh, the chain didn’t even give a modicum of time to understanding the area. And pushing it just dumb. Hell even wal mart got some push with their card only self check outs if that says anything. I know people who still hate that shit. It seems petty to be upset about a restaurant not serving ketchup but it feels equally as petty for them to force something like that. You at least give the customer the option like literally every other restaurant. And how is making a sweeping generalization about a community not a damn basis for stereotypes? Stereotypes being the damn basis for things like racism. Nah man. This was a case of the chain being tone deaf of the community they tried to serve. And honestly could’ve just stayed a petty thing about ketchup and cashlessness. No. It had to be escalated to calling a community racist because sweeping generalizations like that go over so well don’t they? The community being sensitive when the damn manager was the one who got butthurt of the negative responses being about ketchup. And THEN thought the best response was to call a community racist for it. Bringing race into a non-race issue. Who’s really the damn sensitive one? Like lmao bro wtf are you smoking? You have a dumb take on this for real lmao.
I took the liberty of scrolling through your post history. I see you might understand the pain or the anxiety that comes with feeling lonely, outcast, bullied, or something like that. I'm not sure if you have ever talked to minorities about their lives but some people who just happen to be minorities live with a daily struggle of anxiety because of racist histories in the past. Sometimes its history that they weren't even around for. That really can influence a person and their ideals. You might call it generational trauma. To think, that our daily traumas or just little inconveniences might pale in comparison to the weight that some people carry around is humbling to me. How the business learns and grows is its business. It should not be our concern. And these rumors of it performing badly seem kinda unfounded. I think you are falling for a conservative media trap. I think there is a type of racial etiquette that you and many in this city lack. Its easy for all of you to fall back on hard numbers and call it just business. Nothing personal its just a failing business. If you take out the business its all personal. Everything is personal. The difference is how we as a community choose to respond to these things. I don't know this guy. I don't pretend to know this guy. Maybe he has gone through some stuff. Maybe he is stressed. Maybe the raw fact that he is black in america in a majority white town has him second guessing himself. What is our response to that? Make his life harder? Bully him? Digital lynching? Man that all sounds wrong. It all sounds based in hate and disguised bias. It can't be real bias. Everyone wants to deny that. Everyone wants to say they don't have any real explicit biases. "its just ketchup, its just business." Bro, Its not your business, right? You don't need to have an opinion on everything and when people like you come out of the woodwork specifically to address the racism stuff it just looks bad. Compassion is the way we should respond to these things and the things stopping us from doing that seem to be more racial etiquette, poor internet etiquette, poor social media graces, low education and an aging population. yes these are sweeping generalizations but we can't be in denial about them. Thats why we have stats and math and productivity numbers to measure and confirm these things. This black man has cried racism and the community has responded seemily without compassion or concern. They act as if it isn't true but don't do anything to try to understand. Seems pretty one sided. Seems like bullying. If we all took more time to understand each other it wouldn't be this bad. But its WV. Its really poor here, and the education is really low and the people are getting old and dying. There doesn't seem to be time to do that. So what's left is hateful comments like yours. You da bully here man.
Bro, don’t try and use my post history against me especially since it’s irrelevant. The man turned a non-race issue into a race issue. Why are you defending that? It being a race issue was never true. Why haven’t you even acknowledged the tone deafness of even going cashless for an area clearly not used to that? If it had been a race issue that’d be a different story but not everything is about race. I didn’t even know who Randy Moss let alone that he was black until after I tried their food. With how people can be cancelled for being racist it’s not shocking for people to want to be pissed to be lumped together as a community. Why WOULDNT the community be understandably pissed. Even people of color that I know think him turning it into a race issue was a weird left field move. It didn’t make sense. If it was such a conservative trap why do even my most left leaning friends think it was also left field? My LGBTQ friends also felt it was unnecessary. Like just serve ketchup. Get a box of bottles. You are acting like his generalizations actually hold water. I just said too how people also didn’t like wal marts cashless self checkout. So people being bothered by the cashlessness isn’t a shock. Why are you downplaying that the man made a sweeping generalization of a community? Like gee thanks for calling a person racist because they don’t care for a business practice or product. You don’t like my product? You must be racist. You are being weirdly apologetic for a single guy. This community has been shat on enough and has dealt with too damn much for someone to come in make up shit like this. Look, the man didn’t address the community with compassion. He didn’t even address it professionally. Calling me a bully because I’m aggravated because some dude on the internet is defending a single guy who generalized an entire community because he was upset that negative comments were about not serving ketchup.
Yea, well compassion should be the default response for everything. Not just hate. And any real LGBTQ person would understand how to separate a business problem vs a identity problem. try looking at this from a different perspective and it might open your mind a bit. Consider that it isn't just a race issue. Its multifaceted. I don't have time for this type of conversation today. If you want to DM me we can hop on a discord and hash it out. Otherwise feel free to stew in these comments as you are. You seem to have an agenda here and I don't think you are listening to me or treating me with compassion. I think going into your post history sometimes can give context that allows me to write to you with greater compassion and to know how to speak to you effectively. Its not manipulation. Its kindness. If you haven't been taught that or shown that before I'm sorry. I'm offering to buy people a free chicken sandwich. If you want to test me test me. But I think we've done as much as we can by text. I'm a real person with real opinions and real stories. Dont forget that.
Did you seriously just say “real LGBTQ person” Really? I guess my friends who are minorities aren’t “real minorities” then. FFS. I don’t have an agenda. I’m pointing out bullshit. It’s bullshit that you say “compassion should be the response to everything” when the man clearly did not and lumped a community into all being racists. Maybe treat the community that has been shat on by companies and taking advantage of for fucking generations instead of single dude butthurt about ketchup. I would’ve figured a person who speaks of kindness would know how wrought this community has suffered. It was not a race issue. Stop saying it is. The guy made it about race and that’s shitty. Playing the race card over something so baseless. Also, lay off the kindness and virtue signaling. We both know this conversation isn’t going anywhere outside of here and offering free chicken serves nothing but your self righteousness. Don’t pull that bullshit with me. People can have opinions, but doesn’t mean your opinion is more valid than anyone else’s. But one can be more right based on facts. And the fact is the man made a mountain from a molehill. for some reason you think that you are in the right here after everything that not only I have said but others have said too. If you wanna show kindness maybe show it to the community who doesn’t deserve to be generalized and called racist.
I'm real. I live in town. Don't be afraid. I have a decent life with a girlfriend and dogs and a house. Whole nine yards. This city is filled with trauma and mental issues. And Its gonna take a few generations to heal that. I'm very happy to take this offline and IRL. Don't say I'm not. I've done it before. I'm just normal guy. I'm sorry I can't reach you. I bet there is a ton of stuff I could learn from you. Offer stands. On my comments regarding "real LGBTQ+" I'm probably a bit spoiled on good friends being highly educated and informed and very active and inclusive. Some of the best communicators I know are in that group. I think some of the best lessons and learnings on compassion, love and understanding can come from those groups. I would hope Huntington can also rely on its diverse community to teach it compassion when people like you have little to give. Thats what I'm doing now in this chat. Trying to teach and show compassion. Please give me some grace for that. Sometimes I have to meet stupidity with truth and bigots with reality. Take the time to get out of your shell and cultivate a better understanding. Otherwise you are just gonna get harder and more recluse.
You haven’t even addressed the big talking points of my comments. Plus you just called my friends not real minorities and apparently they are uneducated in comparison to yours even though all of my friends have degrees. And saying things like “I have to meet stupidity with truth and bigots with reality” when you have beat around the bush with my comments and apparently not having the time for a conversation like this. Implying I’m the stupid one and I’m the bigot. You’ve just shat on our community by defending the dude. You’ve insulted my friends and you still continue to stand on your high horse. And insulted me. Nah. You can actually go fuck yourself, honestly.
You are taking things radically. And you are just using me as a punching bag now. Check yourself. I'm out.
Oh please. Dont play victim. Anyone reading these comments can tell you just insulted my friends, me and the community. And you’ve done nothing or said anything to explain yourself. You purposely avoided every talking point. You are really really not good at meeting people where they are at all. And will continue to do so because you have blissfully disengaged yourself. Go ahead and go to your friends, have them validate your opinions while you invalidate others as well as inadvertently insult them like you’ve done. You’ve done nothing to back anything here but instead point to your halo and hope for praise. You’re in the wrong here. Completely. And won’t even admit it. Shocking absolutely no one.
Out of brain cells
Bro I know some people at River Park. I can get you a bed asap lmao On a real note, the restaurant business is *hard*. Look at how many come and go in Huntington. We are getting new restaurants and losing them seemingly every month. Putting a chicken business across from the best chicken joint in Huntington was a massive gamble anyway. Putting a restaurant where one had just failed was a gamble. Ran by one of the most successful businessmen in the state. At the end of the day, you can open a restaurant then I can open a restaurant. Opening a restaurant doesn’t bring 10,000 more people into the community to eat at our restaurants. Our restaurants just gave the limited number of people two more options to choose from. If they choose us they’re taking away from other restaurants. If you choose to go cashless and not offer ketchup with potatoes in Appalachia that is on you. Don’t expect a positive response when you don’t offer basic condiments. Calling a community racist because your lackluster restaurant didn’t succeed will be a quicker way to closure. I’m exhausted at these types of things. Being accused of being racist because I choose Rooster’s over Crisppi’s literally sounds like a comedy script. It’s so exhausting.
But the OLD PEOPLE! They are in the trees man. In the TREEES. Who will scare the old people when I'm gone? When they reintroduced wolves to yellowstone it revitalised the landscape. The old elk kept the herds from being a benefit to the ecosystem. Wolves help keep a herd healthy and thus the ecosystem. The social ecosystem in Huntington is stagnant. We all know it. We all know that the industry and the economy is hanging on by the thread that is Mountain health, special metals and marshall. and even then they all have their own problems. You want this city to grow you have to embrace some of these new ideas, new dramas, new challenges. Change. Hope, Faith in a brighter future. Not status quo. Not business as usual. The best business leaders I know could be called crazy. This city should rise to the challenge of racism and not shy away from it.
Thats a lot to add to an edit. And I got words to say on that. I've said this before, I think y'all need a lesson in racial etiquette. Like this hyper focus on ketchup or customer service or business practice isn't how to address a racist allegation. To me its a deflection that paints you guys hyper sensitive and kinda racist. Don't respond to it. Just let it be. You aren't his banker. Why are you in here with this type of response? If you wanted to help you would have introduced yourself and talk to him yourself. It would take just as much time to do as you spend thinking about it. Instead many people like you are just tearing him down and making fun of him. And when its in response to a racism call it makes it look pretty convincing that its racism. If you want me to be blunt. Its a social trap that white people fall into every few years. You aren't being called racist because of your business choices. You are being called racist because all of you are dog piling on him. Fucking huntington.
We are dog piling him because he called us racist for not eating at his restaurant. End of story. You’re taking the ketchup thing too seriously. I would argue that they took it too far by not supplying ketchup when that was one of the biggest complaints upon opening. They chose to die on that strange hill and now they’re the ass end of a meme that you’re taking entirely too serious. Not sure what’s so hard to comprehend about that. I can sympathize with what their community has gone through and defend myself at the same time. Not sure how you can sit here and argue that a city is genuinely racist when they didn’t visit a subpar restaurant when there is a better option quite literally across the street with a bar and sports on the television.
Its not that simple. And its diminishing the issue of racism if you think it so simple. Again the restuarant issue can well enough stand on its own. I don't care. But for people to conflate the issue with his call of racism thinking it isn't serious is not appropriate. The town is showing its worst colors when facebook and your comments here don't seem to respect that divide. The dog pile does not help at all. I'm just tired of people oversimplifying the issue to ketchup or business practices while still talking about racism. Its wrong. I'm confident that our definitions of racism are different. Yours being pretty abhorrent or this absolute evil and mine being a reality of living in modern american in WV. I can sit here and argue about these things because I care about how my family might ever be treated if we ever cried racism. Who would listen? For a city that claims idealism and equality its a bit rich for people to justify a dog pile out of revenge.
Do you have cptsd from being called a racist