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https://www.foxnews.com/media/dc-food-workers-vow-trump-officials-wont-feel-welcomed-when-dining-out-nations-capital
Food workers in Washington, D.C.,
pledged to refuse service and cause other inconveniences for members of
the incoming Trump administration when they dine out over the next four
years.
Industry veterans, bartenders and servers in the nation's capital told the Washingtonian that resistance to the Republican figures in the progressive city was inevitable and a matter of conscience.
"You
expect the masses to just ignore RFK eating at Le Diplomate on a Sunday
morning after a few mimosas and not to throw a drink in his face?,"
said Zac Hoffman, a DC restaurant veteran who is now a manager at the
National Democratic Club.
Bartenders
and servers in the report promised to shun certain officials or employ
other small acts of resistance against these figures to take their
"power back."
Restaurant workers in Washington, D.C., promised Trump officials would not feel welcome dining out over the next four years. (iStock)
"This
person theoretically has the power to take away your rights, but I have
the power to make you wait 20 minutes to get your entrée," Nancy, a fine-dining bartender, said.
"There’s
a lot of opportunities for us as workers to feel like we’re taking our
power back, while not necessarily ruining someone’s life. Giving them a
subtle inconvenience feels like a little bit of a win for us," she
continued.
Nancy said she would refuse service to certain Trump
officials. If her employer tried to force her, she claimed she would
quit "on the spot."
"There is power in making it known that you’re
not comfortable with a situation, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be
this big dramatic show," she said. "It’s just little bits of resistance
that add up, and little bits of resistance that other people will see
and hopefully feel empowered to stand on those convictions as well."
Suzannah
Van Rooy, a server and manager at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill,
also vowed to refuse service to Trump officials whom she felt held moral
views that opposed her own.
The Capitol Building is seen from the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Friday, August 9, 2024. (Aaron Schwartz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
"I
personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as
being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people," she
said.
"It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person
has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t
feel comfortable serving them," Van Rooy added.
One anonymous host
at a fine dining restaurant said she planned to look up every Trump
administration figure online so she could know who they were and give
them a bad table if they came in.
"I’ll only give them a bad table
but will otherwise guarantee decent and polite service," she went on.
"I feel like them getting a bad table is nothing compared to the harm
they’ll be inflicting."
NEW
YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 12: President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a
reception at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after being named TIME’s
"Person of the Year" for the second time on December 12, 2024 in New
York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Not every liberal worker in the report planned to protest the incoming administration while doing their job, however.
A
bartender named Joseph said while he was disappointed by the election
results, he was looking forward to higher tips with more Republicans in
Washington.
"I
think my tip average from Republicans—at least ones that I or a
coworker has recognized—is close to 30 percent. With Dems, I’m surprised
if it’s over 20," he said, adding that Republicans tend to be lower
maintenance patrons as well.
These comments beckon memories of
Trump's first time in office, when Republican Party figures were
harassed while dining at D.C.-area restaurants.
Then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were kicked out
of a Virginia restaurant and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen
Nielsen was heckled and harassed at a Mexican Washington D.C. restaurant
in 2018.
Arkansas
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant in
2018, when she served as Trump's press secretary. (Getty Images)
A few months later, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and his wife were also chased out of D.C. restaurant by left-wing protesters.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., encouraged supporters
after the two incidents to fight back against the Trump administration.
She said at the time current administration officials who defend Trump
"know what they’re doing is wrong" and said they soon won’t be able to
peacefully appear in public without being harassed. She later backed off
from those remarks.
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Kristine Parks is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Read more.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/dc-food-workers-vow-trump-officials-wont-feel-welcomed-when-dining-out-nations-capital