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1. Wednesday afternoon, customer comes in and heckles C the entire time he is in store. I didn’t just get C’s story; I heard a third-party relate the entire story. And, yes, heckle was the exact word used by the third-party. The customer taunted C the entire time he was in our store. I’d bet he’s one of the guys that leaves comments like “beer nazi” and gives my business low customer service scores…why? We’re not comedians here. He continues to heckle C, getting louder as he jeers. I’m not sure what he wants: We’re here to offer beer. He wants something more: To harass. I’m not sure his intent. C is polite, respectful, serious. The heckler falls barely short of calling names. A regular interjects, saying to C, “Well, I like you.” All this heckling, unprovoked. It is so weird. I don’t understand why folks act like that.

   Small business folk aren’t trained to handle hecklers. We just work hard to get a good selection of beer, act as stewards of that beer while it’s here, and try to get people into beer they’ll like. We’re not mind readers. We’re not trained monkeys. We’re not comedians. We’re just people trying to run a legit, honest business. And a small business owner can’t put a heckler in place like a comedian. Could you imagine? If I told off the customer for their heckling, that’d make me the ass.

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