A Maryland man has sued a local bar for allegedly banning him from their establishment because he’s an “old, white man”
Filed on Feb. 18th, the lawsuit says Neal Glessner, 52, used to spend $500 a week at Dan’s Restaurant and Taphouse until he was abruptly banned one day allegedly because of his age and race.
However, the restaurant’s owner, Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke, has claimed the banning was predicated on “repeated occurrences of disruptive behavior against members of our team.”
The whole episode centers around what happened roughly a year ago on Feb. 18th of 2022 when the police were called to Dan’s Restaurant and Taphouse because of Glessner and his friend, Joseph Michael.
The lawsuit says that the staff, including manager Mike Skinner, got upset when Glessner complained about waiting 40 minutes for a to-go order.
“At or near 8:00 p.m., approximately 45 minutes after he had placed his ‘to go’ order,
Plaintiff commented to his friend, Joseph Michael, who was sitting at the bar,
stating something in the nature of ‘What’s taking so long, I ordered a “to go” order 45
minutes ago,'” the lawsuit states.
A server overheard the remark and then snapped at Glessner, telling him that the restaurant was very busy and he needed to be patient.
“Plaintiff responded that it should not take that long to make two burgers, to which the Server responded that he ordered more than just two burgers. Plaintiff responded, acknowledging that he did, in fact, order a salad, as well, but noted, tongue-in-cheek, that he did not believe it ‘took too long to ‘cook’ a salad,'” the suit continues.
The server then left and returned a few minutes later with Glessner’s order. He then took off, but shortly after he left, Skinner approached Michael and told him to tell Glessner that he was hereby banned from the tavern.
“I’ll do no such thing, I don’t work for you,” Michael replied.
“The Manager became upset and advised the Friend that both he and Plaintiff are barred from the premises. The Friend advised the Manager that if he wanted to bar him from the establishment, he should call the police,” the suit reads.
That’s when Skinner allegedly snapped and said, “You old, white people act like you own everything. Get the f–k out of here!”
Skinner also called the police.
Bodycam footage reviewed by station WUSA shows Skinner telling the police that Glessner and Michael had “treated my staff with disrespect” and were “refusing to leave.”
The officers then approached Michael, who at the time was a deputy state’s attorney for Washington County (but is now a circuit court judge).
“I’m happy to go. But I just need to know if I’m banned or not?” Michael asked the officers.
“Yes, you are banned,” Skinner responded.
Michael then left.
Glessner’s lawsuit has since ripped the town apart, pitting what some say is a “MAGA crowd” against a “woke mob.”
Most recently, protesters picketed outside the restaurant Saturday for a protest reportedly organized by Shawn Porter, a friend and supporter of Glessner.
In a statement to WUSA, Aufdem-Brinke accused Porter of being a “notorious far-right agitator.”
“Mr. Glessner’s co-conspirator, Shawn Porter, is a notorious far-right agitator who is pursuing this vendetta based upon personal animosity over our political differences,”” she said.
“Mr. Glessner and Mr. Porter were the lead organizers of what can only be described as a failed protest against Dan’s this past weekend. Their followers didn’t show up, but Dan’s customers certainly did. We had our best weekend in months,” she added.
Notice how she mentioned “our political differences.” It wasn’t initially clear what she’d meant by that.
It became more clear in a separate statement she made to the Daily Mail.
“Neal Glessner’s lawsuit is beyond preposterous, and is based solely on his animosity toward my personal views and our advocacy for social and economic justice,” she said.
“His nonstop efforts to promote the lawsuit on far-right media outlets such as the One America News Network, and the social media harassment that has been carried out by far-right agitators like Shaun Porter, are simply an effort to bully a successful small businesswoman and community activist into submission,” she added.
Evidently, she’s a “woke” zealot.
Please enjoy my @OANN interview with Neal Glessner, who is suing @DansTapHouse, operated by the son of romance novelist Nora Roberts. pic.twitter.com/05dRRa6qPs
— ReporterMcCabe (@NeilWMcCabe2) February 9, 2023
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Glessner pushed back on the “far-right” narrative.
“There is a deep chasm in our typically tight-knit community. Regretfully, Dan and Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke are trying to paint me as an angry racist who is willfully acting to dismantle their business with what they term ‘a frivolous, baseless lawsuit.’ This couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
“While I do feel Dan and Charlotte discriminated against me because of my age and race and have sufficient evidence to prove this in a federal court of law, they have an undeniable history of mistreating and discriminating against many others in our community due to age, race, and political affiliations,” he added.
He claims at least half a dozen other white men have also been banned from the tavern because of their age and race.
“While it is easy for the owners to say that they insist their team members and guests be treated with respect by employees, you need look no farther than the social media posts of the restaurant’s management and staff to see the hate-filled speech and ‘get-even’ attitudes on their personal accounts. Clearly their insistence on respect is little more than an empty promise,” Glessner continued.
“Shame on Dan and Charlotte for condoning this kind of behavior and defending it now. As owners of a well-known establishment in our town, is it not the Aufem-Brinke’s moral and ethical responsibility to respect everyone equally, not just those whom they deem ‘worthy?’ I do not want to continue the negative back-and-forth that is tearing our wonderful community apart. More divisiveness in our community is not what we need,” he added.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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