Are Cyborg Identity Politics Destroying YOUR Favorite Restaurant?

Feast is a restaurant in New York that has been described to me as “cute” and “so-and-so’s favorite place.” It looks nice and people seem to like it. But Feast has made a mistake. EV Grieve has the story:

Toward the end of last month, Feast said that they had a customer arrive as a walk-in for brunch. She was wearing Google Glass. A few months previously, they had another diner wearing a pair and the restaurant received several comments about privacy from other guests. Restaurant staff asked the person to remove them, and he quickly consented.

So when the other diner came in wearing Google Glass, management asked her to take them off before dining. She refused, and left the restaurant.

This patron was angry enough to write about her experience online. She found an audience of like-minded Google Glass wearers to take umbrage, and now Feast’s rating on Google Maps has plummeted. This is not a small deal for a restaurant! Those Google ratings are the first thing people see when they search. It is also something that can be remedied and repaired, however, with a little effort on the restaurant’s part.

What’s genuinely alarming about this is what seems to be the emergence of… Google Glass identity politics? I think so! These are real posts:

-Unreal. Should have made everyone take their phones and put them in the car.

-Would have done the same also. Better to patronize those businesses that are “tech friendly”.

-The gall of some people does anger me at times though, I must admit. What makes these “other customers” feel that they are important enough for anyone to care to “record”?

-I can’t wait until wearable tech becomes the norm and establishments beg for folks to come back after they shuned them.

-We need a site that lists all Glass Friendly businesses and all anti-Glass businesses out there. Explorers can notify of a positive/negative experience to update. This would let us know where to spend our money when we travel.

-Everyone should give them a one star rating on Google Maps.

The reviews themselves:

-Ignorant bigots and hateful. Perhaps being illegally discriminate too. The food is irrelevant as the service is less than poor.

-Do not go here. They are very biased towards new technology. They allow patrons to use mobile phones to take photos or videos of other patrons. And they ask patrons to leave without fully understanding what a product does.”

It is the right of any person to attempt to wear Google Glass at a restaurant. It is also the right of any person to use the language of civil rights to describe their efforts to wear Google Glass at a restaurant.

Somewhere in here is a small and miserable business opportunity. The aggrieved patron, responding to supporters, describes a fascinating lifestyle:

[W]e take our business and money to places that clearly welcome Glass, like the Standard. Not really worth all that effort for a little restaurant like Feast.

Cash in while you still can!