It has been, in recent years, determined that mental health and well being is closely enough tied with physical health and well being, that most insurance carriers now no longer put limitations on patients for how many visits they might have per year with a counselor, and even the benefits are now often paid at the same percentage as treatment for any other medical condition would be.

That in mind, is mental or emotional damage or suffering inflicted upon a paying customer by an employee of a restaurant a threat toward public health? And is it acceptable for that employee's employer, the restaurant, or the corporation who owns/manages that restaurant, to then utterly ignore the threat to public health, once it is reported?

In the late spring 2007 a customer was targeted and harassed by a bartender at Scotts bar and grill. This was during a time she was going through some very difficult things in her life and was emotionally compromised. She was sad at the bar, going to the bar to see friends and try to get through this tough time. Everyone at this bar knew she was sad, and in fact it was so commonly known that some of the regulars at this bar made a point to time her to see how long it would be before she'd start tearing up.

To make this story short and sweet, one of the bartenders who knew she was sad and why, whom she had confided in, pretended to befriend her to earn her trust and one night talked her into staying late, gave her shots on the house after hours, and then behaved unprofessionally and inappropriately in such a way as to make her feel very guilty and conused about it the following day.

She then tried to discreetly leave this man notes rather than talk to him openly at the bar where people could hear, to inquire about this thing, ask him to explain himself and the actions he had done. Rather than come to her and explain, or ask her to not leave him notes, or help her deal with the confusion his actions created, he took her notes to his management and over the next 2+ years worked to get the management to believe she was after him, when in fact he had initiated his inappropriate behavior toward her.

All this continued to get worse without her knowing why until just a few months ago, when she was accused by the restaurant of going after this bartender and 86ed from the restaurant. But that humiliation was the least of the harm that was done to her. For over two years prior to this she was treated with suspicion and scorn by the other staff at this restaurant--and didn't understand why, and was shunned by other regulars at this restaurant--without understanding why. She only continued to go to this restaurant because she didn't have many friends and some of those few she only saw at Scotts Bar and Grill.

After she was 86ed she tried in vain to explain her story to the manager, who told her "I already KNOW everything" and wouldn't hear a word of her side of the story. So she went to the parent corporation Restaurants Unlimited very upset, and that corporation would not so much as say they were sorry for any of what had happened to her or what she had been through, and as far as she knows the head bartender who targeted and harassed her on the property of Scotts Bar and Grill, still works for this restaurant, still closes the restaurant unsupervised late at night, and so there is nothing to keep him from doing this same thing to the next despondent "guest" to come along.

What she and others now fail to understand is how a major corporation like Restaurants Unlimited could completely disregard a customer complaint of this magnitude, one that has obviously harmed a customer, (she is now having to receive treatment for anxiety) and one that has ultimately caused them to lose a very loyal customer and could possibly harm other customers/cost them other customers in the future.

Is this corporation's desire to save face by not apologizing actually greater than the desire to try to do what's right, repair the damage that was caused, if possible, and possibly retrain this bartender so that no one else is harmed?

Or does Restaurants Unlimited not consider harassment and then slander of the victim's reputation afterward a big deal?

While it is true she does not have any physical facts to show this thing happened, the bartender does. He kept all the notes she wrote him asking him to explain his behavior, and gave them to his management as proof to show she was after him. Also she did tell a few friends immediately after this man had targeted her, and those friends watched how it confused her over the next year or more.

Now that both Scotts Bar and Grill and Restaurants Unlimited know the full story, nothing has been done. She have not received so much as an apology even though she's contacted several times CEO Normal Abdallah as well as several others.

I write this because I think the public needs to know this story and be aware that this thing happened, that a safety hazard does exist at Scotts Bar and Grill, and that Restarants Unlimited's caring for its customers does not extend beyond how much money they spend.