After plenty of help from my pops, I have drafted this letter that will be sent out tomorrow morning, to any and all with a school email.
Dear Chef,
I must emphatically disagree with you regarding the entire handling of this Capital Cigar issue.
Let us start from the beginning. I saw a product displayed for sale at the store that was entirely unacceptable for sale, a box of cigars that were moldy due to their close proximity to the humidifier. (see Attachment A) Not only unacceptable for sale but had the potential to damage thousands of dollars worth of private collection cigars, both my cigars and those of the cigar club. I pulled aside the manager of the store to tell him of my concerns. His response to me was to “You’re too young to know anything, so don’t challenge my authority, where he pointed out it was plume not mold.” Now I did not approach him loudly or in front of other customers but a one on one situation in the humidor.
Had I not had a relationship with the store already and been working on enhancing that relationship to include the cigar club as well, I would have simply walked out and never spent another dime in that store based on the way I was treated. In the restaurant business we are criticized frequently regarding our product or service. Sometimes these criticisms are founded and sometimes there are not. But at no time can we respond to a guest in our establishment to “shut the F up, you don’t know what you are talking about.” I have never seen a situation where this is acceptable behavior from a business person toward a customer. Never! Period! This is a poor way to run a business.
After asking advice from other cigar enthusiasts I decided that I may have approached this manager poorly. I felt I should approach him again and see if I could express my concern to him in a different way. I brought a magnifying glass. His explanation after all, was these cigars were exhibiting Plume not mold. In case you didn’t know Plume or bloom is a fine white powder or dust like substance which forms on cigars when oils exude from the tobacco as a result of proper aging. Plume is a good sign that a cigar has been properly aged, and it can easily be brushed off. Not to be confused with mold, this is a bluish or white fungus that stains the wrapper. Generally cigars in a Tobacconist store will not exhibit Plume for two reasons, they have not been aged long enough, and the constant handling of the sticks by customers will wipe off much of this material before it has a chance to show outwardly on an individual cigar. Many cigar collectors have been collecting for years without ever seeing Plume develop, so the chance of finding Plume on regular merchandise at this store is very small. I attempted to show the manager the cigars I was concerned about again and brought the glass for a closer inspection of this stock. I was treated rudely again and was told “Buy your sh*t, and get the F out.” I immediately went to another employee after this discussion, who calmly looked at the box of cigars, stated verbally that they were in fact moldy, and promptly removed them from the shelf. He also commented on the less than professional demeanor of the manager.
No business can treat customers poorly and expect to stay in business for long. I handled this exactly as I should have and was rudely told to shut up and go away. I have spoken to the owners of other cigar shops who have told me that they would appreciate any customer who brought an issue like this to their attention, and would welcome the chance to remedy the situation.
Now regarding your attitude in this situation. This was never a cigar club issue until you made it so. It was simply a consumer asking a question. This leads me to wonder if there are other agenda’s in play here aside from the School, and cigar club. Your threats to me regarding my removal from the cigar club, that was founded and then graciously asked you to chair as a way for the club to continue after my graduation is egregious at the very least. The purpose of this club is to introduce new cigar smokers to this hobby, to encourage the joy of smoking, to help them learn the correct ways to purchase and enjoy cigars, and to hopefully use that knowledge in the Food and Beverage industry upon their graduation. Your job as well as mine, and any other board members, are to look out for these new smokers and protect them from situations just like I tried to do. I would say your responsibility is to the School and the club to call out vendors that may have questionable products on the shelf. To ask tough questions of them so as to be safe in sending a new smoker into a particular store, website, or whatever to buy product that you have knowledge of. Your role is not to protect a single vendor from your students. We spend our own money, we buy products, and therefore the store, and any properly run establishment should go out of their way to make that process smooth. At all times you and this board should stand up and loudly argue with any vendor that would say to a customer “shut up, you don’t know what you are talking about.” The school and the club are customers first and foremost, you would not take sub par food products from a school vendor, instead would demand they provide quality products for your school and staff. You must take your position as President of the Cigar Club as a responsibility to teach, encourage, and watch out for unscrupulous cigar vendors of all sorts. The internet is full of people that would take advantage of the uninformed. If that is not a role you relish than I must respectfully ask you to step down as President and the Board and I will find another staff member who will take this charge seriously.
Now when you demand that I don’t say anything to Capital Cigars, and that I not go there again, you sir have stepped over the line. You expect a grown man to bow to your wishes simply because you have a different viewpoint. For you to tell me how and where to spend my money is foolish, and shows me a level of contempt I find troubling for a person who is supposed to shape young minds. For you to tell me what I can and cannot do while off campus is both arrogant, and misguided. You sir are wrong on this subject from the word go, and I cannot fathom a position where you think that treating a customer the way I was treated, in anyway is a poor reflection on you, the school, or the club. Your position is indefensible. Regardless of the situation any student in the cigar club to be treated this way should be backed, and the offending vendor should be discouraged from exhibiting this behavior toward anyone associated with the school. We are the customer’s, not the other way around. We hold the power as to whom we choose to spend our money with, and by god I will ask what ever questions as a consumer I feel important prior to making purchases. For you to pull me out of class on two separate occasions to scream your displeasure with me over this situation is also deeply troubling. My academic studies are much more important than my after hours hobby. I attempted to rationally discuss this with you and was summarily dismissed. You told me you had no interest in discussing this further, save the public verbal lashing you delivered in the hall out side class. For you to demand that I go and apologize to them over this matter is inane, and concerns me greatly coming from a person responsible for teaching the next generation of customer service managers.
All this drama and the school and club receive no benefits from this store save a paltry 5% discount offered to the students. After this has been resolved I am sure that discount can be raised to actually provide a real tangible benefit to the club and students, by Capital Cigars if this is resolved properly, or by another vendor that knows how to treat knowledgeable customers.
One thing I have not done yet is to publicly proclaim my displeasure at Capital Cigars. I quite frankly enjoyed the relationship I had begun to develop with them, and until these two unfortunate episodes with the store manager was quite happy to continue doing business with them. I mentioned this in the first place to simply bring this box of cigars to their attention, but also to protect my cigars and those of others. I was vindicated in that the cigars were in fact found to be moldy and pulled out of stock. My plan now is to speak with the store owner to see if he feels as though his manager’s treatment of me was fair. If he in fact thinks that was the correct way to handle the situation, then I will know where I stand. My assumption is that the owner will be shocked at the poor manner in which I was treated, he will apologize and he will assure me that neither I, nor any other customers will ever be treated this way again, regardless if the cause of the original concern is found to be true or not.
If this situation is not resolved in this manner, than I shall spread the word far and wide just how badly the Capital Cigars store is run. I will, on a national level, tell anyone who will listen to me at how poorly I was treated, and to never do business with them again. I assure you I have a big mouth and will go out of my way to disparage this shop.
Chef, if you truly care about your students, your school, and your club you will help me in this endeavor vigorously. This is no way for a charge of yours or the school to be treated, by anyone, ever!
Attachment A
