Customer Service Review and Harassment at Cracker Barrel Restaurant, Lynchburg, VA

I was in Cracker Barrel on July 23, 2011. My overall experience was just fine, but I'll never return to the Lynchburg location due to what happened at a nearby table. There was a manager going around asking everyone how their meal was. When he came to a table near me, one of the ladies said a bit loudly for him not to touch her. The command really captured my attention. While the manager hadn't done anything wrong, yet, it was curious how he then leaned toward her, hovering over her like he was trying to intimidate her. When he moved one of his arms toward her, she leaned as far away from him as she possibly could. It was very clear that he was making her uncomfortable, which begs the question why didn't he leave her alone?

While in line waiting to pay, I caught up to the lady who was upset. She admitted that while she doesn't like strangers touching her, which she knows isn't a hang up that everyone shares, she felt asking him not to touch her should have been enough and didn't understand why he didn't back off. Curiosity getting the better of me, we exchanged our online social-networking information so that I could learn what happened when she complained to corporate.

At the suggestion of the waitress, this lady first contacted Cracker Barrel's general manager, William Schmidt. Will Schmidt only gave her an insincere apology and said he'd watch the video surveillance. While the video would show that the man didn't move immediately after she leaned away, the dialogue is more important. But it didn't seem like Will Schmidt believed her since he needed evidence. She told him that she was honestly never coming there again.

Wanting corporate to be aware of how she felt, she called, but after being on hold one hour she was disconnected. Calling back, she chose the option to leave a message but no one called back the next business day. Unable to reach corporate, she contacted a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant to see if they could call the corporate headquarters and have someone there call her back. She spoke to an assistant manager who said that he would definitely do that.

Corporate never called her back, as that assistant manager only called the Lynchburg location and informed them how upset she was at their insincerity. In an attempt to intimidate her further, the Lynchburg Cracker Barrel called the Lynchburg City police and had an officer call her to get her address to mail a letter about how she is unwelcome there. She declined to provide this information since she already felt harassed by the restaurant.

It seems to me that Cracker Barrel was concerned that she might take some legal action for the manager harassing her, so they decided to be the first to contact the police. It's really shocking to me that the police were so easily duped into helped them harass this lady further. Does Will Schmidt really think that he is going to intimidate her into silence?

Even though she wants nothing further to do with any Cracker Barrel location, she still contacted the Cracker Barrel corporate office again and did manage to reach someone finally. They told her that Loss Prevention would be reviewing the case. Maybe loss prevention means something different to Cracker Barrel, but in a retail environment loss prevention is to prevent theft.