The owner of Legends American Grill in Des Moines, Iowa, is apologizing for a confrontation he had with a group of teachers in his restaurant earlier this week. This is good stuff: The teachers went to Legends on lunch break from an in-service downtown and, by their accounts, were treated rudely by owner Mark Rogers after one of them reported finding a hair in her salad. Eventually, after the dispute escalated, Rogers asked the teachers to leave. According to one of the educators, Rogers was “wildly gyrating his hips in an obscene manner, and yelling, ‘hasta luego, teachers!’”
Rogers, who suggested that at least one of the teachers seemed to have an axe to grind, admits that he lost his temper but says he meant no disrespect to the profession as a whole. “I said, ‘I just want you teachers to go.’ I did say ‘hasta luego.’ I was upset with these teachers. I’m not upset with all teachers and I’m not just saying that.”
That’s a relief. Regardless, the teachers involved, being teachers, quickly took to e-mail and organized a boycott of the restaurant. Rogers now says he would “sincerely love to buy them dinner and apologize to them.”
Moral of the story, I guess: Don’t mess with teachers on an in-service day. (I’ve even decided to categorize this post under “professional development.”)