I am a firm believer in supporting local businesses. However, I think that their right to such support goes out the window when they cease to have respect for their patrons.

When my friends and I paid a visit to Bert’s Tavern in Bothell the Tuesday before Christmas, the staff made a friendly enough first impression. Everyone at the table was talking with the manager, who happened to be our server, and one girl in our party asked whether she would win a free drink for solving the word puzzle that came with her beer. The manager’s response was no, she would not, but he might think about it if she showed him her (breasts). I immediately pointed out that he was out of line — and he pointedly ignored me. Later, he returned and “apologized” for not having realized this was a table full of feminists (clearly, one has to be a raging feminist to wish that a perfect stranger not ask that she show him her breasts), and then proceeded to inform us that we had come into Bert’s, implying that these sort of comments were simply to be expected there.

What year is this again? At what point are we going to stop treating women as objects to be tossed around in conversation? How sad that this individual and his establishment have so little respect for both themselves and for women.

To the residents of Bothell, I implore you: do not tolerate this kind of disrespect in our city. Write a letter to Bert’s, or drop by and let the manager know that you do not support this kind of behavior. Local businesses are important, and they are just as much a part of the community as anyone; Bert’s Tavern seems to have forgotten that.

Rachel Hinds