Dear Progressive Tallahasseeans,
As most, if not all of you know, there is a Friday evening social group called Drinking Liberally (http://www.drinkingliberally.org). Typically, this is a group of 10-30 like-minded people who like to eat, drink, and socialize (or commiserate, depending on the circumstances) every Friday night. Lately, we have been meeting at Andrew's around 6:30 in order for those of us who are hungry to be able to eat dinner, and lately we have been migrating to Paradigm around 8:30 because they have actually asked us to go there. They have been fairly supportive of the group and of Democratic Party causes up until now.
This Friday, July 15th, there happened to be a high school reunion at Paradigm. Since this made the place rather crowded, a contingent of the DL group decided to postpone going to Paradigm for a couple of hours. When we finally got to Paradigm, Nick was refused admission because he was wearing, god(s) forbid in Florida in July, shorts. Most of you know Nick as Tallahassee's main Drinking Liberally host, the guy who has spend countless hours of his own time promoting Drinking Liberally, Andrew's (Andy is *not* a Republican by the way, the signs above Andrew's were from the Florida Restaurant Association), and Paradigm.
Personally, and I don't speak for everyone, I think what happened tonight was ridiculous. Whether I'm wearing ratty shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt (which I was tonight, but strangely wasn't refused admission), or a 3-piece suit doesn't make my money any more or less valuable. Shorts don't make someone any different as a person, unless the difference is a desire to be a bit more comfortable in the oppressive humidity that we've had lately.
The attitude of the staff at paradigm toward dozens of regular customers, in my opinion, is unforgiveable without an apology and a policy change. Until then, I will *not* be going to Paradigm. I would encourage the same of anyone who reads this message. Contrary to Republican assertions, we liberals are not a bunch of elitists, nor should we support those who are.
I've not been able to locate an email address for Paradigm, but if anyone knows of one, feel free to send this to them. I will be contacting them by phone tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Robert Hunter, Cohost
Tallahassee Drinking Liberally
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Drinking Liberally at Paradigm
Posted by Egaeus at 12:22 AM
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8 Comments:
That is upsetting that Paradigm turned Nick away. If he was willing to pay the cover that they charge when they start enforcing their dress code they should have given him a warning or something, I am sure that the girl at door was unfamiliar with Nick.
I will say to Paradigm's credit they have been a pleasure to work with as we have hosted many of our events there, that they have asked for us to host all of our DL events there, asking for Drinking Liberally by name, they have good specials and friendly people....
I am sure that this will all be worked out soon.
Perhaps we should consider the larger issue of what we what to present at the Drinking Liberally happy hours.
The stated purpose of this group is to talk and share drinks with other Democrats. As you stated what we seem to do, rather, is sit down and have dinner. This is not conducive to meeting new people. In fact it is the exact opposite. We limit people's ability to meet and talk with others and when new people come they probably don't feel to welcome.
Regarding appearances, it doesn't matter how hot it is. This is not a cookout, it is a bar and dressing appropriately is not a bad idea. Appearences do matter. I don't think it is appropriate to act like a petulant child if a business decides to have a dress code.
This is Nick.
I personally don't have a problem with the dress code. Short of going to a coffee shop we are going to have dress codes at whatever bar we go to. The problem with the dress code is Robert's issue. I'm still going to ask everyone to meet at Paradigm after Andrew's. If dress is really going to be an issue then show up at Paradigm before 10:30. If a dress code bugs you then go somewhere else.
We knew going into the evening we were going to have to be at Paradigm before 10:30 if we couldn't meet the dress code and I didn't get my feelings hurt when they turned me away. Personally I think protesting Paradigm is a waste of time and effort that would better be spent elsewhere.
--Nick
I was very pleased with Drinking Liberally this weekend, there were a ton of people there. I think it is great way to bring new people into the Democratic fold in a low key envirornment without trying to pressure them.
I do agree, that it is important to present a professional appearance though, because there have been times when people have seen signs and inquired.
Paradigm has been very good to the YDs in the past and I think we should respect their attempt to present a professional classy environment - as long as they enforce their dress code evenly, it is their right to do so.
Also, welcome Corinne to the world of blogging!
David,
I think you missed the point. This is not about looking professional. As far as that goes, Nick was dressed much better than I was. Sure, he was wearing shorts, but I was wearing jeans that were so old that they are nearly white from washing, an old, fraying T-shirt, and old cross-trainers that sometime in the past were white. I was dressed extremely "unprofessionally" as far as that goes. I was admitted without a second glance. Nick was wearing a polo shirt and khaki (or maybe olive) shorts.
My problem is with (especially senseless considering the previous description) superficial BS at a place where I've spent hundreds of dollars. Any other week and I would have been the one rejected; I just hadn't done laundry. Maybe it's a personality flaw, but people judging me on what I'm wearing has always made me angry. If that makes me a "petulant child" in your eyes, then so be it. I really don't care about what you (whoever you are) think of me, because I have a quite low opinion of the "appearances matter" crowd myself. However I honestly expect that of the small-town small-minded fundamentalist conservative types that I grew up surrounded by in north-central Arkansas, not supposedly open-mind non-judgemental liberals.
Oh, and you might want to check out what Drinking Liberally's all about at drinkingliberally.org. Maybe check out the online store to get an idea of the DL "dress code" elsewhere. Maybe the "the more casual the better" crowd is not the one who's out of place.
Robert
Wow, I am amazed by the feedback that this post has gotten...There have been lots of post over the last few months that we have had a Blog and I don't believe that any of them have gained this much attention! I look forward to hearing more about these issues this Friday at Drinking Liberally, hopefully not too much more; don't want to scare away any new people.
I would also once again like to point out that our Blog/Message Board here is a public forum that represents the Leon County Young Democrats. This makes this a voice of Democrats, people can take what we say and apply it to all Democrats across the country.... For instance it could be said that the Democrats say that Paradigm is "a pleasure to work with" or that the Democrats’ own people are saying, "take a breath and calm down".
I don't think either of those two examples is problematic, but I can see some potential for comments to veer one way or the other and perhaps be taken out of context and then influence people's opinion in ways other than our goals. We don’t know who all reads our Blog, but it is linked to in several places around the state, and it is best if we keep positive when discussing each other and our friends/businesses that have been friendly towards us.
There are restaurants in town that have requested that the Democrats don’t come back, because of the large crowd we bring, the fact that not everyone always buys food or drink, they don’t want to look to supportive of one political group over another, etc. This has never happened downtown, and I appreciate that. Paradigm has always been good to us. The Drinking Liberally crowd usually leaves Andrews between 7:30-8:30PM, that would give someone two to three hours to get from one side of the block to the other and avoid the dress code and the cover that goes into affect at 10:30PM on Friday nights. As long as they are willing to ask for our group by name I would encourage us to continue to support them, but I as I said, It is impressive the feedback that this issue has gotten and I look forward to discussing this more on Friday.
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