An ice cream shop in Massachusetts has gone viral this month for stern social media posts telling customers to chill out and stop yelling at its teenage workers.
The company, Coldstuff Ice-cream in Blackstone, asked customers in an Oct. 4 Facebook post to be kinder to its young employees, saying mistakes happen.
“STOP YELLING AT MY (expletive) EMPLOYEES,” the ice cream shop wrote. “They are children. "
Coldstuff Ice-cream's owners, Kevin Miller and David Forgit, also wrote in the Facebook post that the ice cream shop is the first job for many of its employees.
Forgit spoke to the Telegram & Gazette, part of the USA TODAY Network, this week, explaining how a customer yelled at a worker on Sunday, Oct. 4, over a sundae. He said the sundae cost about
20 cents more than the customer expected, prompting the outburst.
"They got uppity, started raising their voice," Forgit told the Telegram & Gazette. "People are entirely too comfortable being aggressive and rude to service workers in general, but it's more offensive over here because these are children."
Since the incident, the ice cream shop told rude customers in the comments of its now-viral Facebook post, "don't come back" and they'd "prefer it that way."
Here’s more on Coldstuff Ice-cream's online comments.
Post wasn’t intended to ‘bash boomers,’ owners say
A few hours after the initial social media post calling out rude customers, Miller and Forgit commented on the Facebook status to clear up a few things, specifically about older customers.
“This post wasn't intended to bash boomers and I didn’t (intend) to lump everyone together,” the owners wrote. “The vast majority of the elderly folks we encounter are fabulous.”
Miller and Forgit added that their initial post meant no harm, and they were specifically talking to customers who have disrespected their young workers.
“You know who you are, and you know who we are,” the owners wrote. “But seriously, let's check ourselves around working kids. It's one group who feels border line aggressive when something is wrong. It's a mistake not an insult. There's no need. It's ice cream.”
Community, company turn negative situation into a positive one
As Coldstuff Ice-cream's Facebook post went viral, social media users began voicing their support for the business, including people who hadn’t heard of it before.
“Looks like a trip to Massachusetts for some ice cream is in order,” wrote one Facebook user the following day.
Forgit said in an Oct. 6 Facebook video that he and his brother own Coldstuff Ice-cream and the Goodstuff Smokehouse, a barbecue restaurant in Blackstone.
The ice cream shop, which also makes its own old-fashioned cream soda, opened on Aug. 1, halfway between Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts. The company has five teenage employees, Forgit told the Telegram & Gazette.
Since going viral, the ice cream shop has organized a fundraiser to support the staff, some of whom are heading to college soon. The company said it will give 100% of donations to the staff based on hours they’ve worked since Aug. 1. As of Oct. 8, the shop has raised more than $1,800.
“We've got an amazing staff of just wonderful, wonderful young people here who really come and they build you guys some great sundaes,” Forgit said in the Oct. 6 Facebook video. “They're here to serve you."
Contributing: Toni Caushi, Telegram & Gazette
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'They are children': Ice cream shop owners tell customers to chill out
