Open letter to the owner of The Treehouse Café
Dear Sir:
Last Friday, August 19, I came to the Treehouse to play pool with four friends. We do this many Friday mornings. I got there with one of the five; the other three people were already there, had left their sticks, etc., around and had gone for coffee. There was a man playing pool on one table, so when we all gathered we decided four of us would play in teams and one person would sit out the game. (She volunteered to do that.)
Before the four of us had finished our first game, the guy at the first table left. We were still finishing our first game when one of your employees came back and said to us - I’m paraphrasing , 'The tables are for everyone; we’ve had a complaint that you were bullying someone.' I was stunned, as apparently all of us were, since we gathered around her and each of us said, defensively, paraphrasing again, 'We didn’t bully anyone - we know the tables are for everyone.' She left, and a few minutes later you came back, and said, in effect, ‘We’ve had a complaint that you were bullying, the guy who complained is an old, old friend, I’ve known him for years, and I believe him. The tables are for everyone.’
We did the same thing to you as we’d done to the waitperson: gathered around and argued with you that we hadn’t bullied anyone and we knew the tables were for everyone. You then said that if we didn’t accept that we’d been out of line, we could leave. We left.
I wish we hadn’t all been talking at once and that we’d chosen a spokesperson. I wish your employee had taken one of us aside to make her announcement. I wish you had done the same. But since none of these things happened, I’m writing to tell you how I see this situation. I hope you’ll read the whole letter.
From the time I came in, I said nothing to or about the guy at the next table. I didn’t look at him. If you put him in a lineup I wouldn’t be able to identify him. I heard none of my friends say anything to or about the guy. I did hear us talking among ourselves about how to organize playing, since there was only one table. So I’m forced to try to choose among the following conclusions: 1) The guy is a phenomenal wimp; 2) You do not want a group of old ladies in your back room, cackling over their own bad pool playing; or 3) The guy is not only an old friend but also a financial backer or has some other hold over you.
I’ll probably never know which of the conclusions is correct, since I’ll never be back to the Treehouse. I was upset and confused after the episode but, after talking to friends and relatives, and sleeping on it, I’ve come to the point where I find it hilarious. (Headline: “Five grannies gang up on man over pool table in Lynwood Center.” We’re thinking of having t-shirts made.) Maybe there’s a lesson here for you?
E. Peterson
