A Cell Phone, Chocolate, And The Police
In case you missed it here, I thought I’d share this e-mail I just got detailing a big little soap opera in the Park Cities. I hate people on cell phones in stores, but it sounds like a clerk at Cadeaux Chocolates and Gifts on W. Lovers went berserk on a customer. Settle in with popcorn:
I am writing to you because of an experience I had at Cadeaux Chocolates and Gifts store located at 4506 Lovers Lane. I moved to Dallas in the past few years and a girlfriend of mine just told me about this store. I needed to buy chocolates for my pre-school daughters’ teacher for her birthday. So this past Friday I went to the store. I was on a business call when I walked into the store.
It was my first time at the store, so I thought I would shop around first, not pick anything up as I wanted to wait until I ended my call. As I proceeded to look around I was asked if I needed help and I told the sales lady no that I was just looking. I was checking out the prices of the things I wanted and continued towards the back of the store where the owner was standing behind the chocolate counter. He asked me if I needed help and I told him no, that I was just browsing. He then yelled at me (while I was still on my business call) “You are so disrespectful! You are on your cell phone in my store looking at prices! How dare you. I have never seen anything so rude in my life. I was in shock. He was yelling at me and lecturing me. I was the only customer in the store. I was not speaking loudly, nor was I doing anything wrong. I told him I had never been in his shop before and that I had gifts to buy, but was trying to finish my call. He continued to yell at me about how rude I was and how the women in this neighborhood are lucky to have a store like his and that we all think we can get away with our behavior. I told him I had just moved here from Los Angeles and have never been yelled at by a store owner. I asked him when does a store owner yell at their customer? He continued to badger me and yell at me about how rude and disrespectful I was, so I told him I would never shop in his store again and neither would any of my friends since this is the way he treats his customers. As I was leaving his store I told my friend on the call that I was in a store called Cadeaux and he corrected my annunciation of his store name. As I left the store I turned around to get the address off the door and he flipped me off. I was still holding my call the entire time this was happening. My friend on the line was asking me if I was okay and asked who was yelling at me. I was telling her and I turned around a second time to get the address and tell her where I was and he was coming after me. I jumped in my car and backed up (it is a one way parking lot) and this man banged my car with his fists and jumped in front of my car so I couldn’t leave. He continued yelling at me, at which point I hung up with my girlfriend and called the police. Police officer Williams from the UP Police Department came and the owner yelled at him saying I was trying to copy his stuff and that the women in this neighborhood are always trying to copy him. I filed harassment charges against him for hitting my car and holding me against my will. He requested a sergeant to come to the scene. He then changed his story and told Sgt. Mutchler that I came into his store and started throwing merchandise. His sales lady also lied and verified his story that I did this. The owner then filed a criminal trespass warning against me based on his lies. The store owner had nothing damaged to show Sgt. Mutchler so I was told that all it meant was that I could never go in the store again (wouldn’t want to anyway). I have never had such a horrible incident happen to me. I am a stay at home mom with three young children. I couldn’t believe that this man could get away with lying to a police officer as well as verbally and physically assaulting a customer. I asked the officer if the store had a video camera and he asked the store and he was told no. I told the officer that everything would be on a tape and would show them that he was lying. I was truly afraid for my life and strongly believe this man needs anger management as well as possible medication for his behavior. As I started to share my frightening experience with my friends, I have heard numerous horrific stories about how mean this man is and how he berates, intimidates and scorns his customers. I went to the three shops surrounding his store to see if there were any witnesses and they all said he is a very mean man. I don’t know how someone like this owns and store and stays in business in this loving, safe and family oriented neighborhood.
21 Comments to “A Cell Phone, Chocolate, And The Police”
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Ahhh….. The French. If they were only as aggressive in war as in Chocolate. But, I have to say, I’m pretty much on the side of the store owner up until he exited the store to her car. She was rude walking in his store on the phone without hanging up. I would agree it is certainly her right to be in the phone but its not as if she is in a Sam’s or something. She is in a small business boutique where this guy wants her undivided attention to peddle his wares. Give him a break. Obviously this Lady was a straw that broke the camel’s back and he should not of left the store to threaten her and he deserves the legal consequences for that. But, he does reserve the right to refuse service. Besides, we need a new “Harvey Golf” on Lovers Lane.
Were you on a “business call” with your friend? If it was a business call you showed inconsideration to the person on the other line and the workers in the store. If it was your friend then you should have let her go. It’s common courtesy. And since there seems to be inaccuracies with the story in regards to the nature of the call I can only assume there are further embellishments or exaggeration.
I agree w/ “blah.” If she’s a stay-at-home mom, how could she be on a business call? Arrogant, SUV mommies on cell phones are very, very tiresome.
Bravo to the store owner. You got what you deserved. It is rude, thoughtless and incredibly inconsiderate to talk on a cell phone in any store, restaurant or public place. You should have stayed in your car or outside the store until your call was completed. In addition, you changed your story from business call to friend so who knows who is telling the truth. I have never been to this store but plan to get there now.
People…are you serious?!? Click on the link at the beginning of Nancy’s post so you can get more details on this story. If your response is still “bravo” to the shop owner, then maybe you should seek help. Not a whole lot would warrant this shop owner’s ridiculous actions and attitude!
First, allow me to leap to the defense of NN’s correspondent. Being on a cellphone may have been a bit on the lazily casual side, but it’s hardly a gross violation of the social contract. I can understand the store owner getting a mite snippy, but intimidating a person — a woman, no less — skates pretty close to assault. I’ve encountered unhinged personalities like this, including one who lied to the police and claimed I had assaulted him, and it’s a flabbergasting and deeply infuriating thing.
That said …
Yes. Yes this man could.
You can afford French people to bully you. Leave it at that. Plus, I see a lot of love here in the neighborhood where your maid probably lives — gritty TV dramas notwithstanding. I’ll admit that not all of it is, strictly speaking, legal, but that’s neither here nor there.
Might I recommend Morgan’s Chocolate on McKinney near Knox? This merry fellow was the first licenced (by whom, I’ve no idea) chocolatier in Dallas and may still be the only one, for all I know. Belgian people are gracious and accommodating. Just don’t ask what part of France he’s from.
Alas, Rex Morgan has sold his store which is now operated by another.
She’s a big baby. The store owner called her out on her rudeness…finish your phone coversation before you enter a store, especially a small boutique.
Granted, this guy must have some issues…
but I suspect that she wasn’t the quiet little church mouse she portrays.
She may have “never been yelled at by a store owner”, but there are probably a few out there who wanted to…
Unfortunately this is not the only person this shop owner has been extremely hostile to. Go to http://blog.peoplenewspapers.com/
to get more stories from other women. I believe the shop owner could have politely asked her to leave his store until she finished her call if this was truly the reason for his bad behavior. I think this shop owner needs to take etiquette and anger management classes.
Bill where do you use your cell phone? I am sure you use it in a public places. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. And can you not be in business with a friend?
Robin, I hope the next time you are using your cell phone you get chased to your car by some angry shop owner since this is how you believe it should be handled. Your as bad as he is.
While it may be rude to talk on a cell phone in a store…its certainly not illegal nor aggressive. Yelling at a potential customer, flipping them off, chasing them out of the store and hitting their car is beyond rude and its called PSYCHO!
I have been in this store before and yelled at from this man — and he is as french as a french fry!
Why doesn’t this store owner post a sign on his front door: Warning, do not talk on cell phone, do not touch merchandise, do not look at prices, you may only listen to me rant about what bad taste the people in Dallas have then give me your money and get out of my store. If you don’t I will chase you out and file charges against you. Why would he own a store in an area where he hates the people?
Instead of blaming the soccer mom or excoriating a man who is “as French as a French fry” — and I think we all know how French that is — why not let our imaginations soar with the wonderful opportunities to f*** with this man. What say we could give him a stroke by Valentine’s Day — and, more importantly, have fun doing so?
This is a case of two rude people encountering eachother. The owner made anti-semetic remarks to my Jewish mother & aunt while in there once and has shown other gross behavior on other accounts. But the woman on the cell phone is clearly in her own world, too - GET OFF THE PHONE WHILE IN PUBLIC LIKE THAT!!! DUH!
i’m sorry, but making anti-semitic remarks and talking on a cell phone in a public place are WAY WAY different.
Lolly, why is it you didn’t start a ruckus about a shop owner who made anti-semitic remarks to a customer. Your mother, no less? I’m presuming she wasn’t on a cell phone. The man is not rude, he is vile and should not be allowed to profit from the people with whom he holds such contempt.
You’ve got to be kidding if any of you are being critical of someone on a cell phone. Everyone has done this on occasion. If there is no sign posted, then he should get a grip! There are polite ways to ask someone to take their conversation outside if it is bothering anyone. How many times have you wrapped up a conversation while walking in somewhere. If you say never, you are a liar! And how offensive to call her an arrogant stay at home SUV mommy on a cell phone. First of all, she is not simply a stay at home mom. And if she were, that business is way more important than any other business out there. And trust me, moms need a cell phone more than anyone!! But she is also a business person as well. So get a clue. This man is a nut case and no one should shop there. He obviously has some serious mental health issues. Too bad he’s the owner, or he’d be fired. You’ve got problems too if you think that kind of behavior is OK.
If two people walk into a store deep in conversation talking at a normal decibal level, would a shop owner ask them to stop talking and take their conversation outside?
Is listening to music on an Ipod a reason for a shop owner to ask someone to step outside?
Why is talking on a phone soooo different?? You’re just talking! Most people don’t want to be bothered anyway when they are in a store and just looking around. And a customer is not bothering a store owner by speaking with a friend in person or on a phone.
Life is too short to be bothered by this.
KT - I wasn’t in there w/ them, but rest assured, my mom said her peace.
You have got to be kidding that you are questioning HER as opposed to this horrible, rude, disrespectful man. If you have never talked on a cell phone in a public place then horray for you- you are obviously wasting money with your cell phone provider and need to cancel your service immediately. It is a testament to her disposition that she can be in business with a friend. Yet that has made you question the validity of her story? I wouldn’t wish being chased out of a store on my worst enemy. I am disappointed in the people in our community that are leaping to his defense. Doesn’t seem consistent with the other acts of support that our neighbors in Park Cities usually give to each other… or maybe you dont live in our community and are just trying to stir up controversy. Shame on you for berating her. Go read the UP police report if you don’t believe her story. Ask yourself why SHE was the one to call the police and not HIM if she wasn’t the one assaulted. This is ASSAULT. There is no other word for it and it is absolutely appalling that even one person would ASSUME that she is the one that was RUDE and to blame even one percent. Shame on you. I challenge you to go shop in his store and see how you are treated. And since you NEVER have spoken on your phone in a public place good for you.. I’m guessing you should possibly be safe from him chasing you to your car.. that is unless you touch his products and look at the price tag before making your purchase…