11.9.11 Bee-otch of the Day: Don Julio's Mexican Restaurant

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Name: Don Julio's Mexican Restaurant
Age: 2
Occupation: Mexican eating establishment
Last Seen: Cascade TWP, MI
Bee-otched For: dissing a veteran
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In these tough economic times, if you own a business, you better keep your ass clean.

If you type in "Don Julio's Grand Rapids" in Google, reading the reviews for the Grand Rapids Mexican restaurant are like night and day. When it opened two years ago, the place was getting four and five-star reviews. Now, in the past few days, it's become the most-hated dining spot in town.

The reason? It rejected a guest they thought should never be allowed in the building, a former Bennigan's.

Frank Eckl, a 46-year-old father of four took his family out to eat Saturday night at Don Julio's, when a manager came and told him that one of his guests wasn't allowed in the restaurant, and had to stay in the lobby. Upset, he took his family - unwanted guest included - to the IHOP next door where everybody was treated much better.

The rejected member of Mr. Eckl's party? It was his dog, a black lab named Spruce.

It's perfectly legal for Eckl to take Spruce everywhere he goes. A Gulf War vet, he suffers seizures brought on by Gulf War Syndrome. Spruce is his service dog; when he suffers his seizures, it's Spruce's job to help rescue Eckl if he's collapsed to the ground. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, all public buildings must allow service animals, including restaurants. Spruce even wears a special jacket that specifies that he's a service dog.

The restaurant's manager told local NBC affiliate WOOD-TV that she defends her actions, stating that she didn't want dog hair spread throughout her restaurant. She knew that Spruce was a service dog, but felt that it wasn't her job to keep everybody happy.

Eckl isn't looking for monetary damages, but rather an apology and re-training of its staff.

I remember watching WOOD-TV interviewing the Don Julio's manager, and she came off as a total, cold, uncaring bitch. She acted like she could care less about the disabled, let alone somebody who fought for her freedom. Didn't I hear her say that she would do it again if another dog came into her site? I apologize to Mr. Eckl if he ever reads this because he's a born again Christian, but Goddamn her!

Oh, and here's the funny part: I found out the the owner of Don Julio's is an attorney from Mount Pleasant! Doesn't HE know the laws as well?

Don Julio's seems to be forgetting that there's a TON of restaurants up and down 28th Street, and many of them are indeed Mexican. Hell, there's Moe's Southwest Grill across the street, and I go there a great deal. True, Moe's is a hellhole for little bastards who yell and scream, plus the fact that their TVs are almost always affixed to the Fox News Channel, I would much rather eat there over paying more at a place that disses the disabled. I hope Don Julio's goes out of business over this piss-poor example of treating customers. I've never eaten there, and I never will.

One more thing: check out the Facebook page Boycott Don Julio's. Plenty of discussion there.

Together, we'll send Don Julio's south of the border. 
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12.6.11 Bee-otch of the Day: Don Julio's Mexican Restaurant

BECOME AN AFFILIATE OF T-SHIRT HELL AND MAKE SOME MONEY! DON'T FORGET TO "LIKE" BEE-OTCH OF THE DAY ON FACEBOOK! ------------------- Name: Don Julio's Mexican Restaurant Age: deceased Occupation: former Bennigan's Last Seen: at the I-96/28th St. corridor, Cascade, Twp., MI Bee-otched For: receiving their payback --- When the Bennigan's at 28th St. and I-96 closed several years ago, it was because its owner, Metromedia, went bankrupt. Now, the restaurant that replaced it is gone, too. The reason: a dog. As we reported a few weeks ago, Don Julio's Mexican Restaurant got itself into a huge heap of trouble when Frank Eckl and his family came to dinner with his Black Lab, Spruce. Eckl is a Gulf War Vet and has Gulf War Syndrome as a result, which gives him seizures. Spruce is his service dog, and if he has a seizure, it's Spruce's job to alert people by barking until he gets help. After they seated Eckl and his family, the restaurant's manager came and told them that their dog had to go to the lobby since it was distracting customers and shedding all over. Of course, what the manager did was VERY illegal, since under federal law, ALL service dogs must be allowed at all times in public buildings. True, Eckl had his family by his side, Spruce also serves as his lifeline, especially if they walk away for whatever reason. Angry, Eckl's family left the restaurant and went to the IHOP next door where they were served with a lot more dignity. Eckl told his story to several news outlets in the area, and many in west Michigan felt his pain. Several anti-Don Julio's Facebook pages were created and many were storming review sites such as Google and telling people not to support a place that disses vets and other disabled people. The restaurant's manager, a young Hispanic woman was even interviewed on WOOD-TV 8, saying that if another dog came in her building, she would kick that dog out too. The negativity regarding Don Julio's has killed it. Last Saturday, a huge white sign stating "CLOSED" was posted on a window, the doors were locked and its phone was disconnected. There's no real word why Don Julio's closed, but one could speculate that the dog controversy was the #1 reason. Look, the law's the law. All public place must allow service animals, even if it's shedding like crazy. If Eckl had a seizure episode, it would have been a major help to have Spruce around. But, no. The manager was a royal cunt and showed zero respect for the disabled, especially for a man who fought for our country. I hope that bitch is happy that she's out of a job and ruined the reputation of what once was one of Grand Rapids' best-reviewed Mexican restaurants. There's a taco stand on every corner in Grand Rapids, even across the street from Don Julio's (Moe's). Now, there's another empty storefront that needs a new tenant. Don Julio's, I hope the door doesn't hit you on the ass too hard. ---   Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @  chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome! Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com ! Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

2.17.20 Bee-otch of the Day: piss-poor restaurants

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Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday; Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Sunday morning on Chuck69.com.

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Name: certain members of the restaurant industry
Age: various
Occupation: servers of food
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: not knowing how to be successful                                                                 

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Way out in the boonies of Montcalm County, Michigan is a log home. The inhabitants of this house are a distant cousin of mine and his wife.

In the 1960s, he helped to run an A&W with his father. In the 70s, he owned a bar. However, he immediately hated the bar business. Every competing bar owner he knew was cheating on their spouse. And being a family man, it was just not what he wanted. He put the bar up for sale about six months after he bought it and finally sold it off a few years later.

I've been to his home a few times, and one of the best features of his property is a brick oven on his deck. Over the years, he's mastered the art of baking bread and cooking dozens of delicious thin crust pizzas for family and friends. I asked him if his old bar made pizzas, and his response was yes, but they were frozen. I did tell him that if he mastered the art of making brick oven pizzas back in the day, his bar would have been more of a family destination instead of boozing up the locals. Well, we were both right.

Granted, a restaurant cannot be successful if they're serving Tombstones or DiGiornios to their customers. They need to be famous for good food. Since I moved to Grand Rapids 18 years ago, many restaurants have come and gone. In my neck of the woods, the closures include BD's Mongolian Grill, Happy's Pizza (whose founder is a convicted felon), Smashburger, Penn Station, a Tim Horton's, a Moe's Southwestern Grill, Wokbox, Bar Louie (which just filed for bankruptcy) and two Big Boys just to name a few. Even bigger chains like Chili's are down to just one location here in Grand Rapids.

Nine years ago, a restaurant called Don Julio's created controversy when they booted out a family because the father and husband had a service dog with him. He was an Iraqi War vet with PTSD and the dog was needed. Shortly after what happened, the family went to the IHOP adjacent to Don Julio's where they were treated with dignity and respect. Don Julio's faced backlash as a result and closed soon after. To add insult to injury, the building has been abandoned since, with their signs still up.

Same thing with Steak 'n Shake. Sadly, there have been too many instances where I've been to one and the service was horrid. One time, I went to one in Battle Creek while driving back from seeing my Dad in Kentucky. The roads were slick ice and I was white-knuckling it from Indianapolis northward. They took me to a booth and I sat there for 15 minutes while they ignored me. Pissed off, I stood up and left. I ended up going to the Denny's up the street and got way better service.

Other times, I've waited an hour for food and when I got my chili, it was stone cold. Another time, the waitress got me a salad instead of chili. Yes, Steak 'n Shake has decent food, but piss-poor service.

Late last year, the chain announced that over 100 locations would be "temporarily" be closing. One of them is by me in Cascade, which has been closed for over a year. At this point, I would be SHOCKED if it were to reopen.

Steak 'n Shake is owned by Iranian Sardar Biglari, who bought it in 2008. Biglari also owns roughly 20% of Cracker Barrel and Maxim Magazine. I've heard rumors that Biglari is quite the shady individual since his properties are losing money. One rumor I've heard is that Biglari is known to snoop around his models' photoshoots when they are in various states of undress, making them very uncomfortable.

Where I grew up in northern Michigan, the restaurant business has its own issues. The Denny's in Traverse City had been operating on limited hours due to staffing problems. The Ruby Tuesday closed (the one here in GR closed six years ago and Trader Joe's is in its place) and poor, sweet 'ol Bardon's closed as well. Like many other restaurants, they pay their workers shitty wages.

Recently, I was alerted that another well-known restaurant up north shuttered their doors after five decades of service. The owners were trying to sell for years but no takers. So, they sold off their equipment and called it good. In an interview, the owner claimed that business had been challenging for years. Online reviews didn't help, with people claiming that the food was too expensive, the food was microwaved and tasted like dog food. It was a hit for locals, but thanks to the internet, people were avoiding the place like the plague. For shits 'n giggles, I went there one weekend last Summer and I think there were only ten people there on a Saturday night. It didn't help that 1950s music was playing in the background and some of the clientele looked like they were 90. To me, the food wasn't bad. But then again, I grew up with this place.

You see, I worked there throughout high school as a dishwasher. I always was on time and even came into work when others didn't show up. Hell, my boss even loved me by giving me raises all the time. Yes, things were hunky-dory... until they hired somebody who shouldn't have been near me or any of the teens who worked there.

This asshole was the worst person I ever worked with. He was in his 40s, lived in a small, run-down cabin and drove a nasty 1970s car. He worked at the town supermarket where he was fired for asking his boss for a raise. He stocked shelves and often put items on the shelves backwards. As a dishwasher, he was the worst. You asked him to do something and he'd swear at you. He was very disrespectful. But, we only had to deal with him for two years. Two years too many.

Several years before my restaurant hired him, he was charged with fondling and performing oral sex on a six-year-old boy. However, he was acquitted because during his trial he didn't recall telling police that he did it, even though he didn't deny it. While he worked with me, he told me that he babysat a neighbor's kid and admitted that he used to cuddle with him. To make matters worse, my boss told me that she was too nice to fire people. Simply put, she thought that everybody needed a job, even those who couldn't be hired elsewhere. I quit to go to school downstate but came back a year later after I graduated. However, I quit for the last time because they hired another older moron to wash dishes.

Well, not long after I quit, the child molesting retard was busted again. This time, he lured an 11-year-old boy into a shed and grabbed his penis. He was charged with second degree sexual assault and was sentenced to six to 15 years in prison. I heard he only served two.

In my honest opinion, if you own a business that hires minors and you hire adults, they need to have a squeaky clean record. Of course, this especially goes to businesses in small towns. True, Yelp and other review sites weren't around back in the 1990s. But gossip has always been around. It wouldn't shock me that one reason for this particular restaurant's demise was due to the town knowing that they hired this sick fuck to work with teens. When you live in a small town, you're an instant celebrity because everybody knows you. They know when you eat, when you sleep and when you poop. Even if you're in the closet, everybody knows you're gay. Even if you go around town dressed up like a clown and give kids candy, everybody knows that you're a sex addict with a massive gay porn collection and will perform BJs to any guy who wants it. The list goes on. If you hire child molesters to work with children themselves, kiss your credibility goodbye.

A restaurant is like any other business. Once something bad happens, it's over unless you change. I know some people wanted to put a pox on Hardee's when they bought out Burger Chef and gradually closed the chain down. At one point, Burger Chef was the #3 fast food chain in America. Well, in the end, Hardee's became known for their poor reputation and they ended up merging with Carl's Jr.

Look, I don't wish any business to fail. But if you fuck up, kiss it goodbye. Poor service, treating people like shit and hiring the wrong people are the keys to failure. I've worked at four different places when I lived in northern Michigan and all four either closed or changed owners. My current workplace's former president almost ran down the company by not giving people like me raises and belittling his employees. He retired, his partner took over the company and business is much better now.

Sometimes, the only thing that will save your business is if the idiot in charge isn't there. It reminds me of what I wrote to my boss when we all passed a card for his retirement: "this place won't be the same without you".

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2011 Bee-otch of the Year

BECOME AN AFFILIATE OF T-SHIRT HELL AND MAKE SOME MONEY! DON'T FORGET TO "LIKE" BEE-OTCH OF THE DAY ON FACEBOOK!   ------------------- Chuck69.com presents... THE 2011 BEE-OTCH OF THE YEAR! Since 1999, Chuck69.com has prided itself on (dis)honoring those who made bad decisions and make people's lives miserable. Normally, we have you, the reader, vote for Bee-otch of the Year. However, since we now archive our Bee-otches on Blogspot, we can track viewers, pageviews and so forth. We're going to hand the great honor of Bee-otch of the Year to the most-read story from our site. Without further adieu... --- JANUARY: FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Late last year, a court in New York state ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to slam TV stations with fines for nudity after the agency handed over Notices of Apparent Liability to 45 ABC-TV stations over an old episode of NYPD Blue. In the episode, Charlotte Ross is totally naked, primarily showing her bare butt along with some sideboob and even the part of the pubis that you might be able to show on TV without truly scaring the censors. Since the show aired at 9 p.m. in the Central and Mountain time zones, it was during the FCC's so-called "safe harbor" zone, meaning that it aired during a time children were watching. However, the court ruled that the FCC doesn't have a real rule for nudity, and now, the FCC's indecency laws are under the Supreme Court microscope. FEBRUARY: THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS Earlier this year, the second-largest city in Michigan was in an uproar over a Newsweek article that called the city one of the ten "dying cities in America". In a decade, Grand Rapids lost 5% of its population, a ton of jobs and even an increase in crime. So, what does the city do? Simple: a LipDub video that was funded in part by Amway. Yet, the video didn't create jobs, or even stop Rodrick Dantzler's rampage through the city in July. MARCH: CITADEL BROADCASTING The now-former media giant was Bee-otched several times in March. The first time was for the revelation by former WMMQ 94.9 Lansing morning man Rich Michaels that the company was screwing him and other jocks over by forcing them into a non-compete so if they get fired, they wouldn't be able to make any money in their own hometown. Another time was for exploiting the death of high school basketball star Wes Leonard by airing his team's first game after his death, prompting high ad revenue and ratings for their WBBL and lastly, for the fact that their financial troubles prompted Cumulus Broadcasting to buy them out. Although Cumulus is nowhere near perfect, at least a lot of good has come out, such as the fact that Michaels - now Rich Minaya - is now handling afternoons on WIOD 610 in Miami and that Matt Hanlon didn't survive the merger. APRIL: WOOD-TV 8 One of the most-shocking stories that came out of the west Michigan media was the fact that longtime WOOD-TV 8 standby Susanne Geha was shown the door. Nobody knows the true story as to why WOOD-TV canned the legendary news diva after a combined over 30 years at the station (minus 1978-1983 when she was at WXYZ-TV Detroit), but some speculate that age and money played huge roles. Thankfully, Geha has somewhat landed on her feet, speaking at functions and occasionally appearing on crosstown WZZM-13. WOOD, however, is still #1 in the ratings, even with unlikable personalities like Terri The Whor-er, DeBoer. MAY: CLEAR CHANNEL The most-evil media company of them all was one sick little bitch in 2011. Not only did they fire hundreds of DJs for cheap satellite-fed programming, but they also played hardball with a small Detroit radio station. The station, 104.7 The Oasis was a small translator station that didn't even cover most of Detroit. However, CC got mad over the fact that the station did interfere with one of their stations in Toledo, Jurassic rock station WIOT. They cried to the FCC and won. Thankfully, the smooth jazz station's owner, Martz Communications, is planning to find another spot for The Oasis, which still broadcasts at 107.5 HD-2. JUNE: ROBERT SCHWANDER The most-controversial Bee-otch this year was that of 17-year-old Robert Schwander, the son of a sheriff's deputy in Traverse City, MI who killed innocent 16-year-old Carly Lewis. A troubled teen, Schwander was left homeless and lived in a makeshift shack in a gravel pit. Many of you felt that I was being too tough on Robert, now spending a 40-to-70-year jail term for Lewis' murder. But, a spade is a spade. JULY: BENJAMIN "RANDY MICHAELS" HOMEL The Summer of 2011 was the season the music died. The only full-service rock stations in New York and Chicago, WRXP and WKQX "Q101" respectively, both signed off and flipped to all-news because Homel started a company, Merlin Media that bought out both stations. Since then, both stations have sunk in the ratings and, well, Homel got busted for drunk driving. AUGUST: SIRIUS/XM The satellite radio giant had an iffy year in 2011. Of course, Howard Stern's suing them over back pay, but at the same time, they're spending millions to bring back Studio 54. They replaced the much-loved BBC Radio 1 channel with the Studio 54 channel, angering listeners. Even worse, they took off Radio 1 the same week riots erupted in England. So, instead of getting updates on the riots, we got to hear some pile of shit from the late great Sylvester only nine people care about. SEPTEMBER: DAFFNEY RINCHER Many of you readers were angered over this woman doing something so sick: stealing the dog of three teens with disabilities. Rincher was an aide to a family of 16-year-old triplets - two sons with MS and a daughter with scoliosis - in Long Island who noticed that their new Havanese puppy was stolen. Richer denied any wrong-doing, but when one of the kids saw that she was "dogsitting" on her Facebook status, the cops were called, and the dog was rescued. OCTOBER: MATT HANLON Some good news and bad news: the good news was that Matt Hanlon, the idiot responsible for screwing over Howard Stern and hard rock fans in Grand Rapids, was fired. When Cumulus and Citadel merged, Hanlon wasn't included in the package. Sadly, however, Townsquare, the owners of WGRD, WFGR and a few others, hired him and is now an ad man for the company. Pray that he doesn't weasel his way back into management. NOVEMBER: DON JULIO'S RESTAURANT The once-popular Grand Rapids Mexican eatery got thrown into a sea of controversy when its manager ordered a family with a service dog to move him to the lobby because it was shedding hair. The German Shepard, named Spruce services a Gulf War vet who suffers seizures and is trained to bark repeatedly if he collapsed. The manager was interviewed and stood by her decision to bar the dog from entering the restaurant. But, it was an overall bad decision: Don Julio's closed only weeks after the incident. DECEMBER: SANDY RICHARDS Sandy is the music teacher in Traverse City, MI who made headlines when she took out the word "gay" from "Deck the Halls" and replaced it with "bright" as in "don we now our bright apparel". True, it would stop a young kid from laughing, but it would also teach them that censorship is good. --- So, who am be de Bee-otch of the Year? Tune in Friday, 1/6/11 to find out! Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome! Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com ! Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

3.30.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Mike Pence

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Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.

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Name: Mike Pence
Age: 55
Occupation: governor
Last Seen: Indianapolis
Bee-othed For: being the most-homophobic governor in America

---In 1970, a Canadian named R. Dean Taylor became a household name because of a little ditty he wrote called "Indiana Wants Me".

The tune - which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Pop Charts - has a chorus that goes, "Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there". And thanks to a new bill that state's moronic governor has signed, some companies are now singing that same tune.

Last week, governor Mike Pence signed Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows companies to basically reject people based on their religious freedoms. What this means is that if a black man or gay person walks into a shop owned by a Christian, the owner or manager could kick him or her out because that person offended their religious beliefs.

Basically, this law is to protect many Christian-owned companies, such as Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby. Many of those companies believe that they don't need to give their employees free birth control or serve those they feel sin the most.

Because of this controversial ruling, several companies are now planning to move out of the state or simply won't expand. Angie's List had planned to expand its Indianapolis offices, but have now abandoned their plans. GenCon, a comic book convention has been canceled because of RFRA's passing. Even Tim Cook, Apple's openly-gay CEO has bashed the Republican governor for passing the bill.

To me, RFRA is simply the equivalent to what America did before the Civil Rights Movement was passed. There's so-called "Christians" who think that hiring blacks is sacrilegious because they should be slaves. Some refuse service to them just because they think all blacks are bad in their mindset. Personally, I try to avoid supporting businesses that call themselves "Christian" because many tend to view Jesus as somebody who doesn't support the poor or supports gun use.

The point is: WE'RE ALL SINNERS. WE'RE NOT PERFECT! If I was kicked out from a business for being me, damn right I would open a can of whoopass and attack them online! Look at what happened toDon Julio's Restaurant here in Grand Rapids: they kicked an Iraq War vet out because he had a service dog. Thanks to public backlash, the place ended up closing, and even today, the building is still vacant.

Republicans think that passing stupid laws that only protect business owners work, but they don't. Instead, they basically tell the middle class "fuck you". In the case of Mike Pence, his law simply says that Jesus loves your employer, but not you, or gays, blacks or those with faiths other than conservative Christianity. Sorry, but that's not the Jesus I grew up with.

Even worse, I have to drive through that boring-ass state to see my father in Kentucky. True, it's given us great things such as the Indianapolis 500, David Letterman, Garfield and Bob and Tom (OK, Bob and Tom isn't necessarily a good thing), it's a shame that the people of the Hoosier State have allowed this prick to pass this hate-filled law. Amazingly, even Indianapolis' Republican mayor is against the law, too.

Thankfully, Pence is up for reelection next year. Hopefully, unlike the abortion of an election year we recently had, Indiana will send this faux Jebus freak down the Wabash. Anybody who tries to turn their part of America into Jackson, MS in the 1950s is truly stuck in the past.

Indiana doesn't want him, but he's stuck there.

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