"Dear sir or madam,
Not sure who in your organization gets this, but I am launching a campaign against the Good 'n' Plenty after the horrendous display of animal cruelty that my family and I were subjected to last night. One of your employees, a dishwasher from the uniform, I think, removed one of his dogs from the premises. He carried the large Doberman with two hands by the back skin. Not the nape of the neck, as most mammals carry their litter, but by the back. The dog was obviously in pain, yelping and trying to bite the owner. Once the man put the dog behind the fence (in the house located to your restaurant's right), he kicked the dog. An eyewitness confronted your employee and was rudely berated by your employee who claimed the dog was fine and had not been abused at all. My three children witnessed the whole exchange, including the cruelty to the dog, and were in tears. I went in to complain to the host, who actually defended the employee by saying he babies that dog and that carrying the dog by the back is not cruel. I had to explain to your host why it was.
The fact that no one inside your restaurant cares demonstrates a tolerance level for animal cruelty that I will not abide by. The fact that your employees are so rude as to confront patrons demonstrates your lack of commitment to a family environment - a necessity for a "family" restaurant. And finally the fact that my children were scarred by witnessing this event means that I can no longer return without the horrid memories of that abused Doberman coming back to them.
I hope in the future that employee is swiftly terminated, and that the Good 'n' Plenty goes out of its way to reassure its patrons that the restaurant only hires employees who adhere to the family-friendly culture."
I'm writing this in the blog for one reason: the time for idle complacency is over in the internet age. Twenty years ago a person or two might've complained, or written a letter as I have. But today there's no excuse to take it further. Those of you who live in the Delaware, PA, MD region may have heard of this restaurant - The Good 'n' Plenty, and trust me, it always seemed to be a fine restaurant with great food. But like many things that seem great on the surface there are flaws hidden beneath. I don't know what action the restaurant will take, but I'm told Lancaster County in general is very tolerant to animal cruelty. In fact, when the patron mentioned above threatened to call the police, the employee replied "Go ahead and call them. This is Lancaster County." I'm not making that up.
So maybe this can serve as a wakeup call. I will be notifying the Humane League of Lancaster County as well, but if this is rampant so close to my home, I feel I have to do something.
As I said, this is no longer an age where one person writes an innocuous letter and the matter disappears. This is the age of the masses, when one incident can explode into revealing the truth about an organization and be heard about the world in a matter of days. So please, pass this on to people in the area that may know of this restaurant. Get our voices heard that we will not tolerate this, and let's make a change quickly before that dog and others like him are seriously wounded or killed.
Thanks for listening!
