Seattle Diner Booting Customers for Wearing Google Glass

According to Forbes:

David Meinert is the owner of the venerable 5 Point Café in Belltown, Seattle, an old-school dive bar that made news earlier this year when it announced that Google Glass smart eyewear would not be allowed in the bar. People locally were amused and the story was tagged as a sign of things to come.

Lost Lake Café is a new-ish 24-hour diner at a busy intersection in the hip mecca that is the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle. It is owned by Meinert and his business partner, Jason Lajeunesse, another local entrepreneur. Last week, a Seattle video teleconference network engineer named Nick Starr went to Lost Lake with some friends. Starr was wearing Google Glass and was asked by a server and manager to either take the headset off or he’d be asked to leave.

Starr and his friends did end up leaving, apparently unhappily, because this morning Starr took to Facebook to air his grievances to Meinert and his Lost Lake crew, saying in part that he informed the server that he was [sic] “well aware of the policy at The 5 Point Cafe but asked to see where it was policy for Glass to be disallowed at Lost Lake. She said she couldn’t provide any and when asked to speak with management she stated she was the night manager. I again inform her that the two venues are different and have different policies. She refuses and I leave.”

Starr goes on to say that “I would love an explanation, apology, clarification, and if the staff member was in the wrong and lost the owner money last night and also future income as well, that this income be deducted from her pay or her termination.” Starr is clearly miffed.

“I think the crazy part is that this guy comes into a diner,” Meinert tells me, “and is asked to change his behavior in a way that’s our right to ask of him. He doesn’t like it, so he tries to get the server fired. It’s a total [expletive] move.” Meinert also tells me that there had been a staff meeting just a few days prior to the incident where Glass was specifically addressed as being a forbidden item.

Lajeunesse points out that Glass isn’t like a cellphone or other camera, where people can easily tell when they’re being filmed. “It’s about privacy,” he says. “It’s one thing to take out a camera and capture a moment, people see you doing it, they have a chance to step out if the want to. With glass people don’t have a chance to do that. We want our customers to feel comfortable, not like they’re being watched.” . . .