Google Glass Users Viciously Pan NYC Restaurant
Google Glass users are pushing back after an incident that took place in NYC’s East Village, lobbing poor reviews at a restaurant that asked a user to remove the wearable tech.
The event transpired last April, according to Mashable, when Katy Kasmai, a Google Glass user, was asked to remove her Glass when dining at a restaurant called Feast in NYC. The establishment claimed that patrons had “complained of privacy concerns in the past,” according to Kasmai’s Google+ page, which has over 3,000 followers.
Instead of removing her Glass, Kasmai instead left the eatery, posting a one star rating on Google’s restaurant reviews. Her entry read, quite simply, “Got denied service on a Sunday afternoon for wearing Google Glass.” Her post, along with a lengthier one added to her Google+ account, sparked an outpouring of support from other users.
The reviews, however, have left the restaurant’s manager feeling frustrated, according to a report by East Village blog EV Grieve:
“When the first thing that comes up when you search Feast in Google is a 3.1, it can really hurt a restaurant like us. Then you have 13 people, which is about half the total reviews, who have never been to our restaurant let alone live in NYC, leave you one-star reviews … it’s malicious and technically a violation of Google’s own terms for leaving reviews. Again I can understand her leaving the one-star based on her experience, but 12 others with no experience on who we are or what we do is unfair.”
The manager also told the blog that he believes similar issues will become more widespread in the near future for the food service industry. He’s hardly the first to express such a view. As The Inquisitr has previously reported, privacy concerns in relation to Google Glass are nothing new.
The incident made its way to Twitter several weeks after it transpired, sparking a mini feud between Kasmai and the establishment:
Nope, just a regular customer who was discriminated against for no good reason. @JustAnotherRich @googleglass @evgrieve @feastnyc
— Katy Kasmai (@KatyKasmai) May 23, 2014
@KatyKasmai @JustAnotherRich @googleglass @evgrieve actually we nvr discriminated against u, we only ASKED 4 reasons already explained — f e a s t (@feastnyc) May 23, 2014
Reasons which made no sense. Fact is you can’t treat your customers like that. @feastnyc @JustAnotherRich @googleglass @evgrieve
— Katy Kasmai (@KatyKasmai) May 23, 2014
@KatyKasmai @JustAnotherRich @googleglass @evgrieve no sense to u. And we have every right to set dress codes as well as policies — f e a s t (@feastnyc) May 23, 2014
@KatyKasmai at the end of the day, it’s not like we did this bc we don’t like u or glass. It’s a direct result of other guest complaints
— f e a s t (@feastnyc) May 23, 2014
The Google rating for Feast is currently 3.1, up from 2.4 the previous week. As Eater NY highlights, Kasmai and Feast resolved their Twitter dispute in an amicable fashion. While a meeting between the two parties may be forthcoming, the question remains: does Google Glass threaten personal privacy?
[Image via GrubStreet]
