A New Jersey knife shop owner is facing a social media firestorm over a sign he posted on his window charging customers more if they don’t speak English.
Dave Feinberg grew frustrated after a customer came into the Cutter’s Edge, his knife and blade sharpening shop in Clifton, who only spoke Spanish.
“I had an impossible time understanding somebody, and the communication between this guy and myself was virtually none, and I tried,” the 71-year-old told the Daily News. “And he made no attempt to communicate with me in a language i understood.”
As a result, he explained, a simple job became more complicated. So he posted a sign in his window: “Speak English or Pay $10 Extra.”
“I guess the frustration factor got to me, but it had nothing to do with speaking English or Spanish or any other language,” he said. “It was about when we’re here, we are able to understand each other.”
This was three weeks ago. And initially, it got little attention.
“I thought it would be laughed off, pretty much, I didn’t think it would insult anybody,” Feinberg said. “I didn’t think I was stepping on anybody’s toes.”
Then over the Labor Day weekend, someone on Twitter snapped a photo of the sign and posted it online. When Feinberg returned to his shop Tuesday, he discovered a slew of angry voice mails.
“All hell broke loose,” he said. “I’ve been getting phone calls from all over the place, I’ve had people walk in and tell me they were going to close by business down.”
Even many of his regular customers have turned their back on him.
“I’ve had calls from them, that they said ‘oh, you’re a racist, I’ll never come back again,’” he said.
He noted, however, that he has received message of support as well.
“I have had calls from people all over the place,” he said. “I had one guy from Greece, whose message I saved on my answering machine, supporting everything I said.”
Feinberg, who considers himself a descendant of immigrants and has owned the knife shop since 1975, has since taken down the sign. He replaced it with an apology note, and even recorded a similar apology on his voicemail.
As a small business owner who has struggled during the coronavirus pandemic, he hopes people will accept his regret, and understand it was simply about making sure he and the customer understood one another.
“Some people said they accept my apology,” he said, but “some people have said it’s too late for an apology.”
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A 71-year-old owns a store in New Jersey and doesn’t speak Spanish.
Why do the disgraceful self-righteous Democrat New Jerseyians think they have the right to judge and tell an old man who is 71 years old how to run his store and is still working at 71??
“I’ve had calls from them, that they said ‘oh, you’re a racist, I’ll never come back again,’”
Hummm……. I always thought “Spanish” was a language not a race.
But I have learned – To Democrats, Gender, Truth, Facts, Reality and History are all irrelevant, if the Democrats do not WANT to believe them or they disagree with them. Democrats will just make up their own, Gender, Truth, Facts, Reality and History to fit what they WANT to believe or fits into the Con or Deception that they are running at the time.