This morning I happened to find this 2008 e-mail correspondence of mine relating to alleged profane speech by a male waiter as he walked away from my dining table while waiting on me inside a Marie Callender's chain restaurant near the Arboretum in northwest Austin.
I appreciate the kind support for me in my complaint on this that I received from Souper Salad restaurants district manager Dorothy Farley, with Souper Salad corporate headquarters having been in San Antonio, Texas, during that time period:
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: John McMillan <mcmillanj@att.net>
To: "dorothy.farley@soupersalad.com" <dorothy.farley@soupersalad.com>; "craig.richard@soupersalad.com" <craig.richard@soupersalad.com>; "blaine.lively@soupersalad.com" <blaine.lively@soupersalad.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 01:12:33 AM CST
Subject: Fw: 11-5-08 Open Letter Against Profane Speech at Marie Callender's
Thank you again for very courageously encouraging me on the telephone in a recent prior week to myself write and send a letter of complaint to Marie Callender's Restaurants corporate headquarters, based in Los Angeles County, California, in regard to the recent profane speech incidents I happened to mention to you in that phone conversation.
I am very hopeful that my attached letter (see below) will help.
Dorrie, your politely empathetic and incisive and helpful style is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely and Best Wishes, and Happy Holiday Season,
Souper Salad Store 93 part-time server John Kevin McMillan, a server for Souper Salad Inc. in the Austin area ever since my birthday of April 27 in 2002.
Mailing address: 11411 Research Boulevard, Apt. 325, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Home phone: (512) 342-2295.
E-mail: mcmillanj@att.net
cc: Craig Richard, the first-rate Director of Operations for Souper Salad Inc.
Blaine Lively, Customer Service Representative for Souper Salad Inc., who might be very pleased to learn that Marie Callender's had provided me with an official printed acknowledgement (through a revised bill statement) of having subjected me to profane speech against my wishes during two recent dining experiences of mine inside Marie Callender's near the Arboretum.
--- On Thu, 11/6/08, John McMillan <mcmillanj@att.net> wrote:
From: John McMillan <mcmillanj@att.net>
Subject: 11-5-08 Open Letter Against Profane Speech at Marie Callender's
To: "Marie Callender's Restaurants" <webmaster@mcpies.com>, "AustinPoliceChiefArtAcevedo" <art.acevedo@ci.austin.tx.us>, "TRA General Counsel Glen Garey" <g2@tramail.org>, "TRARepresentativeSamAcker" <sacker@tramail.org>, "AAA Traffic Safety Foundation" <info@aaafoundation.org>, "CountyAttorneyDavidEscamilla" <david.escamilla@co.travis.tx.us>, "TravisCountyDistrictAttorneyEarle" <district.attorney@co.travis.tx.us>, "State Rep. Donna Howard" <donna.howard@house.state.tx.us>, "CountyJudgeSam Biscoe" <sam.biscoe@co.travis.tx.us>, "ColonelThomasDavis" <pio@txdps.state.tx.us>, "AttorneyGeneralofTexas" <cac@oag.state.tx.us>, "NoCussingClub(S.Pasadena,Calif.)" <brhatch@earthlink.net>, "Dr. Michael McMillan at USC Medical School" <michael.mcmillan@keck.usc.edu>, "Ex-Students Assn Public Policy Dir." <acosta@alumni.utexas.edu>, "Ex-Students Assn. Dir. Boone" <boon@alumni.utexas.edu>, "Professor Karl Galinsky" <galinsky@mail.utexas.edu>, "StateComptrollerSusanCombs" <window@cpa.state.tx.us>, "CityAttorneyDavid Smith" <david.smith@ci.austin.tx.us>, "StateBarofTexasDir.JohnEdwards" <john.edwards@texasbar.com>, "Gov'sOfficeAttyChelseaThornton" <chelsea.thornton@governor.state.tx.us>, "Austin Mayor Will Wynn" <will.wynn@ci.austin.tx.us>, "CityManagerMarcOtt" <marc.ott@ci.austin.tx.us>, "State Bar of Calif. Disciplinary Counsel" <prohac@calbar.ca.gov>, "State Bar of California Communications" <barcomm@calbar.ca.gov>, "National District Attorneys Association" <webmaster@ndaa.org>, "Attorneys General, Conf. of Western" <Karen.White@CWAGWeb.Org>, "U.S. Dept of Commerce Civil Rights Div Officials" <webmaster@doc.gov>, "National Consumer Law Center (Boston)" <consumerlaw@nclc.org>, "PublicJusticePres-Elect Gerson H. Smoger" <gerson@texasinjurylaw.com>, "CorporateAccountabilityInternational" <info@stopcorporateabuse.org>, "TWC Civil Rights Division Director" <robert.gomez@twc.state.tx.us>, "ANR Exec Dir Bronson Frick" <bronson.frick@no-smoke.org>, "ANR Official Cynthia" <notice-reply-xw3nggw2fxktexj@ga1.org>
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 1:04 AM
Marie Callender's Restaurants,
Customer Service and Legal-Office Representatives,
Corporate Support Center,
27101 Puerta Real, Suite 260
Dear Marie Callender's Officials in Los Angeles County, California,
I would like to thank an official of Marie Callender's Restaurants for formally acknowledging to me in person shortly before 5:24 p.m. on October 17, 2008, that my being recently subjected on at least two separate dining experiences of mine to profane language verbalized by one or more employees inside Marie Callender's Store 230 in Austin, Texas, including on the afternoon of October 17, comprised a justifiable basis for my being granted a financial discount on one of my Store 230-generated bills there.
The bald-headed and middle-aged Anglo male manager at Store 230 in Austin, Texas, who on October 17, 2008, granted me a 15 percent "QSA Discount," as he identified it on a receipt he provided me (a copy of which I have kept for my personal and legal records, and would be happy to share with you upon request), stated to me that his name was "Joe." That 15 percent discount amounted to a total amount of $1.39 (a 34-cent discount on my iced tea, and a $1.05 discount on my salad bar charge that day) being deducted frrom my original pre-tax total bill of $9.28 that day inside Marie Callender's Store 230 near the Arboretum in northwest Austin.
I wish to add at this time that I did not sense from store manager Joe's overall demeanor and facial expression toward myself, or from his very pro-forma verbal response to my cited complaint, that he was truly and sincerely apologetic on behalf of his restaurant in Austin, Texas.
(For instance, the same store manager Joe also told me on October 17, 2008, during my afternoon dining experience inside his restaurant, that it is acceptable to Joe for the chicken bits to have been near-frozen when they were placed in a separate bin on display at your store's salad bar late in the afternoon of October 17, 2008, when I dined there as a salad-bar customer.
I had pointed out to store manager Joe at the time that as a customer there that day, I found the near-frozen chicken bits to be lacking in flavor and unsatisfying to my palate as I ate my salad bar meal inside Store 230 that afternoon. Joe chose not to offer me any apology for the near-frozen chicken bits, and instead explained that it was nationwide Marie Callender's Restaurants corporate style, as practiced inside his store, for his staff to place near-frozen and not completely thawed chicken bits on the salad-bar buffet line. From what store manager Joe stated to me on October 17, the 15 percent discount I received on October 17 was strictly for my having been subjected against my wishes to profane language from a staff member under manager Joe's supervision, this at a time when I began to select from items at the salad bar there that day.)
I will be more than happy to elaborate should anyone from your headquarters office in Los Angeles County, California, wish to learn from me which particular profane language I heard being orally verbalized within earshot of me during two separate recent dining experiences of mine inside Marie Callender's Store 230.
Marie Callender's Store 230 is situated at 9503 Research Boulevard, Suite 400, Austin, Texas, 78759. The office phone number for that restaurant is: (512) 349-7151.
I am a clean-talking and anti-profane-speech, facially cleanshaven, morally and aesthetically straight, tattoo-less and anti-tattoo, youthful, friendly, enthusiastic, intelligent, polite, idealistic, consistently law-abiding and civil (I have no criminal-conviction record, in fact), law-enforcement-minded and vigilant, non-pranking and anti-prank, non-sadomasochistic and anti-sadomasochistic, masculine, jewelry-less, lifelong tobacco-free, alcohol-free and teetotaling and politically as well as religiously Prohibitionist (anti-alcohol), permanently illicit-drug-free and anti-drug, disease-free, medically healthy, hygienic, HIV-negative, fully ambulatory, non-handicapped, single adult male diner inside restaurants in Austin, Texas, during my leisuretime.
I would appreciate a reply letter from Marie Callender's Restaurants of Los Angeles County, California, that informs me of which steps your restaurant chain is pursuing to ensure that when I dine in the future inside Marie Callender's Store 230 near the Arboretum in northwest Austin, I will never again be subjected to any profane language being verbalized by any staff member in that restaurant ---- either in apparent reference to myself or in any context that can be overheard or heard by myself.
I would like to take this opportunity to politely remind your Los Angeles County-based restaurant chain, along with all employees of your restaurant chain who work in Texas, that the state law in Texas does classify verbal harassment of any person (myself, for instance) featuring profane language in that verbal harassment, as a violation of our state penal code in Texas.
Thank you again for your very kind interest in this matter. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely and Best Wishes,
John Kevin McMillan, an individual dues-paying member of the customer-service-minded Texas Restaurant Association throughout a recent 12-month period, and a former full-time employee of three different State of Texas law-enforcement agencies in Austin, Texas.
11411 Research Boulevard, Apt. 325, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Home phone: (512) 342-2295.
E-mail: mcmillanj@att.net
cc: Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, Austin Police Department, Austin, Texas.
Texas Restaurant Association General Counsel Glen Garey, Texas Restaurant Association state headquarters, Austin, Texas.
TRA Representative Sam Acker, who very kindly encouraged me in person to join the TRA as an individual dues-paying member in a recent prior year.
American Automobile Association, a noble nationwide organization based in Los Angeles County, California, that promotes travel and dining out by members, and I might add that I am a very proud individual dues-paying member of American Automobile Association.
Travis County County Attorney David Escamilla, County Attorney's Office, Austin, Texas.
Travis County District Attorney Ronald Earle, DA's Office, Austin, Texas.
State Rep. Donna Howard, a very conscientious state lawmaker who serves and represents me in the Texas House of Representatives of the Texas Legislature in Austin.
Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe, Travis County Judge's Office, Travis County Government, Austin, Texas.
Colonel Thomas Davis, Texas Department of Public Safety state agency headquarters, Austin, Texas.
Texas Attorney General Consumer Protection Division Officials, Office of the Attorney General state agency, Austin, Texas.
Officers of the "No Cussing Club" based in South Pasadena, California, who might possibly be interested in the moral and political and legal issues raised by this letter from a clean-talking Texan gentleman (myself). The No Cussing Club serves adult members as well as youth members, and I am currently considering whether to formally apply to join that noble organization as an adult member.
Dr. Michael McMillan, a biological brother of mine and a first-rate chemistry researcher at University of Southern California Medical School in Los Angeles County, California. I will always be grateful to Michael for having expressed concern to me in person back in the 1990s about citedly "sadistic" (his wording) conduct toward myself by many prior acquaintances of mine as of that time period (the mid-1990s), with Michael having made that helpful disclosure to me on his own volition in 1994 during a two-person morning conversation we had in front of a restaurant in Snyder, Texas (in west Texas), where we dined together that morning inside that restaurant.
Ex-Students' Association Officials at The University of Texas at Austin.
Professor Karl Galinsky, a highly-regarded Classics scholar at UT-Austin who is himself a very distinguished former Chairman of the Department of Classics at The University of Texas at Austin, who kindly sent me a friendly E-mail letter from UT-Austin in a recent prior year.
State Comptroller Susan Combs, Office of the State Comptroller state agency, Austin, Texas.
City Attorney David Smith, City Attorney's Office, City Government of Austin, Austin, Texas.
State Bar of Texas state agency officials, State Government of Texas, Austin, Texas.
Ms. Chelsea Thornton, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the Governor of Texas, Austin, Texas.
Austin Mayor Will Wynn, Office of the Mayor of Austin, Austin, Texas.
Austin City Manager Marc Ott, Office of the City Manager, City of Austin.
State Bar of California Disciplinary Counsel and State Bar of California Communications Officials, Los Angeles County, California.
National District Attorneys Association.
Conference of Western Attorneys General, which also includes the very distinguished Attorney General of California.
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Officials, Washington, D.C.
National Consumer Law Center, Boston, Mass., I myself being a former resident of Boston, Mass., who appreciates the kind concern for the rights of consumers that that non-profit group exhibits.
Officials of Public Justice, a non-profit organization that often files lawsuits, and a group in which I was a recent dues-paying member.
Corporate Accountability International, another noble group based in the Boston area of Massachusetts.
Texas Workforce Commission state agency Civil Rights Division Director Robert Gomez, Austin, Texas.
Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights, a non-profit group based in Berkeley, California, in which I am a current dues-paying member.
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