In a move that was always going to backfire, a Melbourne café has copped abuse for trying to surcharge Dan Andrews supporters.
According to 9news, the owner of the Melbourne café will remove the sign after receiving a torrent of abuse after attempting to charge Dan Andrews fans an extra dollar for their coffee orders.
Acrobar in Moorabbin had been displaying the sign (“Do you support Dan? Add $1 to your order”) in the café for a few weeks.
After the sign was posted online, the subsequent backlash forced the venue to bring in security overnight to deal with the threats. After speaking with police, co-owner Franz Madlener decided to take down the sign, which he maintained was “only ever meant to have been tongue-in-cheek”.
Mr Madlener said the sign was not “anti-Labor” or politically motivated, but the “equivalent of a swear jar” for people who claimed the Melbourne café should consider themselves lucky that they can reopen come November.
The light-hearted tactic still managed to reel in 30 people. Coffee’s expensive enough, you guys.
“In the last 24 hours, I guess since this sign’s gone viral, the level of abuse and vile anger and personal attacks on the business, me and the staff yesterday, was completely over the top,” Mr Madlener told Today.
“To the extent that we had threats during the day of rocks being thrown through the window and someone rang and said they’re going to do to our business what happened to Daniel Andrews’ shop front, which was a rock through the window and paint all over the shop front.
We had one person just ring up … he’s going to grab the sign and smash it. I have to keep my staff safe. I don’t want my staff feeling threatened.”
“You can sense that anger they have out there at the moment,” Mr Madlener said.
People were swift to act both online and in person. Dozens of people took to Google to give the café a one-star review. Others abused workers over the phone.
The tension of lockdown has clearly been too much for some to handle. The sooner the pubs get back open, the better.
Check out Premier Dan Andrews discuss Melbourne’s path out of lockdown:
