Restaurant Ejects Customer for Angry Tweet

A disgruntled customer's negative tweet about a restaurant recently got her kicked out of the establishment, one example of how social media is challenging socialization norms.

Allison Matsu was having drinks at Houston's Down House when she posted a Tweet, calling the bartender a "twerp," and punctuating the sentiment with the hashtag #jackoff. The bar realized she was tweeting negative comments about the establishment, and in response, Down House general manager Forrest DeSpain then asked Matsu to leave the establishment.

Matsu has gained some local fame for her late-night Tweets, recently winning a Houston Press Web Award for her entertaining talent, so her Twitter following is not exactly unknown.

DeSpain manages the Twitter account for Down House and says he interpreted the tweet as a bullying remark against his bartender.

Matsu, for her part, tweeted, "I will NEVER return to that place as long as Forrest still works there."

The incident adds another dimension to the growing trend of eating and tweeting -- something restaurants and bar owners have been encouraging as the practice often promotes their places and highlights their offerings.

"Now, the way you show you're enjoying it is that you Tweet about it. You post it on Facebook. You have that other dimension of depth, the Twitterverse," said Paula Murphy, whose firm Patterson & Murphy handles public relations for several Houston restaurants. "But just as quickly as they could say something positive, they could say something offensive and negative."

The dispute over tweeting while eating raises more questions than it answers. Restaurants have long exercised a policy to remove disruptive guests, but the recent Down House incident poses questions of whether "disruptive" in the digital world is the same as creating a scene in person.

The distinctions also blur between patrons expressing negative comments about the server to their dining companions and tweeting them to their Twitter friends or posting them to Facebook.

As the debate rages on, one need not look far for other instances where social media, which straddles public and private spheres in unique ways, has sparked similar controversies.

For example, last month, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall filed a lawsuit against sports-apparel company Champion after the company terminated his endorsement deal over comments he made on Twitter.

The athlete tweeted comments about Osama Bin Laden's death, angering players across the National Football League as well as many fans. Champion likely dropped Mendenhall because it did not want to represent an athlete surrounded by so much controversy.

Mendenhall is claiming the endorsement deal termination violates his freedom of speech. But the backlash may have more to do with society struggling to set guidelines on the proper use of emerging social media, rather than with a legal response to squash that speech entirely.

In both cases, the offending tweeter wasn't detained or jailed, suggesting the issue has less to do with litigation and more about an individual crossing a line. And, as is true with most cultural lines, the divide is constantly moving and evolving as businesses and individuals feel the impact of social media.