Gorilla Reopens
As both the New York Times and Brooklyn Paper reported, the Gorilla Coffee shop at 97 5th Avenue in Park Slope reopened yesterday. To recap, a couple of weeks ago (16 days to be exact) workers united in a walk-out to protest the “perpetually malicious, hostile and demeaning work environment” created by one of the…
As both the New York Times and Brooklyn Paper reported, the Gorilla Coffee shop at 97 5th Avenue in Park Slope reopened yesterday. To recap, a couple of weeks ago (16 days to be exact) workers united in a walk-out to protest the “perpetually malicious, hostile and demeaning work environment” created by one of the owners. The next day, the owners posted a sign promising to reopen. Yesterday’s scene at the shop was more subdued than normal, noted The Times, but hardly dead. One of the owners, Darleen Scherer, acknowledged that her partner could be “like a drill sergeant,” but declined to dwell in the past: We’re kind of just getting back to basics. I said to everybody, ‘Let’s learn about coffee and do a good job and be happy.’ “
also there is a place in Raleigh, NC that looks exactly like Gorilla, just alot dirtier.
Its called Cup a Joe and I swear whoever opened Gorilla went there at some point and just stole the whole idea.
blue sky is way better regardless.
they close way to early tho.
“2) “What have they gotten out of it?”
Sometimes leaving a crap situation is its own reward.”
I wasn’t going to chime in, ‘specially after reading Slopey’s rather uncharacteristic outburst (cat lock you out of the house again last night, Slopey??), but I have to agree with the above post, and with others who expressed similar sentiments about tyrannical bosses resulting in toxic jobs.
That said, it is JUST coffee. And, really, who cares what happens in Park Slope? Not like it’s Brooklyn Heights.
😉
Glad theyre open, like the coffee and vibe. And it does matter how a popular biz treats its people. When you care about your community, you care about these things.
Those of you in places like Bed Stuy would crap your pants with joy if a place like this opened in your hood, and would hold a fundraiser if it started flailing citing its importance to the community.
“As someone said, it’s just coffee, which is probably why they just quit.”
Oh. So they did just quit? What was the “protest” about? Aw, nevermind.
“Moms and their kids are only newsworthy because freelancers who blog on the side can’t stand having their concentration interrupted at Ozzies.”
Funny!
from DIBS: “I hear some of the muffins are rather stale and hard there.”
That’s true DIBS, but if you lick them for a while they get much softer and more moist.
Snappy, he’s correct. that info was out a few weeks ago.
If this happened in, say Woodside, no one would know about it. It’s only news because everything in park Slope is news if it can fall into one of the established stereotypical storylines. This is what happens when you have a neighborhood full of journalists, bloggers, freelancers etc. who think everything that happens there is of monumental importance because they are there to blog about it. Lousy bosses and unctious bnaristas are only news when their dramas affect journalists and bloggers. Moms and their kids are only newsworthy because freelancers who blog on the side can’t stand having their concentration interrupted at Ozzies. I got news for you all:
*There are lousy bosses on the Upper East Side
*There is overpriced coffee in Tribeca
*There are indy rock guitarists serving coffee in Long Island City
* There are strollers in Sunset Park
* There are overprotective parents in Astoria
* There’s a food co-op in Victorian Flatbush
So before the next Park Slope kerfuffle goes viral, can we all just ask ourselves, would this be news if it happened in Queens?
I’ve gone to Gorilla regularly since they opened and I say GOOD RIDDANCE to the incompetent walkout staff. Gorilla has had plenty of employee turnover, but there was a remarkable decline in service in the months leading up to the walkout. A week before the walkout I waited 10 minutes for a four drink order at Sat morn rush-hour and watched as the incompetent douchesters taking orders and criss-crossing behind the counter repeatedly interrupted and distracted the actual barristas with personal nonsense and confusion to the point that they forgot one of my drinks entirely and got another one wrong.
I miss the early days when the Gorilla crew ran a tight and surly shop and always got my drink up quick and right.
Gorilla is a business and the customer should come first – drill them until they get it right.