Betterday Coffee — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Just heard that an old friend of mine from home was harassed and falsely accused of vandalizing the premises by someone on the Betterday staff.

It didn’t matter that my friend was a paying customer who was using the space like everyone else, or that he was cooperative with a rude and bullying staffer, or that he is a devoted dad, or that he works for the betterment of our society and our world, or that he has a Ph.D, or that there was no evidence to indicate that my friend was in any way involved with tagging up the place.

And yet somehow this staffer at Betterday KNEW my friend was the culprit and actually demanded he empty his pockets to prove his innocence.

(You know where this is going...)

What, pray, might have made that staffer single our friend out from all the other customers in the shop? What made him so suspicious when he was simply using the space just like everyone else?

Yes, folks — our friend was the only Latin@ customer there. That’s all it took for that staffer to conclude that our friend was guilty.

So the next time you feel like having a nice cuppa joe with a splash of full-fat #RacialProfiling, make sure you head over to The Betterday Coffee Shop, where the staff will make sure your day only gets better as long as you aren’t black or brown.

(And now the waiting game begins: how will the shop respond to this awful situation? Weak, half-baked apology? Carbon-copy statement of inclusiveness quickly googled and cribbed? Erasure of posts referring to this incident? Weak defense of bad behavior followed by victim-blaming and white tears? Taking down the shop’s FB page? The suspense is killing us, I’m sure...just like that staffer’s racist tendencies and all those unnecessary 911 calls for our simply existing in public spaces while...

This was the most horrible service and experience I've experienced in Santa Fe in the last several years. We showed up on a Friday at 6 to a partially empty restaurant. It took the server about 10 minutes to come by with menus. After another long wait, he took drink orders, forgetting one of ours.

After bringing that drink (about a half hour after sitting down) he took food orders. We didn't see the server again for 45 minutes. During that time, another couple came in, sat down, waited 15 min without even being welcomed, and then left.

We had to go up and finally ask what was going on. He came back with an excuse that they were under staffed.

The food came and my paper thin chicken sandwich was fried to the point of being completely dry. The house made ketchup just tasted like pureed canned tomatoes with some 3 year old spices thrown in.

Again, the server never came back so we had to go up and ask for the check so we could leave. By now it was 8:30, a full 2.5 hours after walking in.

That's 2.5 hours of my life I will never get back.

Horrible service. Horrible experience. Sub par food. Avoid this place...

My name is Crystal Nieto. I am Native American born and raised in New Mexico. I've been working at the Betterday for over 2 years. Even after all this time I still love my job. But the reason I decided to write today was because of the recent accusations against my boss being racist. My boss is NOT RACIST! If he was I would not be working there. I've experienced many jobs where I actually had to deal with racism. At one point I was told not to speak my language to my fellow co-worker who was also Native. The betterday is the first job I've ever had that I haven't had to deal with any type of racism towards me which is why I appreciate this job very much. My boss has always treated me and my beliefs with respect. Not once has it ever crossed my mind that he was racist. I've never felt discriminated or shamed for being who I am. So I would deeply appreciate it if everyone would stop accusing my boss and the rest of the staff of racism. Black, brown, or white it doesn't matter what color you are, you are all welcomed to stop by...