Stefan Sharkansky has jumped the… nah, too obvious (Updated)
You’re the kingpin of metro Seattle conservabloggers. You could argue that you’re a minor local celebrity. I mean, having a regular gig in The Stranger once upon a time counts for something, right? I mean, you’re not exactly MySpace maven Ken Schram, but a decent-sized chunk of the locals know who you are.
So, you know that with a little bit of celebrity comes a little bit of the fishbowl. If you aren’t thrifty, clean, loyal, and obey the law of the pack, then people are going to talk. And if you cultivate an image that’s counter to the conventional wisdom of everyone else in town, some people are going to be predisposed to having a negative opinion about you. Like this guy.
Having dealt with the constant vitriol by retreating to the safety of your young family, you schlep down to your local and have yourself some dinner. There’s this waitress there. Maybe she’s a little crazy, maybe she just hates you with the burning hate that’s hotter than the twin suns of Tatooine. Whatever. You undertip her by Seattle standards, 10%. (I mean, really Stefan, 10%? What did she do, serve you the BLUE Plate Special when you wanted it on a RED plate?) Maybe the kid was being five.
And then it turns out the waitress was blogging it.
Now, you had two options before you. You could take the high road, shrug it off, not even mention it on your blog, drop her a private email telling her to take all the shots at you but your family was off-limits, and just let it go.
But the high road… no, that’s not what Ol’ Stefan Sharkansky would do.
So, congratulations, Stefan. By publicly responding to something you probably should have just let go you made yourself look as petty as Ms. Vindictive did. In fact, now she’s a sympathetic character, and you look like a bloviating boob reinforcing this town’s stereotypes about the right wing. And bonus points for going after her at both her jobs!
Way to go!
Update (day late edition): Show’s over, folks. Or is it? No, it’s just turning into a gossipy pissing match. More like a slapfight, really.
I hemmed and hawed over whether I should delete this post. Ultimately, I’ve decided that stet is probably the right option. I’ve always been a optimist about blogs, that they are tools of great good that build community, spread ideas, and spread freedom and the free exchange of ideas. But there are some detractors who think blogs are nothing but aliterate devices of unprofessional people who act like thirteen year olds. To those who decry blogging, it’s about stroking egos, spreading libel and slander, and using massive retaliation, bullying, and intimidation to crush others.
And I usually wave those people off as just print journalists unwilling to grok the media paradigm shift of the last ten years. But then something like this comes along, where you have three people playing out exactly what they say happens — a little slander and a lot of bullying. So, in the end, I can’t delete this, because in a sense, I’d be saying that a single mom and a Stanford-educated computer programmer can’t act like a seventh grade drama queen and an eighth grade uber-bully instead of being adults.
The critics have a point. Doesn’t mean we can’t hope for better, but it is worrisome when they’re right.
Dylan,
Much of what Steffany the waitress said about my family and me was simply not true. Our son is a normally behaved boy his age, not always perfect, but not at all as Steffany described him. We’d been going to that restaurant frequently for nearly a year and the other servers seem happy to have us. We routinely tip over 15% there and everywhere else. Now those hard working people can thank Steffany for inspiring us to take our business elsewhere.
And I did ask Steffany and anonymous blogger Mercifurious privately to take down the defamatory post before it got wider exposure. They refused to do so.
And if you want to look for a really bad guy here, it’s “Mercifurious”. He posted the false and defamatory story in the first place, but including enough information for me to identify Steffany as the source. I told him he had compromised his source and asked him to take the offensive story down before it and Steffany got wider exposure. He refused to take the story down, but deleted my comment that made this request. He then fed the story to Blatherwatch to give it more exposure.
I told Steffany that I would delete my post about her after Mercifurious (and now Blatherwatch) deleted the defamatory posts about me. Mercifurious finally had the good sense to delete his post.
And if you care about the poor waitress and want to take the high road, then you’ll delete this post and help this whole story die the quiet death it deserves.
Wow. That was ridiculous. I couldn’t find the original post that supposedly defamed his family, but nothing like airing your dirty laundry all over the freakin internet. Tacky. How old are all these people?!
Stefan: “We routinely tip over 15% there and everywhere else”
The standard tip is 20%. You are a cheapskate.
Sean: you are wrong. The standard tip at a restaurant is 15-18% of the bill (less if expensive wine exaggerates the total).
This is especially true in Washington, where the minimum wage is one-tiered (no exceptions for folks making tips) and is the highest in the nation.
What Jeanna said.
If you guys ever remove this post (as Stefan suggested should be done “if you care about the poor waitress and want to take the high road, then you’ll delete this post and help this whole story die the quiet death it deserves.”) I think I’d lose respect for y’all.
After reading Stefan’s post, I have to say, without seeing what she wrote, I support the waitress *more* than I support him.
Maybe because I lack respect for anyone who ever says ‘Take down your attack and I’ll take down mine’. Once it’s in the public, you don’t take it down. Period. Hell, a political blogger should *know* that. Not to mention the fact that it’s blackmail.
I’ve been attacked by crazies. I’ve had someone post that al Qaeda should kill me next. I’ve had someone involve my name with a plot to kill a random employee of my old employer. I’ve had outright lies posted about me. And, y’know what? Attacking back never works when you sink to their level. If you can’t form a polite argument, you don’t argue.
Well, unless of course you’re a complete ass, which is also something I’m familiar with. =)
The waitress has now retracted her remarks. As I promised her, I deleted my earlier post and removed her name from my site. From my perspective, the story is over. I’d encourage you to delete this as well.
Stefan, you are my new best friend.
I discovered your blog and its mountain of stupidity, entertainment for life.
You guys should never delete that post, since the poor waitress was not strong enough to stand in front of Mr Sharkansky, you should.
Can we get a picture of Stefan, he looks suspicious to me
I’d really like to know why the story should be deleted, regardless if it’s over or not.
I’m sure, if we tried, we could find some stories in politics that are ‘over’ that shouldn’t be deleted.
Wow. Between Frizzelle’s attack on Jeremy of Seattlest and Sharkansky’s temper tantrum, I hereby nominate August 19th through the 25th as “Tacky Blogging Week”.
Can’t wait for next year.
As has been said, the extreme lack of decorum and plain old-fashioned brain-fartiness of Stefan’s tantrum taints the rest of his words. Is he a political commentator or just a garden variety crank? Such posts tilt the odds towards crank.
I understand why he’d want everyone else to delete their posts about it too - he’s done something far more “defamatory” to himself than any waitress could.
Recently, I was asked on a resume rewrite interview: “You’re pointing on your resume to a couple different blogs, is there anything there you wouldn’t want perspective employers to see?”
I’ve been out here in this big dump truck for 15 years now (or, at least, that’s how far back I can find my ripples) and, if there’s one thing I know, its that you don’t say anything on the Internet that can in any way be traced back to you if you don’t care if perspective employers see it. Yes, there’s a difference between *care* and *want* but, I take great steps to make sure that ‘embarrassing’ stuff doesn’t get posted with my name, or even a normal IP address for me.
Could you find something out there with my name on it that would be embarrassing to me? Probably.
In this thing with the waitress, Sharkansky has proved himself to be just a damn bully. He ought to be ashamed of himself.
In this thing with the waitress, Sharkansky has proved himself to be just a damn bully. He ought to be ashamed of himself.
Well Sharkansky don’t count on it. This has now been cross posted to livejournal’s Customers_Suck and it will stay up.
Have a day you smug bastard.
Stefan, congratulations. You’re a douchebag and a turd sandwich rolled into one. You’re a vindictive little bitch and hopefully you’ve managed to shitcan any chance of a meaningful political career with your tantrum.
(Speaking of turd sandwiches, you’ll probably want to brownbag for a while.)
That chick is a [Yeah, the c-word? Out of bounds on this board.]
Stefan Sharkansky is a douche.
“[Yeah, the c-word? Out of bounds on this board.]
How about bitch?
Let me reiterate:
That chick is a bitch.
She deserves what she got.
Waitress jobs are a dime a dozen.
It’s not like it’s skilled labor.
“Waitress jobs are a dime a dozen.
It’s not like it’s skilled labor.”
a) It doesn’t? Remember that next time you want to complain about a mistake in your order, or ask their opinion on a dish or wine selection. I mean, it’s not skilled labor, why should they be able to get your order right, or give you an opinion?
b) And while I’ll agree it isn’t highly skilled labor (like, say, something you need a license for), does this mean that they aren’t deserving of any respect?
c) What do you do, so we can judge whether what *you* do is skilled labor or not?
Judges?
Yes, we’ll accept bitch. 10 points for you in the category “Waitress, why does my Mountain Dew taste like urine?”
I’m never surprised when a servant gets an order wrong. I expect it.
Why would I want the opinion of someone dumb enough to work for less than minimum wage?
Not highly skilled labor? Try totally unskilled.
A monkey off the street could learn the job in about 5 minutes. They deserve about the same respect as I’d give some bum on the street.
What do I do?
I fly helicopters for a living.
Wow! Just Wow! Have any of you commenters ever even been to a restaurant? I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but these people work HARD for their money, much harder then any blogger I have ever read!
Stefan, you are a mean person. Way to go picking on some waitress. Your a bad tipper to boot. You’ve done more to damage your so called “character” by targeting this poor soul then any blog post about your miserly ways could ever have done.
You weren’t defamed in any way, but you sure will be now.
You stay classy!
Fuck Stefan and his family. I told my other waiter friends about your antics. They are looking forward to serving you. Fucking assholes.
Hey Sharkansky - You’d better not come into any local food or drink establishment again. It’s just not safe, considering how easy it is for someone to spit in your food or beverages.
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:7yB7RDDqQccJ:www.soundpolitics.com/archives/009133.html+http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/009133.html&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Wow…we have idiots on this board who are threatening Sharkansky because he did what was right.
The waitress has no business venting about a lie. She faked her story, she admitted it, and the people here bought into her story anyways. It shows you just how stupid the people of Seattle are. (Thank god I am from Vancouver).
Anyone who does anything to Mr. Sharkansky in their restaurants will easily get a visit from the state health inspector, and presumably be shut down.
Y’wanna know how I know this? I work for the Department of Health in Vancouver.
Ta ta, morons. You just dug your own grave.
Ray: “Not highly skilled labor? Try totally unskilled.
A monkey off the street could learn the job in about 5 minutes. They deserve about the same respect as I’d give some bum on the street.”
Wow. Be an ass much?
There’s a huge difference between learning a job and doing a job, and I think, as a helicopter pilot, you’d agree that someone can *learn* to be a helicopter pilot but that doesn’t mean they’ll be a *good* helicopter pilot.
Gee, I don’t know if eating my snort and boogers will cause an instant health crisis. What do you think?
lol@Sakaki.
Many years ago, in Arizona, we used to have an officious prick (just like you) who was a county health inspector (just like you’re not, but pretend otherwise). Oh, the fun we had with his food (just like the fun your waiters have with yours).
It’s official–the Seattle looney-left is strongly pro-spitting-in-your-food. Restaurant workers unite!