Restaurant Owner Shares Abusive Customer Tale On MSNBC: Patch PM

BREWSTER, MA — It's Wednesday, July 21. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Haze from west coast wildfires continued to hang over Massachusetts and much of the northeast Wednesday, despite an overnight cold front that meteorologists had hoped would clear skies.
• An outbreak of coronavirus continued on Cape Cod, with 33 patients and staff at a West Yarmouth nursing home testing positive for COVID-19.
• Public outrage over the firing of Andover Youth Services Director Bill Fahey continued at the Select Board's latest meeting Monday.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

A Cape Cod restaurant owner remains fed up after unruly customers forced her to temporarily close her restaurant after they berated staff to the point some employees cried. And now, she's using the incident to draw national attention to a post pandemic trend of impatient customers verbally abusing workers at understaffed eateries.

Brandi Felt Castellano, the co-owner of Apt Cape Cod in Brewster, went on MSNBC and shared her frustration with anchor Stephanie Ruhle, about what Castellano calls the worst customer behavior in 20 years.

"It's been a lot of demanding, not patience, wanting to be sat right away, wanting to eat right away and doing whatever they can or saying whatever they can to get their way. People would say things I can't even say on TV."

Like many other restaurants, Apt Cape Cod has struggled with staff shortages and high customer demand after coronavirus restrictions were lifted. Castellano said workers have always had to deal with a little verbal abuse from inpatient customers, but it reached a new level on July 8, when customers became inpatient with wait times. She said customers swore at, threatened to sue and yelled at staff in ways she's never seen.

Read the full story.

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Wednesday's Other Top Stories

Cape COVID cluster expands: The state Department of Public Health reported 33 new cases of the coronavirus at a nursing home in West Yarmouth. Since July 10, 24 residents and nine staff members at Maplewood at Mayflower Place have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a DPH spokesperson. The new nursing home cases come just after Provincetown town officials said more than 130 town residents and visitors tested positive for the virus. The majority of those who tested positive were part of an outbreak of "breakthrough cases," which hit Provincetown during the 4th of July weekend.

Retired state trooper may be charged in teen drowning: Prosecutors can move forward with charges against a retired Massachusetts State Police captain and his wife stemming from last month's drowning death of a 17-year-old in his pool.
A Dedham Superior Court clerk magistrate ruled James and Leslie Coughlin can be charged with furnishing alcohol to people under 21 and reckless endangerment to a child. An arraignment date has not been set.

Andover officials, residents at odds over firing: Public outrage over the firing of Andover Youth Services Director Bill Fahey continued at the Select Board's latest meeting Monday. During the meeting's public comment period, the board heard from a series of residents and others upset about Fahey's firing and the way the town has handled it. Fahey is suing the town and Town Manager Andrew Flanagan for breach of contract and defamation. Flanagan recently responded, claiming that Fahey admitted to some findings in a report leading up to his termination.

Eat fresh: Patch's 2021 Massachusetts Farmers Market Guide

Picture This

Wild fire haze: The Statue of Liberty sits behind a cloud of haze on Tuesday. Haze from west coast wildfires continued to hang over Massachusetts and much of the northeast Wednesday, despite an overnight cold front that meteorologists had hoped would clear skies. The state Department of Environmental Protection has issued air quality alerts for most of Massachusetts. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

They Said It

"This has been an unbelievably difficult ordeal for my wife and I. Never did we imagine doing our jobs as journalists would lead to this. We want to protect the rights of reporters and their freedom of the press. We have endured enormous cruelty and abuse and feared for our lives. If this behavior can happen to us, it can happen to anyone."

• David Steiner, who filed a federal lawsuit with his wife Ina against eBay Wednesday. The Natick couple say in their lawsuit filed in Boston federal court that the company engaged in a conspiracy to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them" in order to "stifle their reporting on eBay."

In Case You Missed It

MA right-wing groups rallying in Auburn: Saturday's event, called the "Refounding Fathers Festival," will collect about 20 conservative groups — from pro-Trump clubs to Republican organizations — from every part of the state. Attendees will be asked to donate to a legal fund for Natick Town Meeting member Sue Ianni and Super Happy Fun America (SHFA) vice president Mark Sahady, who were called "heroes of Jan.6" in a flier advertising the event. Both were arrested and charged in January after the Capitol riot.

Related story: Natick Woman Charged In Capitol Riot Facing Felony Charges

Latest On I-93 Repairs: Reopening Delayed

Temporary repairs are being made to stabilize the Roosevelt Circle overpass above I-93 South after it was struck by a tractor-trailer Monday afternoon. Two lanes will remain closed until these repairs are completed, which is now expected to happen sometime Thursday, MassDOT said.

Inspectors found extensive damage to the outside beam on the Roosevelt Circle eastbound overpass, over the right two lanes on I-93 South. The beam and a 7-foot section of bridge deck will need to be demolished to allow traffic to be fully restored on I-93, Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said Tuesday.

Related story: Road Closed After Truck Slams Into Canton Bridge

Permanent repairs will force long-term delays on the overpass, which will extend through Roosevelt Circle and to Route 1 South, Route 16, Route 28, Gulliver said.

Read more.