A North Bay woman, whose mother is of Asian descent, has received a personal apology from the owner of Kitchenomics.
Jeff Pacey, the owner of the Seymour Street business, has been facing severe online criticism over an inappropriate "China Virus Special Store Hours" sign he had posted in the front window of the business last week.
See related: I'm not a racist
When this local woman - who wishes to remain anonymous due to the online toxicity surrounding this issue - heard about the sign she wanted to find out if it was legit.
She visited the store on the weekend to see if the sign was still in the window. When she got there it was gone.
That was not good enough, so she elected to give the owner a call and find out first-hand what was behind this racist sign.
"Before I spark outrage about this I am going to call the guy and see if it's true, he may just lie about it," she told BayToday.
"I called him and he fully admitted it. He claimed he didn't know and he apologized. We talked about it and he told me 'I didn't know this was a thing,' and I explained to him what is happening in the world and we had a good talk. We all make mistakes, we have all probably said knowingly or unknowingly inappropriate comments about this or that, but unfortunately, this guy is a small business owner and he is being ostracized and called out on social media."
She feels for small business owners who are struggling with restrictions going from stay-at-home orders to lockdowns, to emergency brakes.
"It has been a tough year on everybody and everybody is struggling in their own way with all of this, I can't even imagine how a small business owner is feeling through all of this," she said.
"I think people are just enraged right now. I am not going to assume what he meant or didn't mean. I spoke to him and he sounded genuine and he apologized. I don't know what else he can do but from my perspective, everybody is struggling. Maybe he meant it, maybe he didn't. He claims he didn't know the impact or the meaning. Maybe he heard Trump say it and that is what people are calling it. I do not know and it is not for me to judge. I did try to take a moment to provide him with some education. That is all you can do."
The issue hit a nerve, especially after a situation she experienced at a car dealership earlier this year. She says she went to the dealership to shop for a new vehicle. When she was looking at cars, she pointed out a compact car to the salesman.
"So I say, 'what about this car?' And the guy says to me, 'Oh that's good if you have a family of little Asians,' and I thought to myself did he really just say that to me? It took me a minute to process the comment and then I told him, 'well it's a good thing I am part Asian then, isn't it?
"So I walked away and I was feeling a little bit rattled by his comment."
She took some time and eventually contacted the owner of the dealership to relay the racist incident she experienced.
"The owner was mortified," she said.
She told the owner she wasn't going to call out the business on social media but told him that there might be some cultural sensitivity training that was needed there.
It was an incident like this that compelled her to reach out to the Kitchenomics owner.
But as someone with an Asian background, does she forgive Pacey for posting a "China Virus" sign?
"I am going to try to look for the best in people right now," she said.
"You know pointing fingers and such. I don't even know the guy. Do I need to forgive him for my own mental health? I don't know.
"He definitely regrets it, what his intent was I am not sure. He tells me it was a mistake and I am going to choose to believe that and I am going to choose to give him the benefit of the doubt and we had a conversation. I told him what I thought about it and how infuriated I was. I feel better about it but I think the problem is people see a post and there are two sides to every story. People see the media and they share it and whatever. I think the guy needs a chance to right his wrongs and what will happen, will happen. It should not have happened but it did."
