Is this incredibly racist or am I being sensitive

[Restaurantlover]

Have had to nc as incredibly outing.

I enquired about a blossom tree installation in my restaurant, someone got back to me with a quote and I said great what’s his timescales. He let me know a date and I told him it would be suitable but nothing yet agreed.
Next thing I know he says he requires a 50% deposit because he’s ordered the blossom for the tree.
I never asked him to order the blossom, never agreed that the work would actually be done and certainly didn’t agree to give him 50% upfront.

I’ve had to block him as he is continuously ringing and messaging me and is just being plain nasty, to both my husband and I.

I think he’s gone a step too far with this Facebook post though, the reference to scrubbing korma pans and polishing shoes just gets to me, I feel he’s being racist, we have an Indian restaurant but I don’t actually go/work there so he’s obviously made that up to be spiteful.

Welcome back Skidmark.

Someone tell me the restaurant/guys business name I wanna nosey!

Well, I think we can deduce from skidmarks posts being deleted, that they were in fact racist. You also appear to be of that persuasion yourself.

Always, always check Companies House for the details of any business you plan on using. It is often very enlightening,

'Chip on your shoulder' is a racist comment. Not acceptable.

I would much sooner deal with a sole trader than a Ltd company. 3 times I've been ripped off by a Ltd who have gone into liquidation rather than pay me what they owe.
A sole trader cannot hide behind limited liability protection

Go to the police and report it as harassment/hate crime comments. Definitely racist, I've read all the OP posts and now his too?!

Nah it was obvious. Not my fault you couldn’t or wouldn’t see it.

The more I read, the more this thread could be re-titled 'When Arseholes Collide'...

Both parties appear not to have behaved well to one another, one in retaliation to the other messing them about...

At this point I'd say Skidmark is several goals down and most of them own-goals at that, but I'd not want to work for either party!

Skidmark - you claim to have done loads of work for this client, and yet all you seem to have to show for it is a box of blossoms you've bought in, so in reality... you're actually down the cost of the blossoms which, given your business, you would use for another client anyway (assuming there are others after this!).

OP - if you mess peope around and vanish when you owe them money it does tend to piss them off. If you then post about them, sharing an edited selection of their comments with a slightly altered timeline of some of the events... it is likely to piss them off further.

Well he fucking confirmed it on here.

Would you think the pizza oven / paella pans would be? Or is it different because not white?? The jerk chicken example would be weird as I don't think it's usually cooked in a specific pan...? This would be more similar to wok or tagine, neither of which I would consider racist.

Having said that, I hadn't read the thread and I get the impression there have been developments? They've been deleted so I don't know what more has been added so to be clear, purely in answer to the question "is specifying korma pans racist?" I would say no. If more has happened that has unambiguously demonstrated he is a racist, I am certainly not defending that!

@ohnonowwhat korma isn’t cooked in a specific pan either!

He turned up calling himself Skidmark, claimed to have made a jillion pounds from all the publicity and made an overtly racist comment that nobody could possibly deny. He also posted a blurry picture of something that might have been blossoms and pictures of a tree in a wall with digital red smears all over it. Very weird.

He does sound like an absolute knob. However I'm not sure what your point is about being VAT registered. There's no requirement for a business to be VAT registered unless it is turning over £85k or more. I've operated several part time self-employed businesses that were totally above board, registered with HMRC and paying tax, but have never needed to be VAT registered as I wasn't making enough, and as I was a sole trader not a limited company you wouldn't have found me on Companies House. One of those businesses was something I required people to pay a 50% deposit for before I would even confirm the booking let alone start work, and nobody ever quibbled. If they'd informed me that they were only willing to pay a 20% deposit I'd have told them to jog on.

Apologies if someone has mentioned the VAT point already, I haven't read the whole thread.

ohnonowwhat a pizza oven is an actual thing, a korma pan is not. It makes aense to say someone is cleaning a pizza oven, it doesnt make sense to say korma pan - or it makes as much sense as sayong someone is cleaning their lamb plates. Apart from making up a lie based on his own racist stereotypes it was clear the word korma was thrown in there to drive his point that the OP and her husband are "other" home.

Yes he did and I called him out on it. As well as the other one who was racist. Immediately.

But the OP posts were inconsistent and so I reserved judgement

Yeah if someone used the phrase “paella pan” that would be racist in the same context. Or pizza. But you must know that people are racist towards Indian people more often than they are towards Spanish or Italian people? And yeah, korma isn’t cooked in a special pan. But since you admit you hadn’t read the thread anyway, it seems you’re just determined to make yourself look stupid 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yikes, that's a bit exciting - why on Earth would he call himself Skidmark?! This is why I should always read the thread before commenting! 🤦‍♀️

You’ve got the racist bit, what more do you need? There’s none so blind….

Contract law basics - offer and acceptance. English law provides that can be by phojne, email, whatsapp, Facebook. IF that occurred then he is entitled to claim the profits he would have made (or the costs of what bought in). If not then that is not so.

We dont actually know whether it was the person who wrote the Facebook page posting here or just one of mumsnet's many trolls. What is the chance of him reading mumsnet v chance of it just being a troll?

Op you made a contract and then argued about payment. Clearly this man is a nasty piece of work but you are not completely blameless. I'd find it interesting to see all the what's ap messages to find out exactly what you did say and whether during the discussion about the deposit there was a clear commitment to pay on delivery.

Yes the guy does sound racist and resentful of anyone he perceives as having money. Your behaviour was not good either.

Yes, have now, and I called it out when it became blatant, but at the time saying that someone was scrubbing a korma pan in an Indian restaurant was not conclusive.

Really? Ok if you can’t see it…

He said it was his dog's name.

I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh....I've been away for a couple of hours and I can't believe the creator of the cherry blossom tree arrived on this thread under the name "Skidmark" 😂😂😂