FWIW, Lilly has my sympathies. I hate strangers talking to me while I'm trying to eat and I'd be really squeamish about someone I didn't know showing me a scar! I used to live in SF and have had a lot of bonkers conversations, so I guess I wouldn't have found this one that suprising. You eventually develop a kind of LOL attitude, but yeah - for people who move to the Bay Area from elsewhere, there are times when the local culture of engagement can get annoying and intrusive.
For those unfamiliar with the location - Cheesecake Factory is a big US-wide midscale chain. This one is a large space on the top floor of Macy's department store, inside of the Westfield Center, a huge mall right in central San Francisco (Powell & Market). I don't want to cast any aspersions on this restaurant or any of the staff because they do their best and aren't spectacularly well compensated, but such venues can be uneven - really efficient and attentive service at busy times but scantily staffed and consequently a little slow otherwise. I would not be at all surprised if someone walked in with no intention of eating there, either through the mall past a momentarily unpersoned host desk or from the public access viewing balcony on the 8th floor. And this is an area where there are loads upon loads of street people, some with fairly serious MH or substance issues.
There should have been help available from waitstaff backed up by mall security, but they wouldn't intervene unless asked and given the circumstances it might have been very awkward and intimidating to ask, worrying that the person might become aggressive. Or there might be no one in sight to ask. I am surprised about livestreaming inside a sit-down restaurant - SF'ns are generally pretty aggro about that kind of stuff. And unfortunately, livestreaming has been used as weapon in the USA recently, so a lot of people would react negatively if they suspected that someone was filming them without consent (which is illegal in SF).
Do restaurants in the US often allow dogs to sit at the table on the upholstered seating? Some do, and advertize it so people know - but according to their website this location doesn't allow dogs. But SF has an exception everywhere for service animals including emotional support dogs. In that case the dogs are usually very well-behaved. Of course a customer can ask to be moved if seated near one.
I don't immediately see that a crime was committed here at all, let alone one comparable to the assaults in Auckland on Saturday. But if one was, I hope Lilly got prompt help from the SF police - I found them incredibly and immediately supportive when I was a victim of a violent crime - and is recovering well after a month. I hope the victims of targeted anti-woman violence in Auckland on Saturday recover, too - but I have a fuck ton less confidence that they'll get instutional help in doing so given that the perps in those cases are all over social media gloating about bashing women, and seem to have strong ties to NZ media and even the Prime Minister.
Thanks for posting this. Violence is not the way forward.