I am really surprised by how these unwanted projects get pushed through and forced upon the community. The zoning board denied them the permit several times. And yet.

RIP people on jefferson being able to get out of their driveways.

The owner of Everyday Thai came into my restaurant and sat in my section and gave me a huge tip after watching a shitty customer lie about my service in order to get a discount. Good dude.

Vogue cleaners on east sunshine can be quick if she’s not swamped.

> Go defend him to him, not me.

But... you commented? Weird response, man

As if the lines leaking out into the street from Chick-fil-A & Starbucks a little further up aren't bad enough, I imagine this is going to make this already congested area even more of a pain to drive in. Not to mention the popularity of Jefferson being a popular exit out of downtown, the school right there, and Bass Pro traffic just around the corner.

I mean, after reading all accounts, I think Patrick is just a decent guy trying to to the best he can, but he's flawed like anyone is. And this one sounds like a pretty decent fuckup.

Here's one thing I'd like to hear from the side of the family: DID they try and reach out to Nett? Exactly what efforts were made for both parties to contact each other? Nett and the attorneys admit to playing phone tag for a couple weeks.

With what we know, assuming we take each side's story at face value, then it sounds like Patrick honestly fucked up. He admits as such, and this is one that he'll just have to take on the chin. He's clearly a guy trying to navigate his business to success, and I believe him in his efforts to do good for his community. But he got in over his head, struggled to manage these kinds of things on top of running the business, and who the hell knows what else is going on in that guy's life behind the scenes.

What I DON'T think is happening is that he's trying to scam the family out of charity. I don't believe this was a grift where Nett is trying to take advantage of a grieving family for personal gain. It doesn't make sense to risk your personal reputation for less than two grand.

Hopefully this gets sorted out soon and this ends up being a learning experience.

I run my own small business. I’m aware of the costs. I was just pointing out something he said himself. Go defend him to him, not me. I have no stake in this and don’t eat at his establishment and don’t care to.

Awesome, I know we love a good curry with chevon meat! What's your favorite way to enjoy it? 😁

OOOH! Oh, dear, yea... no that's chicken feed for us lol. I'm surprised they boxed it like that 😓

On the point of Ashley,

while she's unquestionably done some good work, let's not forget that local news are often garbage entities who try to make stories out of nothing. I'm not saying this is nothing, but the goal of local news stations is to get stories.

Opening up a restaurant is super expensive, even if you're moving locations. I'll let Nett speak up himself on this, but you have to recoup a lot of costs before you're coming out ahead of your investment.

I worked for a branch office of a company that essentially bought itself out and moved offices within the year. I had a talk with the owner and he informed me that it'll probably takes at least a couple years before the business actually turns a profit after all the costs that were incurred. Running a business is a lot more expensive than people think it is.

Here is the statement from Patrick Nett to the Welcome to Springfield MO Facebook group. Sounds to me like it got blown out of proportion and was a simple mistake. *edit: Linked above but for those without Facebook.

> Hi everyone, > Patrick, owner of Thai Express here, the guy that’s been on the KY3 news recently. I’m here to share with you my side of the story. Warning, I am going to post every little detail I can remember or think of, so this is going to be quite a long post. By the time I finish writing it, it will probably be airing on KY3 (10pm tonight). The reason I am posting this is because I’m not particularly satisfied with how KY3 is building up the story. While I admit fault, I feel like the previews are making some people think of it a lot worse than I believe it to really be. I was contacted and interviewed by Ashley Reynolds, and she was nothing but nice and friendly to me when I arrived. I had full faith that the full story would be released as truthfully and as unbiased as possible. I still hope that will remain true, but I am posting here today, right now, just in case it isn’t.

> On May 16, 2022 I helped promote a fundraising campaign as well as promised a 5% sales donation for financial assistance in support of the death of Mackenzie Huynh. Please keep in mind, I did not create the gofundme campaign. I shared the link, but also allowed customers to donate at our store if they wished to avoid fees. For that week, we collected $39 in cash donations, $0 in credit card donations, and 5% of our weekly sales for that week equates to exactly $1,810.51. This brings us to a grand total of $1,849.51. I pledge that those funds will be sent to wherever Tim and Nancy’s attorney instructs.

> Now, let's get to the full story. > This is where I take and accept full responsibility, because I did not take priority into reaching out to the family about these funds. It sounds really bad, and I’m not denying that it sounds bad at all, but it is the god's honest truth. I kept forgetting and kept procrastinating as I was dealing with a lot at the business around this time. The restaurant had a lot of struggles around this time that nearly put us out of business, all while I was having to physically work at the restaurant all day 7 days a week. I was served a legal document via certified mail after a couple of months, even though it only felt like a couple of days with how busy I was. I immediately made several attempts to contact their attorney, and we kept playing phone tag with voicemails left for each other. After not hearing back from their attorney, I thought the case was dropped. In my final attempt to contact their attorney, I left my email address to the office assistant, stating that reaching me that way is going to be the best way, and that we could set up a time to meet through that. I believe I sent the exact same message to his direct line via voicemail as well. In my thoughts, I would just put this aside and continue working on my business, and I would get back to it once they make another attempt to reach out to me, hopefully setting a date to meet by email. It was just completely forgotten about ever since, until just recently when KY3 reached out to me. I was hit by surprise, but I opted to accept the interview so I could share my story. >
I have their donations and I am willing to do whatever the family is asking me to do with it. I am just waiting for a green light from their attorney. And yes, I have finally been able to contact their attorney. I went straight to their office the day KY3 reached out which helped me get a response. Right before the interview, I had a phone call with their attorney and he told me to go ahead and share my story with KY3 and then wait until the story airs. Afterwards, he will be in touch and let me know how the family wants to proceed with the money. If I don’t hear from him by Wednesday, I’ll reach out.

> I had no bad intentions, and I accept full responsibility for my lack of communication. In simple words, it was an honest mistake. I procrastinated and I will make it right by the family, should they allow me. A lesson was learned, and I will never make the same mistake again. I can only ask for forgiveness, and promise that I will continue to only do good by my friends, family, customers, and this loving community of Springfield that I have been so proud to be a part of. Although I may be receiving some negative responses from this, it will not prevent me from continuing to do what I do best. I will just be more careful going forward and making sure that I am not overloading myself with work. One of the biggest points I wanted to make was that none of this was a publicity stunt. The one thing KY3 is displaying that I strongly disagree with, is that I used their family name for personal gain. That is not true in the slightest. > My heart goes out to Tim and Nancy and I am here should they want my help for anything. I am truly sorry for this. I am always trying to contribute to the community when people are in need. It’s unfortunate that this time around I have let Tim and Nancy down. I made a mistake and I will make it right. I am truly sorry for their loss, something that I cannot personally fathom. I promise to everyone that there was only good intentions behind all of this and please know that my heart was in the right place.

> I will answer questions in the comments, but I will avoid anyone that’s rude. I have nothing to hide, but I just don’t feel like “getting into it” with anyone being hostile. > Thank you for hearing me out

Yes. I can see that. I can understand the family and the public being a little irked that a business owner used the tragedy to profit. Especially in a community that appears to have given him their unconditional support before this.

I hope he makes it right with the family. If it were just money, it could be swept away. But the using their small child for gain… that’s a lot sick. That’s a tactic big corps we all despise use.

It could also be read as an intimidation tactic to dissuade KY3 or the family from pursuing the story. Of course that's speculation, and he could easily deny that was his intention.

Here's a link Sorry it's mobile, maybe someone can fix it, it's all I have access to right now.

You didn't understand what I was saying. It's not about his race or about the comments in support of him. It's about the vitriol being spewed directly towards the family whose daughter drowned.

How quick? JoAnn’s alterations on south Campbell promises anything within a week.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/welcometospringfield/permalink/1218468759084763/

Wow. That’s aggravating if he’s considering that. The guy brought all of this on himself. The family didn’t ask for his “help.” He should just write the check. According to his FB post, it’s about $1900. He posted on Reddit that he anticipates $2 million in business for his restaurant. He should be able to write a check for $1900.

The $39 was just a cash collection jar. I think what's getting him into hot water is that he advertised 5% of his sales for a time period would be donated to the family. It comes out to about $2k by his estimate. I'm guessing the family is not so concerned about the money, but more mortified that a local business may have used their daughter's death to bring in customers without contacting them and then held onto the money anyway. I don't know him or them and am hoping it's all a misunderstanding because it really is pretty sketchy sounding. My advice to any small business owner is even if you intend to follow through with donations, it's really, really unwise to latch onto someone's tragedy like that. Very ethically sketchy, even if your intentions are good. I would never do something like this without reaching out to the family first.

Edit: also something I hadn't realized until just now when I read his original facebook post promoting donations and the subsequent letter from their attorney, but he implicitly encouraged people to not donate to their gofundme because it charges fees, but to give him money instead to give to them. So I can see why they're upset at the whole thing.

Can you link this?

Silence is worse than calling them out. Its assumed silent support and they'll continue to operate with less scrutiny Vs the more public backlash and callouts tend to make sure more people view them unfavorably plus shines a spotlight on their actions. Dont discount public shaming.

The more we call them out and make it clear their actions aren't ok the more quiet and hesitant they become spewing their bs.

He posted this on 12/28 in the same FB group people have already mentioned:

> Any referrals for defamation lawyers that could meet today?

> Thanks in advance!

I would hope he isn't thinking of suing the family.

Edit: Just to be clear, this was a PUBLIC comment in a PUBLIC group, I linked it down below.

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Did you find an alternative that's as convenient? I've actually slowed down enough one pod lasts over 24 hrs.