A rude bartender was captured on tape refusing service to a party of veterans and crumpling up one of their military identification cards.
Last week, Noel Cook, who is an active Air Force member, posted a video of the tense May 2 exchange at LOTO Lounge in Osage Beach.
In a profane outburst, the bartender, known by the bar as Josh Weitkamp, is seen and heard destroying and discarding one woman’s laminated military ID and accusing the party of lying regarding their age and occupation.
Police eventually appear and settle the conflict between the courteous group of six and the obnoxious bartender.
One consumer is overheard claiming, “We’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Weitkamp responded, “You don’t even look old enough to know about f — ing 9/11.”
“Myself and 5 other military friends were at Loto Lounge when this drunk bartender (Josh Weitkamp) started destroying someone’s military ID because he ‘used to be a cop and knows what an ID is supposed to look like’ and bends her card and throws it in the trash, refusing to let us retrieve it and just leave,” Cook wrote in a Facebook post that received hundreds of thousands of views Tuesday night.
On the tape, one service member says, “Let’s come in our uniforms tomorrow and have a good ol’ time about it,” in an attempt to defuse the crisis and reclaim the ID.
Weitkamp retorted, “I can buy those at the f *** ing store.”
In yet another enraged tirade, Weitkamp asks, “What have you done for this country since WWII?” before insisting, “I’ve been working my d*** off.”
The abusive bartender even sarcastically suspected the party of going on a “secret bulls–t” military mission, constantly ordering them to “get the f — out” of the establishment.
When the police come to validate the seized ID card, the video stops.
According to Lake News Online, no arrests were made and the party left the pub.
According to the outlet, LOTO Lounge did the proverbial walk of shame on a since-deleted Facebook site.
The social media post reportedly said, “We, at LOTO Lounge, deeply regret the events of May 2nd and want to stress that we have tremendous respect for military members and their service to our country.”
Another post read:
“Josh Weitkamp is not a bartender at LOTO Lounge; he is a local musician who has personal ties to the venue. He is extremely remorseful for his actions and we are working to make amends with the military members involved. We will do our best to reach out privately to those individuals and to publicly convey our appreciation to all military members in the future.”
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