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Panini Shop Owner Says Occupy Wall Street Protesters Are Tormenting Her
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 8, 2011
Modified Nov 8, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 8, 2011
Modified Nov 8, 2011
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You may recall Stacey Tzortzatos from her cameo on The Daily Show last month, in which she told of her ordeal operating the Panini & Co. sandwich shop next door to the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park. She claims her restroom sink was damaged and a toilet clogged, and now she's back in the news—er, the NY Post, which just loooves their stories about dirty hippie demonstrators terrorizing the decent working class folks.
"I’ve been told, ‘Watch your back!’ 10 times,” Tzortzatos tells the tabloid. "I have the police in here 10 times a day, [and] I’m the bouncer. I’ve been called the spawn of the devil. It’s unbelievable what goes on in here every day." She claims damage to the bathroom set her back $3,000, and after she put up a sign saying the restroom was for customers only, a protester tore it down. And this one other time, an occupier came in with a ten gallon jug of water and demanded that she fill it up. When she refused, she says "he banged it on the ground and started yelling... He said he was entitled to have it for free."
Occupy Wall Street has tried to reduce the strain on local businesses by setting up three 24-hour porta potties several blocks from the park on Friday. But DNAinfo reports that as of yesterday, many occupiers didn't know they existed, and others chose not to use them. "I use a street corner, a telephone pole," 22-year-old protester Terrence Hubbard says. "I did it a couple of times in my tent when I was lazy. Otherwise, I go to McDonald's." Another protester, Amanda Funaro, 20, says, "Everybody was happy about it, but I still use McDonald's because it's close and I like to use a real toilet." Anyway, it beats using that devil toilet in the panini shop.
Tagged
occupy wall street
panini & co
porta-potties
small business
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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