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Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

Last week I had the opportunity to interview a couple who is preparing to open a new Abelardo’s Mexican restaurant in Albert Lea.

Before we dived into the interview, we discussed how there had been a lot of online chatter about what was going into the space that they will occupy.

From what I had seen, people were curious to hear about the restaurant and surprised to see another new Mexican restaurant come to town.

Coming from someone who loves Mexican food, Albert Lea does have a nice selection of Mexican restaurants, and to me there can never be too many. Some people, however, want a little more variety.

But the comments didn’t stop there.

The owners told me that on the post about the restaurant, at one point some of the comments turned racist. It got so bad that eventually the moderator of the page had to delete the questionable comments.

One of the owners, somewhat jokingly, I hoped, asked after seeing those comments if this would really be a place they would want to go.

I reassured them that people were excited they were coming to the community and that I hoped they would disregard those comments.

After a pleasant conversation about their plans for the space, I walked out of that interview excited about the new restaurant and the fact they are breathing new life to an otherwise vacant building.

But in the back of my head, I felt disappointed that people have to be so rude and that they can’t just be kind to those around them — whether it’s in person or through the computer. I felt bad that I had to apologize for the behavior of these other people and remind these business owners to look past them.

This was a good example of how business owners — and in this case future business owners — watch what people post online.

I’ve written about it before, and I can’t emphasize it enough that what we post through our own social media accounts can have an impact — for the good or for the bad.

Posting constructive criticism about a business is one thing, but constant negativity and allowing racism or hatred to enter the conversation is completely unacceptable.

If people see this kind of behavior, I hope they will stand up against it.

Not only does this hurt relationships, but it could also hurt opportunities for our community.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Wednesday.