Horrible by Patrick Nett. Should also be stripped of "Captain Springfield" title immediately, this guy doesn't represent our town.

The owner of the restaurant made a public comment about this on Facebook, BTW, if you want to get another side of the story.

Here's the person in question (they claim) posting here in response to this topic, giving their side of events. Take it for what you will, I don't know much about it but with every news story there's multiple aspects, and it's worth knowing what everyone is claiming.

Ugh. I need a shower after that comment section.

And I guess I believe I Nett. He’s done other unquestionably good things and I seriously doubt the guy exploited a deceased little girl to make an extra whopping $39 bucks or get customers in his door.

But still really stupid of him to agree to do something like that, when the subject matter is so serious, and then flake out on it. Not really an “honest mistake.” He fucked up. If he didn’t have time to deal with it, he shouldn’t have publicly announced it.

Really not a fan of the parents getting shit on in the comments either. They’re clearly not doing this for the money. If a business owner advertised they were raising money for my deceased child and then never contacted me with it, I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about the money but I’d be seeing the red mist of rage over using my kid to get feet in the door. I don’t believe Nett did that intentionally, but you cannot expect grieving parents to be entirely rational about something like that.

Lmao new account. Are you also the guy who joined the Simply Thai FB group today and just flamed on Pat's post and ignored everything he said

From the sound of it all it seems like this alleged scheme is based off of Scotts tots.

[deleted]

On the parents getting shit on in the comments: I feel like that's the problem with people these days. Those comments are horrific, but it seems par for the course for these parts. They have lost all sense of compassion. And a small part of me feels like some are especially vitriolic because the family isn't white. Of course, Pat isn't either, but "he's the good kind who's done good for us etc etc". I just don't think the comments would be quite the same if it was a nice white middle class family.

Plus the number of comments saying KY3 is like all other media (liars)/NBC affiliate/etc. It's the damn MAGA talking points about the big scary "mainstream media". Ashley Reynolds is a citizen of our community, not some scary Liberal Communist Satan worshipper or whatever the hell people are enraged with these days. Her report genuinely seemed to give a fair shake at the story from both sides, and I think Pat gave his honest to God truth on his mistakes and ownership of the situation.

Negative. Made a reddit account because after reading both sides, he's incredibly stupid at best and a complete conman at worst.

Terrible look for the restaurant owner. He was contacted many times. He ignored them all. The family never asked for the fundraiser... while I'm sorry the man is having money problems, it does not excuse his behavior. He had every chance to make it right and make this go.away before the story got picked up and chose time after time to not deal.with it. Then more excuses as to why he won't release the money... bad deal, bad look.

[deleted]

Why didn’t he just donate the $ to the GoFundMe, or take it to the attorney’s office? He said as soon as KY3 contacted him, he went to the family’s attorney’s office, rather than call or email more. I have no stake in this. But it feels fishy. It feels weird. Even in Patrick’s own admission, he said his restaurant was about to close due to hardships he was experiencing at the time this all occurred. Meh. I don’t eat there, won’t ever eat there, and don’t care one way or another. I just know he had options and chose not to use those options.

He is doing like $1.8 million in sales, bro. His money problems went away when the issues for opening went away. Now he’s just got the health department non-priority dings to fix. 🤣

Everyday Thai is better anyway

Thanks for your perspective.

Meh, edited out my thoughts because he has been exposed for being AT LEAST incredibly stupid, worst criminal. But Tongs been the lone Thai place in town I've cared about so meh

“Villains who twirl their mustache are easy to spot. Those who cloak themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged.” Jean Luc Picard

Really? Is that a fact? I’ve only seen Springfieldians jumping to his defense and crying over KY3’s article.

I don’t have any idea. Like I said, the whole thing smells like dirty rotten Chinese fish stand fish. I just don’t have any stake to care more than that. The family didn’t ask for the fundraiser anyways, so Im not really seeing the issue. $39, which dude claims, is all patrons of the restaurant donated.

It’s so true. The writers on Star Trek are amazing. They have tons of quotable lines that are incredibly philosophical.

The comments on there are supportive of him because of what he's done for the community, not because of his race or anything like that. It's from the fan page for his restaurant. God damn this subreddit loves to try to find racist subtones when there are none. Trust me, there's plenty of racism in town but not everything is.

This subreddit and the Welcome to Springfield Facebook group have been too busy eating this dude's ass to see the questionable marketing moves he's been making. A lot of companies do great things for employees, but having to put all that shit on social media wreaks so much of wanting attention. Maybe he paid for an employee's car, but it's really just an inexpensive advertisement. Same with cross-promotion of other businesses. People keep falling for this shit, because "he's a good guy."

Well, look at him now. Not surprised at this latest development at all.

[removed]

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.

Can you link this?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

> Go defend him to him, not me.

But... you commented? Weird response, man

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.

Patrick Sr. (OG owner) would have never done something like this. I know the move to the south side and merge with another business was to set him up to retire but after visiting that location everything seemed so generic and gentrified. No more photos of Patricks family, no photos of Thai legends and royalty, the new location looked more like the inside of a Freddy’s. Kinda sad. This just really puts a bad taste in my mouth

> 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?

This is something that Patrick did without consulting the family first, which was in itself a mistake. Given that, it was 100% his responsibility to reach out to the family.

Dude, it was $39. Everything else was from him...Let's not call him Lucifer just yet.

In his original post, family did reach out to Nett and followed up, as well as other commenters sharing the parents’ Facebook pages. Nett replied back to family and acknowledged their efforts, and communicated that he will be reaching out to them (screenshots linked)

https://imgur.io/a/7tDY31h

Regardless of who is in the wrong here and how wrong they are, this is the potential downside of being extremely online like Patrick Nett has been for the last 3 years.

Seems like nobody acted with malice or ill intent. Restaurant owner did wrong, but not out of ill will, he did so unintentionally (if we take him at his word, which I see no reason not to). The parents were right to be mad, but nobody here is a villain. Mea Culpa has been issued and amends have been made.

Seems to me like that's as far as the story needs to go.

[removed]

Dude even knew the health inspections for the restaurant 😂

Why anyone thought Facebook messages and comments were the best form of seeking information is beyond me. Everyone and their mother messages Patrick when there's something off on their order or seeking other information, and he's stated dozens of times that he's behind on messages since he receives so many every day.

Why did you assume his dad was the OG owner?

From Patrick:

>Fact check:

>1) My mom (sole owner) sold the restaurant to a lady that worked for us, and her husband. Not my dad, he has never had a single percentage of equity in the restaurant. Thai House or Thai Express. It’s important to note because my mom died of stress from the restaurant, she deserves the credit and recognition of what she built. She employed my dad out of generosity, but I’d like to leave it at that. Personal family matters.

Wow, some reasonable perspective on this whole thing. Shocking!

Probably because he was the face of the restaurant ever since the Queen City Cycles crew ate there every week. Also odd because Patrick Sr loved his wife and was heartbroken after which is what he claimed led him to retire and “sell out” to the south side.

I don't think he acted maliciously or that he deserves to be pilloried. But if what we have learned so far is true, there was negligence. Just because there was no malice doesn't mean no harm has been done.

Issuing a Mea Culpa is fine. In one of his statements he said that he takes responsibility. Taking responsibility isn't just saying you are responsible, it's also working to resolve the issue. Going again just on what we have learned so far, he hasn't made sufficient effort to resolve the situation.

There could well be more to the story, so I'm reserving judgement to some degree at this point.

He puts himself out in front of the public eye quite a bit, and he did this publicly. In light of that I think it's fair for the public to expect some accountability for what he himself admits was a mistake.

Didn't he issue a personal apology to the family and deliver the funds essentially immediately, like within a day, of the story breaking.

I said above "a mea culpa was issues and amends were made"

But you seem to disagree. You claim he needs to "make sufficient effort to resolve the situation", like what else?

I agree he caused hurt to the family. But what can you possible do other than apologize and deliver on what you neglected to do? Seems that's the proper course of action.

I might have sympathy for Patrick (as I too am a chronic procrastinator) if not for him allowing his 'supporters' to publicly bash/drag/question the motives of the grieving parents in his own post.

Wanna use your large platform for good - set a good example for our community? Then start by condemning those comments and take full responsibility without mitigation or excuse.

Did he deliver the funds? If so, then that is what I meant by resolving the situation. But to my knowledge he has not done that yet. I hope that you're right and I'm wrong, so please correct me if I am.

I think he said in his public statement earlier today that he did today.

[deleted]

If only $39 was raised, I highly doubt anyone visited this restaurant in the hopes of making Nett donate 5% of their bill lol. Family is lucky they’re making $1800 off the promotion.

I am not suing. I would never do that to the family. KY3 maybe, but no I am not suing KY3. Just saying, I wouldn’t hesitate to if I felt justified.

I am suing nobody. I just want an attorney mostly to advise me on how to handle everything properly, and on standby if things got ugly.

Make this public record, I have not hired an attorney. And I don’t have plans to at this time. I asked for referrals to have numbers ready, should I need one.

The last statement I saw he said he had the donations and was willing to do whatever the family wants with them, so at that point he had not delivered them. That was 19 hours ago in the Facebook group. I haven't seen a statement newer than that one.

I’m 100% in the wrong. I just wish the primary focus on shaming me would be for my lack of responsibility. I hate that most people think I used their tragedy for personal gain. Everyone claims me to be a marketing genius. If I were to exploit my marketing capabilities, I would have gone even further with it, post about it even more, and make attempts to capture more images of video footage after the campaigns done. I simply acted out of emotion as a father myself. I added extra to my plate when I shouldn’t have. And I simply forgot as the timing was directly in line with me deciding if I needed to start figuring out bankruptcy or not. It was stressful times for me, and I lost track of so many things. I honestly forgot, and kept procrastinating when I would remember here and there. Everyone’s asking why 7-8 months for contact. It’s really 2-3 months. Once I got a letter from attorney, I’m pretty sure it’s common knowledge that both parties don’t talk, and attorneys handle it. And I’ve said my piece on my contact with their attorney.

Anyways, you’re right. This is the potential downside, but I accept responsibility and the circumstances that came with it. When I mess up, it’s going to blow up. But that’s fine. I still have done so much good for the community using my platform, and I will continue to do so. I have a passion for helping others, and I will just continue to improve on doing it better. I will not repeat this mistake again.

Side note if anyone cares, I have gotten in touch with attorney and will be delivering funds soon.

I'm glad to hear that, thank you for responding. I hope you can understand my concern when I saw that.

I don't think most people believe you acted in bad faith. I think some people are disappointed, but as I stated in another comment, I don't think you acted with malice, or that you deserve to be pilloried. There will be people who will attack you because of your popularity, but there's nothing anyone can do to stop that. Most people don't feel that way.

I believe that you intend to make this right, and that you will.

I understand 100% trust me. I totally get it. I am 100% going to make it right. We’re actually close to the end. Just waiting on final confirmation where/when to meet for me to deliver the check. And if they’re willing to meet in person, so I can give my formal much needed sincere apologizes in person.

True

I feel like this is a lesson (a tragic one) on intent and impact. I believe Patrick had the best intentions in setting up the fundraiser. He is a good man who has shown that he loves his community and cares about spreading kindness. But he messed up. Big time. And he’s acknowledged that. BUT I feel like his explanations have been to try and explain his intentions instead of just acknowledging the impact it had on the family. Whether or not he meant to exploit them, that is how it impacted them, and all of this would have gone better if he had just acknowledged the hurt he caused instead of trying to explain that he had pure intentions. I understand wanting to clear your name, but I think at this point, that would have been the better statement to make. I think that Patrick has learned from this, but I do really feel for the family. I hope that he does get a chance to talk with the family and apologize.

I'm guessing you don't own a business w that remark, which is fine. I have a business and a lot of revenue and have no cash, so believe it or not, people you look at and think shit, that guy is rolling in it.... it's not always the case. There's absolutely no excuse for him to not pay this immediately. Unless this is some strategy to get some press, but that would be a foolish approach imo.

They were posted on the KY3 article on Facebook. Lol

They were posted on the KY3 article on Facebook. Lol

AND? Are you the comment police? I can’t comment on something because I don’t care about what happens with the situation? Grow tf up.

You're a weird person. You're commenting in a public forum on a topic, and getting mad when people reply to you. You're simultaneously getting angry while trying to play the whole "I don't even care!" angle. And you want to tell ME to grow up?

Best of luck, dude

[deleted]

I may drop by the restaurant and dine and dash for now, I'm just forgetful, but don't worry I can pay in 8 months.

There's a newer post.

Yet, he's still not nor was ever owner. Nothing stated about the personal relationship, but business-wise, looks like it was handled by Pat's mom and then Pat.

Right, but the comment you're responding to was from last night. The post he made that he paid it is from this morning.

At any rate I'm glad it's resolved. He responded to one of my other comments, so I did get to tell him that I didn't think he was acting maliciously, and that I believed he would get it resolved, so that was nice.

Lmfao nobody is mad except y’all butthurt that I commented on something. You Springfield people are DIFFFFFERENT. I have never met some butt hurt ass mf people til I moved to Missouri. 😂😂😂😂 soft ass people

Please refer to my comment above

Thai Station gives Everyday Thai a run for it's money. It's the only place in town that serves thai crispy duck! Goooood shit

Patrick finally reached out to them and formally apologized. The child's father statement here:

https://www.facebook.com/tim.huynh.714/posts/pfbid0r5CwVbhRmJV4Xqjom7QXnSk4cj5jk3MpXoL1snnmntCzpoWAVTmoEtjWtdupjDCTl?notif_id=1673470075678120&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

Yeah my guess it’s way more than $2000

It was a gift. Pat Sr. gave everything to his wife and kids including exclusive rights to owning it, yet he was the one behind the register, directing everyone including his son (and his wife back in the day), and making sure people got free fresh soup with every meal. I think he owned it more than whatever is on paper, similar to when a family buys a son a car and gives them the title.

I can understand your feelings and what you're saying for Pat Sr's actions after her death, but I really have trouble with why you're trying to erase Anna's achievements. She was the one with the college education in business who was responsible for the growth and expansion, the cook, the mother. Not sure where you're getting that Pat Sr. gave up any rights to the business to his wife.

Not trying to erase her achievements, but be mindful that Patrick Sr was literally the face of the business to many locals for a long time before their transition to the south side. People come in just to see him, and I think many would argue it was the communities sympathy for the loss of his wife that kept people coming in.

What kind of point of sale system do you use? Because every modern POS system spits out weekly sales in an instant. Calculating 5% of that and writing a check takes less than 30 seconds. This shouldn’t have been hard, no matter how “busy” you claimed to be.