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ZEPHYRHILLS — A disagreement over a free "green" bag at a local Publix store has led to a testy exchange between a Zephyrhills resident and the city's mayor.
Resident Judith Rubin went to the new Publix on U.S. 301 a few weeks ago and wanted to get one of the free promotional "green" bags. After being told they were gone, she saw a man who had more than the one-per-customer limit. Rubin said she saw the man's name tag read "Mayor," and she asked if he was Zephyrhills Mayor Cliff McDuffie.
He said he was, and she asked for one of his bags. When he refused her twice, she got a bag from another customer who overheard their exchange. When she talked to her husband about what happened, she was upset at what she described as rude treatment from McDuffie.
"As a mayor, I would think his reaction (to my request) should have been, 'Certainly, take one of mine,' " Rubin said.
McDuffie, for his part, believes that Rubin was the one being rude. In a letter, he said she interrupted a conversation he was having, among other things. This week, the mayor declined to talk further about the incident.
After she arrived home that day, Rubin said, her husband — who communicates regularly with government officials in his job as a contract administrator — wrote an e-mail to the mayor. They asked City Manager Steve Spina to forward it to him.
The e-mail detailed Rubin's experience at Publix and asks how McDuffie merited having several of the free bags.
"This is just another reprehensible example of the petty, elitist, 'me first' entitlement attitude evinced by politicians at all levels of government in this state," Harvey Rubin's letter to the mayor read. He asked the mayor for an apology on behalf of his wife.
Judith Rubin said she was surprised by the response McDuffie sent back.
"We were both disturbed by his response," she said. "Surprised and disturbed, especially with his first sentence and his last sentence, where he says he doesn't think I deserve an apology."
"Thank you for your e-mail," began a copy of the letter provided by the Rubins. "In my opinion Mrs. Rubin was NOT polite in any way. Mrs. Rubin should have gotten up earlier if she was so bent on getting a bag."
The letter went on to say Rubin was the rude party when she interrupted a conversation, and the second bag he had in his hand was a gift for his wife from store management.
He calls her letter a "reprehensible example of the petty, elitist, 'me first' entitlement attitude evidenced by those citizens in all walks of life." It goes on to say Rubin feels entitled, and McDuffie resents being "boxed" by someone who doesn't know him.
"I respectfully submit that I do not owe any apology at all," McDuffie wrote at the end of the letter. "If I felt I did, I am man enough to do that and I write my own letters."
"A decent apology is owed to me for his behavior in the store," Rubin said. "This is over a very stupid and inexpensive item he felt was very important."
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