This week, the Tukwila Police Department issued a plea on Facebook asking residents and visitors to show more patience with each other – especially at and with local businesses – during these trying times:

Lately, we have been called to the scene of several incidents where individuals are not pleased with service, product or modifications to ways of doing business have resulted in threats and disputes bordering on physical aggression.

This is completely unacceptable.

As more businesses start to reopen in the coming weeks and months, please understand that they have just survived one of the hardest professional and financial challenges that they have probably ever faced since opening as have their employees. Their businesses and employees are still under a great deal of stress and doing the best they can with the current climate due to COVID19. Many are running with bare bones staff and inventory that isn’t able to catch up with the demand.

Please do not go to a businesses and complain or initiate confrontations about changes to the ways they are doing business due to lost revenue, lost employees, low inventory, new policies and new safety protocols as a result of COVID19. The cashier didn’t make these changes. The food runner didn’t make these changes. The person on the sales floor didn’t make these changes. They are doing the best they can to adapt and adjust to the situation and provide the best service they can during this unprecedented time.

We 100% stand by our businesses, their employees and our business community during the bizarre time that we are all living through together. Please be patient, kind and respectful and understand that everything today is much different today than it was three months ago for everyone including businesses and their employees.