The movie 'The Blind Side' has made its way back into headlines today after Michael Oher, the football player on whom the story is based, filed suit against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the couple that took him in during his high school football career. The suit claims that the couple never actually adopted him, but instead tricked him into signing into a conservatorship that allowed the family to make business decisions on his behalf.
Reactions to the headline have mostly shown support for the former NFL player. But as the family's name started trending, local residents of Memphis, Tenn., where the Tuohy's live, lit up social media threads — and apparently, the family has a reputation among restaurant workers.
As a Memphis bartender who has had to serve the Tuohy’s before:
— chaotic hungry (@campari_queen_) August 14, 2023
I hope they are treated by the media and/or courts in the coming weeks/months with *exactly* the same amount of dignity, respect, and kindness that they show service industry workers when they go out 😇
In true Southern fashion, one Memphis bartender took to Twitter to wish the Tuohys a taste of their own medicine. "I hope they are treated by the media and/or courts ... with exactly the same amount of dignity, respect, and kindness that they show service industry workers."
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The viral tweet features a thread of comments, a few of which share similar experiences with various members of the family: the father, mother, and two biological children, who the lawsuit alleges also profited from Oher's conservatorship.
Meanwhile, the Memphis subreddit about the lawsuit (and the couple's public behavior) has almost 160 comments, many of which are from local bartenders, servers, and retail workers who have had unpleasant run-ins with the family (save for Oher, who doesn't appear to have gone out with the family in any of these instances.)
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It's a warm, friendly feeling, walking into a neighborhood bar where everybody knows your name. Just be sure your local service staff doesn't know your name for the wrong reasons.
I’m not blindsided by this news… 👀😳
— Dunning Krugerrand (@winegeekLA) August 15, 2023
Sorry - I’ll show myself out.
Treat & Tip your service people well, they have all the dirt.