From my experience of staffing games and also having run a (reasonably) successful Ares game for a while, I can agree that it would be lovely if everyone approached staff with compassion and respect.
However, we’re all painfully aware we don’t live in a perfect world, and even great players can sometimes have a day where they have a shitty attitude.
I don’t know the whole saga of the interaction between these people. But, in this conversation, the player definitely made a couple of catty comments, which I can totally accept the staffer wanting to set a boundary about.
My point is that going straight to a ban felt a little extreme. I would probably have said something like “Hey, it’s not okay to talk to me like that. I’m done with this for today, but if you want to approach me again tomorrow with a better mindset, I am open to a discussion”.
Obviously, it is Ada’s game and they are paying to keep the lights on, so they can do as they like. But if they are going to ban everyone who ever makes a slightly backhanded remark, they may end up banning a lot of people.