[Blindtlk] Confronting Discrimination at McDonald's

Sun Jul 13 19:04:54 UTC 2014

	All I can say to this is what I have already said, It is easy to be
an armchair observer and criticize the way this was handled. The fact of the
issue is that discrimination occurred and Merry took a proactive stance. Was
she angry? Of course she was! Was she aggressive? Not at all! She was
assertive and took control over the situation. You may say she was ignorant
because she called Hispanic a race, but nitpicking such trivia only serves
to shift the blame away from the offender and justify the behavior. I can
only hope that, should you ever face discrimination, you handle it as well!

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Laz via
blindtlk
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2014 12:35 PM
To: blindtlk
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Confronting Discrimination at McDonald's

Hi,

I think perhaps what Merry was confronting wasn't actually so much
discrimination but plain ignorance instead.

Having an understanding of both sides of the communication, both English and
Spanish in the Youtube video, I'm perhaps more able to see both sides of the
confrontation than most. The guy who told them that they couldn't bring the
dogs into the McDonalds didn't sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer,
if you know what I mean. And no, the manager definitely had language issues
and I believe she was beinng honest when she stated that she spoke a little
bit of English; she's definitely not fluent in her second language and most
likely didn't understand half of what Merry was angrily saying to her.

As has been pointed out by some on this list, Merry perhaps took the wrong
tack in how she decided to deal with what she perceived as discrimination.
She needed to deal with it as what it actually was, ignorance and perhaps
try to educate instead of what she did. The manager was heard to say to her
help that whoever had said that, should come forth and help straighten it
out, as she had never said that guide dogs weren't allowed.

I also wish to point out that there was ignorance shown on both sides.
Merry herself showed some ignorance when she stated that hispanic was a
race. It's not a race at all, as hispanic includes many races in it,
Black-Hispanic, White-Hispanic, Asian-Hispanic, Amerindian-Hispanic or
"other race" Hispanic. If you're confused by what I just said, see this
link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic

Laz

On Jul 12, 2014, at 2:38 PM, Marion Gwizdala via blindtlk
<blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Please feel free to disseminate and repost this message as widely as 
> appropriate.
>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
>                Some of you were unable to access the video, so, thanks 
> to a fellow Federationist who posted it to his YouTube channel, here 
> it is to view!I have also included a brief narrative from merry that 
> will offer a little more background before the link.
>
>
>
> Fraternaly yours,
>
>
>
> Marion Gwizdala, President
>
> National Association of Guide Dog Users Inc.
>
> National Federation of the Blind
>
> call_skype_logo(813) 626-2789
>
> call_skype_logo(888) 624-3841 (Hotline)
>
> President at nagdu.org
>
> http://www.nagdu.org
>
>
>
> High expectations create unlimited potential for the blind!
>
>
>
>
>
> Before everyone views the video I will give a brief description of 
> what happened before the video was taken.
>
>
>
> Marion and I walked into our local McDonalds- we have been in this 
> restaurant hundreds of times.  I have lived in this area off and on 
> since
> 1988 and have been a permanent resident since 1997.  Marion and I 
> bought our house here in 2003. This area is great for pedestrians 
> because it has  some stores and restaurants within walking distance -
perfect for our lifestyle.
>
>
> Continuing on...
>
> We stood together in the lobby waiting for an available cashier for a 
> few minutes.  When we approached the counter a  young man came from 
> the back of the restaurant and stated that the manager said no dogs 
> allowed. We shared these were service dogs and the cashier stated it 
> as well.  I then asked to speak with his manager, he replied that his
manager did not speak English.
>
> I was actually dumbfounded by this.  We ordered our food and got our 
> drinks and sat down to eat.
>
>
>
> As we ate we discussed with each other that we needed to educate the 
> manager before we left and video this interaction.  We were going to 
> ask for a translater.  We video recorded  an introduction before 
> moving towards the counter area.  As we began to move toward the 
> counter area the manager approached us.
>
>
>
> Now some thoughts before we spoke to her.  Yes our neighborhood has a 
> great deal of Hispanic speaking individuals, our local Latin American 
> Grocery store has the best and cheapest Cuban sandwiches. Back to 
> topic:  As we discussed over our meal although there is a great deal 
> of Hispanic speaking individuals in our neighborhood there is a higher 
> percentage of English speaking people.  It did not make sense to us 
> that McDonalds would put a manager in a restaurant that does not speak 
> English well.  The video will show that the manager still claims she 
> speaks little English.  After the recording, our cashier was in the 
> lobby taking a break and I asked her if the manager spoke English she 
> stated she did.  Unfortunately, as the video will demonstrate, the 
> manager took no responsibility for her employees actions and basically
threw them under the bus.
>
>
>
> We have worked in the past with this McDonalds to do local events and 
> have contacted a member of upper management (Director of Marketing) 
> for the Corporation.  I am sure we will hear from him on Monday.  He 
> can view the video as well.
>
>
>
> I was a restaurant manager in 1984 and if something liked this 
> occurred in my store, I would have been proactive! I would have been 
> at my customer's table while they were eating, took their receipt, 
> reimbursed them their money, gave them tickets for free meals on their 
> next visit,and  I would have told them my employees were wrong in 
> their behavior and I would train them appropriately.  This manager did 
> none of these things and only appeared to have her employees do her 
> dirty work and then be deceitful in the area of communicating with us.  
> Apologies are not well received when they don't appear genuine! Now for
the video!
>
>
>
> http://youtu.be/kePK2vedOog
>
>
>
> Merry Schoch, Vice President
>
> Florida Association of Guide dog Users
>

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