[nagdu] Hooters Denies Access To Service Animals

Steven Johnson blinddog3 at charter.net
Sat Aug 4 23:55:17 UTC 2012


Bibi,

Part of the challenge we as service dog handlers face, is the potential to
be denied access in places of public accommodation, housing, and many places
based on the exact statements given by this staff person.  However, on the
other hand, it is not in our best interest to become explosive, accusatory
and threaten lawsuits against a potential violator.  Even more, by you
trying to take this to the levels you said, is really not your place unless
you were there, and have a relationship with this individual during this
incident, and then and only then would have a right to intervene.  President
Marion has talked about the way to handle such access denial situations and
this is not, and I repeat, not the way to properly handle this.  I would
challenge everyone to think about a more diplomatic, non threatening way to
approach a potential violator, but at the same time, think about by how one
displays such outrageous behaviors as a handler can ultimately hurt all of
in the greater service dog community?  Just my opinion, but it is easy to
get agitated about such ignorance, but there are other ways to handle this.

Regards,

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Criminal Justice Major
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 6:29 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: [nagdu] Hooters Denies Access To Service Animals

WARNING...
Be aware that the posting I'm putting on the list is intensed, so if you
aren't able to handle reading it, feel free to delete.
After reading this, I feel like I'm going to violently throw up upon the
feeling that I get when I know I'm going to have a seizure.
The left hand side of my head is throbbing and it probably looks as if I'm
angry.
I thought I had some anger management issues, but I think the manager of
this place seriously has problems and definitely needs to be arrested for
not only violating the ADA but penal codes in California all together.
I plan on sending this to the attorney general's office undet the US
Department of Justice.
I do hope I can find an email link on the ADA.Gov's web site as well.
Definitely gives me flashback of how Greyhound treated Odie and I badly four
years ago.
Bibi, husband Dale and son Odie
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 4:53 AM
Subject: Hooters Denies Access To Service Animals website dogheirs.com
Encounter was between Beverly (Person with a
disability) and Keesmo (Hooter's Employee).    
Hooters Denies Access To Service Animals
<http://www.dogheirs.com/bevykona/posts/1564-hoote
rs-denies-access-to-service-animals>
http://www.dogheirs.com/bevykona/posts/1564-hooter
s-denies-access-to-service-animals
THIS IS THE LETTER I SENT TO HOOTERS. IT WILL EXPLAIN WHAT THEY DID TO ME
JUNE 23, 2012. BOYCOTT HOOTERS! 
HOOTERS,
3541 Truxel Rd,
Sacramento, CA 95834
916-929-9464
MGR name: Keesmo
This is Beverly, the person with disability (PWD) who experienced the
appalling incident with "Keesmo" at your truxel location. started raising
his voice saying NEED YOUR PAPERS.
Of course, since this isn't nazi germany, I had no idea to what he was
referring. So I asked him.. "pardon me?" he then raised his voice more and
appeared to be angry and said "I NEED TO SEE YOUR PAPERS FOR YOUR DOG".
I said, "I don't have to show you any papers and it's against the law to
ask."
He then proceeded to tell me that anyone can put a vest on a dog and accuse
me of being fraudulent with my service dog.
Let me tell you something. I have had this dog for 5 years. He has saved my
life time after time and I do NOT have to explain ANYTHING to your company
nor your employee. PERIOD. I told him that I volunteer as a service dog
advocate in my county and gave him a card with the ADA service dog laws and
their 800 number and he wadded it up and THREW iT! Really? THIS is who you
want representing your company? Because I have a phone call in to several
local tv stations who are interested in covering this ridiculous behavior.
The only way to stop it, is to expose the violators of my civil rights. And,
since mr. Keesmo liked to brag to me how he NEVER lets service dogs in
because people don't have "their papers", I realize that this is NOT the
first incident at this store And I am led to believe any if not all of your
stores, as well.
This man is a bigot. He is prejudiced against PWDs and is only too happy to
brag about it.
That is shameful and breaks California penal code 365.5 through 365.7 as
well as the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Your first fine through
the DEPT OF JUSTICE will be 55,000.00 if Hooters has never been cited for
violating the ADA before. your second fine is 110,000.00 and so on. Then
there are punitive damages, bad publicity, court ordered training for your
staff, company wide and so on.
Since I tried to explain the law to him and he belittled me over and over
and even called attention to me and tried to get the people at the table
nearest the hostess stand involved, I will be filing a federal complaint.
I had called 911 because I was so afraid. he was so aggressive, that even
when my husband, who was clearly upset at being called a liar, went outside,
Keesmo got a large black man to come with him and then he hit (Keesmo hit)
the door so hard, running after my husband, that he broke the security bar
on your door and it hit the ground.
He then had the audacity to scream YOU BROKE MY DOOR, when my husband was 15
feet away from the door.
Really? You hire ex cons or felons or simply gang members to manage your
stores? His bringing this large man was clearly racially motivated and shows
his intent to possibly harm my husband.
Because once he went outside, he kept sarcastically saying "You're a real
nice guy" to my husband, trying to goad him on.
I was still indoors, on the phone with the police and I couldn't hear the
911 operator because Keesmo was yelling so loud.
seriously. This is how you train your employees? And it is HOOTERS
responsibility to train him properly. This is why you will be fined and not
him.
By the way. I can still have him arrested under California penal code for
violating my civil rights under the statutes I referred to previously. They
will come to his work, arrest him and he will be taken before a judge and
have to pay a fine and possibly serve jail time.
The ONLY reason I didn't stay and wait for the police (you can find my phone
calls to 911 and the the non emergency police number on record) is because I
was sick. Too sick to go through this ridiculous interrogation, aggression
and accusations.
I was humiliated to the point of panic. by the time I left, I was in tears
and it takes a lot to make me cry.
a huge concern I have was his body language and gang speak. He repeatedly
accused me of "disrespecting" him. i asked him how so? and his reply was
because you told me you don't have to show me any papers. well......... I
don't.
He broke the law and if he's so overly concerned with being "disrespected"
perhaps he should not be working with the public. He repeated it over and
over with gang type language and then when he burst out the door with the
large man and was screaming to my husband, "you disrespected me" i was
afraid. I mean it.
In my head I was thinking "omg, he's going to shoot or otherwise harm my
husband". Especially with his "body guard" standing watch.
Seriously? this is how Hooters  trains its MANAGERS to act?
My husband asked the other man if he even knew why he was out there and he
said no. He seemed to be soft spoken and confused as to what was going
on....So the "disrespect" and possible altercation was in Keesmo's head.
My husband is an IT engineer for the largest medical non profit on the west
coast. We are not idiots nor are we gang bangers.
We are educated, smart and easy going. But sadly, we live in an area that
has a lot of gang activity, so we recognize those qualities and speech
patterns when we see them.
As a paralegal, I have seen more things than I ever wanted to in my life.
And since I have interviewed all kinds of people, I know how to calmly get
my point across, which is what I did with Keesmo. He was the angry one. I
had an answer to each and everyone of his accusations and it obviously
"disrespected" him and made him angry. Too bad.
All I did was point out the law and try to educate him on the ADA even
though that's your job, not mine. He wasn't having it.
When I went back inside to get my cane, he was trash talking us to your
customers, the staff and so on. When he saw me he rushed back to the door to
berate me some more and this time he had an evil little smirk on his face.
He then proceeded to point to the people at the table nearest me and try to
bring them in on this.
I am disabled. It is a FEDERAL violation to draw attention to that or
belittle me because of it. Keesmo didn't care. All he wanted to do was
"win". How sad.
Then he proceeded to say, "Well I believe your dog is a real service dog
because you didn't back down." Wait. This was a contest? To see if I would
stick to my guns before I could be seated?
how appalling and insulting! Then he also bragged again about running off
PWD with dogs because they don't carry "their papers".
He admitted that maybe i was right about not needing papers to carry with us
but insisted that "even though the law says I don't have to, HE thinks I
should and so should everyone else with a service dog" "to avoid this
problem in the future". I have to laugh.
So all this hassle and me giving him the law and explaining to him how he
had broken it over and over meant nothing. Because in Keesmo's mind, Keesmo
can make up his own laws and isn't intimidated or can't be bothered with the
truth or actual laws.
And during these last moments of our conversation, when I was trying to
explain to him how he was opening himself up to being arrested and fined and
costing your company a lot of money, he rolled his eyes, smirked and said he
could afford it.
Ok then. So be it.
He doesn't care if you get sued or he gets arrested as long as he gets to
run off disabled people.
While I was talking, he kept screaming at me and interrupting me.
I finally said, look, I have 6 children and you are probably young enough to
be one of mine. Will you please let me finish my sentence before you start
talking?
He rolled his eyes once again and smirked. He then stated he was 36 years
old and knew a lot.
I have no idea what that had to do with anything but I let him finish his
arrogant rant.
When he was done, i said, may I speak now? so I explained to him that I was
actually trying to help him as well as other disabled people who may try to
come to Hooters with a service dog.
All he did was interrupt me more and say "well last week someone came in and
I know it wasn't a service dog...blah blahblah blah"
I told him "that has NOTHING to do with me and if you doubt they have a
service dog and that they are lying, call the police and report them." There
are stiff penalties for "fakers", too. And I have reported fakers myself! It
makes it difficult for those of us who need our dogs when others lie.
But i digress. To interrogate me for 30 minutes, berate and belittle me, try
to start a fight with my husband, humiliate me in front of staff and the
entire restaurant and cause me to have to wait too long to eat is not only
in violation of many laws, but just plain inhumane.
Why would one human being want to treat another so poorly? Did he feel like
he was proving something to all those beautiful ladies? Or the clientele?
Did it make him feel big because he humiliated me in front of all those
people? Does being a bully come within his job description?
When he told me he "believed" my dog was "real" because I stood my ground,
it made me want to vomit. I told him, "How many people with "real" service
dogs do you think you have run off, simply because they didn't want the
confrontation and don't even know what you are talking about when you ask
for "papers"? He just smirked. I don't find it remotely amusing, myself.
And I told him the reason i did stick to my guns was because of all those
other disabled people out there that have PTSD, or have been humiliated by
him or simply don't have the health to put up with his embarrassing
behaviour.
I reminded him that I am an advocate. I  don't even think he knows what that
means. I help people with access issues so how hypocritical would it have
been for me to simply walk away?
The only reason I left is because my husband saw me getting sicker and
sicker and made me leave.
I even told Keesmo, I was trying real hard not to pass out and if I did, not
to touch me. He didn't even offer me a glass of water. He didn't even care
that i was fading fast. THIS IS HOW YOU TRAIN YOUR PEOPLE? Actions like what
I experienced in your restaurant is why people with disabilities (PWD) don't
go anywhere very often. Would you?
If you never knew if someone would attack you at a restaurant or interrogate
you, would you want to go anywhere?
What if I was in a wheelchair (which I am many times because of an illness)
and he started to ask me for my papers to prove that I needed that chair.
Like he said anyone can put a vest on a dog "anyone can sit in a
wheelchair".
My dog's vest is a service dog vest, but the law doesn't require him to wear
one. It's clearly marked as to avoid issues such as this. It was apparently
a waste of money.
And just so you know, there are NO papers required of service dogs. I
suppose if you have a program trained dog, they have a little certificate
for you to hang on your wall, but there is no "paper" required.
I personally have my dog registered with my county and he has a service dog
tag. It cost me 55.00 and is not required on any level.
My dog has to be licensed just like a pet. But service animals are NOT pets.
I don't have to pay a deposit when I rent a place to live, he flies with me
free of charge, the airlines have to seat me in bulkhead to accommodate his
size, I ride trains, buses, ferries, all for free.
If someone kills or harms a service dog, it's a 10,000.00 fine, last time I
checked. So it's serious! My dog is allowed places where humans can be
turned away. He has federal rights that humans do not have. You can tell a
human to leave a business but not a service dog unless he's acting up. Even
if he barks in your establishment, and it's because he's warning me that I
am in trouble, you cannot make him leave. He must be well trained and behave
properly. He is. He is my lifeline.
So just like you wouldn't turn away a wheelchair (I hope) or someone using
oxygen, you cannot turn away a service animal.
Oh one more thing Keesmo said. he told me he's even turned away blind people
with fake canes. having him as an employee is going to get you sued. He
REALLY questions blind people as to if they are really needing their white
canes? And how does he know they aren't blind. Does he hold up fingers and
ask how  many? Why DOES HE WORK FOR YOU? When he said that to me, I was
speechless. honestly, I couldn't think of anything to say in reply. Who does
he think he is? Fake blind people.... Wow. I am in a community for people
with service animals and other disabled people.
I have already relayed my experience to them. Each of them has their own
community and this story will spread like wildfire.
I also have other newsletters and accounts and will warn PWD not to bother
coming too hooters as they are not PWD friendly. And for my blind friends...
well, i guess they will have to have a note from their physician if they
want to come inside.
I cannot explain to you how sick this makes me feel. It is a violation of
our civil rights and just as bad as any other hate crime. It's bigoted and
unacceptable.
I intend to do everything in my power to make sure it never happens again
and I would hope you would, too.
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