[nagdu] Confronting Discrimination at McDonald's

[Marion Gwizdala]

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

(813) 626-2789

(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