[nagdu] Discrimination Under the Golden Arches

[Daryl Marie]

I debated about sending this, but in the interests of discourse...
IMHO, I think this whole situation was handled poorly all the way across.

1) The first employee had no right to say that dogs were not allowed in the McDonalds, and once they were apprised they were guide dogs, that should have been that. Kudos should be given to the female employee who obeyed the law and let Mary and Marion enjoy their meal (forgive me if I read the article incorrectly).

2) The run-around between employees and the "manager" (who may or may not speak English) - say what? I completely understand the frustration here, largely due to lack of apology and accurate information as to who was really in charge.  If she was the manager, she should have taken her employee to task and been respectful and apologetic herself; if she wasn't, then that's a whole other can of worms.

3) Bob Conigliaro, the VP of Marketing for Casper's surprised me; no matter what, it is the law that service dogs are allowed, period. Unless Mary and Marion went into the kitchen, no employee had the right to deny access. Some apology should have been given for the action and poor leadership of the manager. However...

4) I have watched this video several times, and I cannot disagree with bob Conigliaro's assessment that there was some browbeating going on.  While I completely understand the frustration, and the fact that education of employees is clearly needed, when one of the first things said was "I'm going to educate you" I took a step back and my hackles were raised. I am not an employee, and fully apprised of the rights of service dog handlers, and HAVE been discriminated against, and think that perhaps an apology may have been more forthcoming if a bit more diplomacy was used.  I do think there is a time to be angry and a time to let things go, but IMHO this situation as outlined lay somewhere in the middle.

Getting ready to be tarred and feathered,

Daryl and Jenny


----- Original Message -----
From: Cindy Ray via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: Marion Gwizdala <blind411 at verizon.net>, NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 15:16:51 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Discrimination Under the Golden Arches

Wow! That is so typical. It’s just like on the planes when we are told it is their policy that (fill in the blank.) That was what I had been told when I was “browbeaten” to sit in the bulkhead. But that was a mistake because I could look at their website. Southwest’s website said nothing of the sort, of course. The point is that you and Mary should never have been questioned as to the fact that the dogs were there. I am surprised in a way that your so-called ally turned out not to be one.

Cindy Lou

On Jul 15, 2014, at 12:41 PM, Marion Gwizdala via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
>                Well, the person I thought would be our ally at Casper's
> Company, the franchisee of the McDonald's where Merry and I experienced our
> issue with our guide dogs, has turned the situation around so that we are
> the ones to blame for their unjust behavior. I want to invite you to read my
> blog post that describes my attempt to resolve this issue and my response to
> the final outcome. You may do so by going to
> 
> 
> 
> HarnessUp.wordpress.com
> 
> 
> 
> Fraternally yours,
> 
> Marion Gwizdala
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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