First Major Access Issue

NOTE: this was written Sunday so all "yesterdays" refer to Saturday.

Yesterday a friend and I indulged ourselves in a little “retail therapy” after a particularly hard week. We went to Bridge street Mall here in Huntsville in search of dangly earrings for my friend—we both have magpie complexes and are naturally drawn to shiny things . That day’s search found us inside an Icing (it’s basically Claire’s for middle and high schoolers. The two stores are even affiliated with each other). We’d been there for quite a while, poking in amongst the shinies. My friend, Katrina, was in another part of the store while Prada and I occupied ourselves in a corner of earrings, trying to find something special for Katrina that wasn’t ridiculously gothic-wannabe or just huge. Prada lay quietly at my feet, never moved a muscle, didn’t poke anyone, just put her head down and went to sleep. When I decided to see how Katrina’s search progressed I told her to hop up, took up the harness handle, and commanded her forward. After two or three steps a woman put herself in my path, facing me, so Prada stopped. The woman proved to be a store employee who politely informed me that animals were generally not permitted in the store. I nodded and pleasantly explained that Prada was a service animal. Routine conversation. I get this a lot at various stores. Technically folks aren’t supposed to ask but I don’t mind at all, especially if they’re polite about it, like this lady. And as soon as I say ‘service animal’ there’s a standard little “oh, ok, let me know if you need help finding anything” with a head nod and store-front smile that follows. Sometimes this is varied a little if the employee’s a dog lover. Then we talk breeds, training, name, how long have I had her, can they pet, et cetera. So I expected that when I told this young lady Prada was a service animal that would be the end of that. Oh no, I was quite wrong this time. “Yes, well, to be respectful of the customers, I’m going to have to ask you to leave your dog out front” Several things wrong with this picture. 1) Lack of education. 2) If I’m not a customer, what am I? A duck? 3) Never separate a service animal from their bonded person. Not even the Transportation Security Administration’s allowed to do that! I was so surprised I forgot my prepped answer for this. I’ve always planned for this scenario, though it’s never come up, to reply “well, ok, then. I’ll leave my dog up front, and how about you leave your eyeballs right next to her? Then we’re both blind!” with a friendly and amused smile to make sure it doesn’t come off confrontational. No reason to make anybody feel defensive, right? But I’d never had to use it before, and I’ll admit to being so shocked that she actually was going to contend with me that I forgot my cute little retort. So instead… “well, according to the federal law the Americans with Disabilities Act signed by the president in the 1980’s service animals are allowed anywhere the general public are allowed, which includes this store. Can I talk to your manager?” To my utter amazement she replied that no, I shouldn’t talk to her manager, but I should just leave the dog up front to respect the other customers. Here I’ll make two side notes. 1) These other customers to whom she had been referring had all entered by the door Prada and I had been near and oohed and awwwwed over her as they came in. Without exception. I even got to let a little girl and Prada get acquainted while educating her and her mother about Seeing Eye dogs. 2) Katrina wants to be a disability rights lawyer. She has a strong and empathetic heart, and a fierce sense of justice. When we had our first access issue at Wal-Mart Katrina wanted me to go straight to the department of justice, she was so offended for me. So when she heard me say “federal law” she perked up quite a bit and came over to listen.

Me: how about you go get your manager?
Employee: no, I’m sorry you’re so offended by this.
Me: I’m not particularly offended, just surprised that you’re willing to argue over a federal law.

Katrina put away the $20-$30 worth of stuff she had planned to buy and marched us out of the store. She was mad, and I don’t blame her! I tend to be slightly on the apathetic and forgiving end of the scale when it comes to issues like that. I think part of it is I’ve lived with a disability so long that I’ve come to the conclusion that you can either get angry and bitter about it for your whole life and get grey hair way too early or you can just shrug it off. Katrina’s a little newer to this than I am, and she is a wonderful defender. She’s fiercely loyal and a true friend, never embarrassed by the disturbance Prada could potentially cause in situations like this or anything. Prada has chosen Katrina as one of the post-retirement adoption people. She adores Katrina, and the affection is mutual. So when I explained the entire situation to Katrina as we walked away from the store Katrina’s blood got up. She’s a holy terror when she’s angry, and this was Katrina on the warpath! We headed straight back to that store and Katrina demanded to speak to the manager. Turns out that the employee giving me grief was the manager. She refused to give us her name or her superior’s number and called Katrina a witch with a “B,” so I’m calling corporate tomorrow to insist on education classes on ADA compliance being held in their stores nationwide. I’m not the easiest person to offend in the world, and I know the next blind person with a dog that goes in there very well could just go straight to his/her lawyer instead of going the diplomatic route. I figure it’s better for the store to educate their employees to prevent this from happening than just hammering them. Plus, I don’t have time for a huge legal fiasco. I’m going to have Katrina present when I make the call so she can listen in, see how it’s done. If this is what she wants to do for a living I’m all about giving her any chance to become the best advocacy lawyer out there. She has the drive and the heart for it, and this will be a great opportunity for both of us to practice self-control, firm insistence on compliance with the law, and exercising the legal rights of the disabled to defend ourselves against such blatant disrespect and violation of the law. Some of my friends are insisting that I demand the woman be fired. There’s a fine line I have to walk here. It’s a line between appropriately displeased, making sure that future persons with service animals aren’t treated this way and that people know the law, and between an overkill crusade built on self-righteous indignation. I still have a Christian testimony to uphold. That’s not something I can ever put down, and I want to make sure that Icing knows I’m being perfectly reasonable and within my rights, not some hell-raising obnoxious political activist mad at the world for its audacity to dare treat me as anything but a princess. Also good to learn how to keep a cool, logical head during confrontations like this. It never helps to get angry, aggressive, defensive, or spiteful. Makes you a pain to deal with, and the company’s going to dislike dealing with whatever stereotype you represent even more so. So, Katrina and I will get this straightened out on Monday, make sure that the Icing employees know the law and will comply with it, and maybe seek a personal apology for the way that manager behaved. Next time she has a problem with a customer, regardless of their minority ranking, she could get herself in a lot more trouble for the way she spoke to Katrina. People don’t tend to think reasonably when they feel they’re being personally attacked like that.

NOTE #2: I went in to a Claire's at a diferent mall in town with another friend and the employees and manager of Claire's gave me the name of the manager who had given me trouble (the Claire's people know EXACTLY who I was talking about even before I described her. does this tell us anything?) and the district manager's number, and apparently they reported the incident themselves. When I called the DM she was very apologetic, grateful that I handled it so diplomatically instead of going straight for a lawyer, and promised to see that training ensued. She also said they'd be sending me some coupons or gift cards or something of that nature as recompense for trouble causeed, and said they'd have the whole situation straightened out immediately. Lesson learned? Graciousness makes you much more pleasant to deal with, and gets a better settlement more quickly. It's better to have them apologetically send recompense and apologies than to send it out of fear. I also made sure to report the excellent service and attitudees of the Claire's folks who gave me the name and number I needed and went to bat for me, calling ahead. Kudos for Claire's ♥