HUDSON, Fla. (WFLA) — Mike Keech says he was humiliated when a server asked him to leave a Florida restaurant because his service dog was not allowed.
Keech, who is blind, says he showed the server at Overtime Sports Bar & Grill a certification card that explains the Americans with Disabilities Act, but he was still asked to go.
I empathize with the owner of the establishment. Sounds like her employee did a poor job of assessing the situation. I hate, absolutely hate, these morons that slap a "Service dog" harness you can buy on the internet and take them out into public places misleading people into thinking they're some specially trained animal for some REAL ailment (sorry folks, anxiety ain't a real ailment necessitating the presence of an untrained dog). It has become a real problem and thank goodness the airlines have recognized this and no longer allow "emotional support animals" on their planes other than normal transportation of the animal in a crate or carrier. If you need an "emotional support" animal to function in society, you need to pay a visit to the asylum and have your shrink adjust your meds and quit trying to take a non trained dog with you trying to pass it off as a "service animal".
Might be a mistake from telling staff to crackdown on support animals and getting all of them lumped together or it may be a case of an anti-work / disgruntled employee deciding to get their employer fined/sued/shutdown. This is one of many reasons why I like robots and automation over humans for the most part; harder to get sued in a sue happy country. If he came in with a white cane, glasses, and actual service animal documentation as claimed, it would be a tough sell to pin this on the business owner and not a disgruntled employee stirring the pot.
Unfortunately front end machines are allowed to wear out, don't get routinely calibrated, and end up making the whole system look bad when corporations cut even more corners.
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Fortunately he was good natured about it. Easily $25k govt fine plus whatever he wanted to sue for.
ReplyDeleteWhew
ch
Server was fucking blind.
ReplyDeleteMac
Reminds me of this inspector.Clouseau scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPmfkJXEtcI
DeleteI empathize with the owner of the establishment. Sounds like her employee did a poor job of assessing the situation. I hate, absolutely hate, these morons that slap a "Service dog" harness you can buy on the internet and take them out into public places misleading people into thinking they're some specially trained animal for some REAL ailment (sorry folks, anxiety ain't a real ailment necessitating the presence of an untrained dog). It has become a real problem and thank goodness the airlines have recognized this and no longer allow "emotional support animals" on their planes other than normal transportation of the animal in a crate or carrier. If you need an "emotional support" animal to function in society, you need to pay a visit to the asylum and have your shrink adjust your meds and quit trying to take a non trained dog with you trying to pass it off as a "service animal".
ReplyDeletethe guy was blind. The dog was a guy dog. The guy will now own the sports bar.
DeleteI'm going to take a wild swing here and say the server was a millennial?...
ReplyDeleteIs he sure he showed the right certification card?
ReplyDeleteDaryl
...and there ya go.
DeleteI’m wondering if it had anything to do with him wanting to order Budweisers with a mushroom burger.
ReplyDeleteMadMarlin
What did he order for himself?
DeleteMost of the service dogs I've encountered have better manners than lots of the servers.
ReplyDeleteMight be a mistake from telling staff to crackdown on support animals and getting all of them lumped together or it may be a case of an anti-work / disgruntled employee deciding to get their employer fined/sued/shutdown. This is one of many reasons why I like robots and automation over humans for the most part; harder to get sued in a sue happy country. If he came in with a white cane, glasses, and actual service animal documentation as claimed, it would be a tough sell to pin this on the business owner and not a disgruntled employee stirring the pot.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately front end machines are allowed to wear out, don't get routinely calibrated, and end up making the whole system look bad when corporations cut even more corners.
-arc
That dog more than likely has better manners than 3/4 of the other patrons.
ReplyDeleteSteve L.
Well, i bet'cha he didn't see THAT coming!!!
ReplyDeleteI would rather see a dog in a place rather than some goon that does not know how to pull his pants up
ReplyDeleteThe reason for the speculation in the comments here is because the reporter didn't do their job.
ReplyDelete