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Tuesday, Jun. 10, 2003-3:05 p.m.
"The Letter"
Axel Speaks ...
WOW... you guys are all so awesome! (my tail is wagging a million miles an hour, while I get Dad to write this!) So many people... friendly voices that came out of nowhere... Dad's really glad in lost of ways, because it gave him the hope and strength to just keep going, and not give up on everything over it all. I'M really glad because it means I get to keep working, if Dad keeps on fighting when something bad happens like this! I love working... it's probably the best part of my day EVERY day. I actually live to work, like most other Rotties I have heard about. We're a workin' breed you know! (happy silly Rottie grin goes here) This is the letter that Dad has written- he actually wrote it the day of the incident, but then he chickened out... he told a friend about the incident and she jumped up to the place for him- he also wrote the entry here, and WOW... look at what has happened!! You guys have all jumped right in, and lifted him up so he didn't panic and retire me or give me to someone else to work! (I am kind of partial to Dad, y'know... he's my Dad!) I just wanted everyone to have the 'facts' as they are, and to see how they are being presented to Best Buy FROM Dad. This is the 'formal' letter he wrote (it's kind of long... sowwy): 6-2-03 Dear Sir/Madame: I hope that you will give this matter your full attention. I cannot possibly stress enough how this event has affected me- how badly your Northgate store manager humiliated me, in front of a large number of other shoppers. You cannot possibly understand how terrible it was to be personally singled out and grilled like that, how it FEELS to be treated so differently by a store managment, so agressively singled out, that you are made clear you are not welcome at your neighborhood Best Buy. I have always gone to this store, so near my home, and I have purchased many of my computer peripherals, and my digital camera and equipment there. I had gone in today, to purchase a replacement Monitor, because my 17" one had broken and I had saved to buy a 19" one as a replacement. Your store is the only one close enough to me to be able to get such a peice of equipment home, even with my Service Dog there to help pull a cart. I don't know where I will replace my monitor now... but obviously Best Buy in Northgate does NOT want to be that place anymore. I entered the store as I always do- my Service Dog Axel (whom many local shop employees know by name) beside me. Today I had been to the library and so he was wearing his backpacks- he OFTEN wears these- but it just so happens the patches that declare "do not pet, I am working" were on the smaller Cape (which is not intended to carry things the way the packs are, and cannot be worn 'over' them). There were three or four employees having a chat in the front as usual, including two of which that I reocgnized and who gave me the usual "how are you guys today?" greeting... there was one whom I didn't recognize, and he is where this started- I got perhaps a few yards in, when my dog alerted me to something behind me, and I turned- to find your employee trotting after me, and calling "sir... we don't allow pets." I was a little taken aback, considering how OFTEN I come there to buy- I easily visit the shop once every couple weeks to purchase something... so when I realized he WAS talking to me, I told him simply, "He's a Service Dog." The man nodded and smiled and indicated with a gesture to go on, and said something like, "Oh, thanks" or "Oh, no problem". I assumed that was that. (if he was new, it stands to reason he didn't know me yet, yes?) Unfortunately, while I was looking at software (I had decided to price web-creatng software while I was there) on the way to the monitors, a woman came /chasing/ after me. She approached at a fast enough speed that many people around me looked up. I then ended up being STARED at by everyone around for a couple aisles to each side, while this woman got into my personal space (and yet talked VERY loudly, calling after me before she got to my side and then continuing to use an elevated tone) and ask what kind of service dog he was. I am very used to friendly questions- I don't LOOK disabled at a first glance, and he is a big dog who is very personable- people overlook my disabilities and that can be a blessing too, to be seen as a human and not a cripple- but this was NOT friendly. She demanded to know what he did for me. I told her, in a very soft tone. (which was lowered, because I do not LIKE people to hear about my medical conditions! Some of them are VERY personal to me!! No one likes to overhear all about someone's physical state in a STORE, and I sure as heck don't like strangers hearing all about how disabled I am- it makes me VERY vulnerable to have strangers hearing details like that.) I tried to avert a 'scene' (which she was making by talking SO loud) by simply explaining in soft, friendly terms what he DID for me, even tho she was not friendly in asking. Unfortunately, she felt that was not good enough. She said she would "have to" ask me for "That little card they give you" when you get the dog. I have to admit, I probably stared at her a minute, because the laws are VERY clear on this. She demanded to see it, saying that your store had "a new policy" and were not going to "allow dogs anymore". I told her I HAD an ID for him, and didn't mind getting it out, but she was not allowed to require it. I was trying to be very polite and quiet, because people were staring at us!! Listening to this!! I had to dig around in my bag for this ID, because it's been so long since I even had a call for it for any 'real' purpose (like getting onto a plane, where the dog having ID is as important as a human having it)- as I dug for it, she continued to 'talk' to me, informing me that SHE trained guide dogs, and GUIDE DOGS have this or that... I was just sick. I was starting to tremble, and get nauseuous- you have NO idea what it is like, to be singled out this way, to have your weaknesses paraded about in front of everyone in earshot (and that's a LOT of people on a busy afternoon when she is speaking SO loudly!) My Dog began to alert to me, to warn me of my medical issues, which made me even more upset, because I was stuck dealing with this and could not go and deal with that health situation. I placed him in a sit-stay, and finally found the ID that used to hang from his other harness. She took it from me, and went over it, and acted very happy that it was there, so I thought maybe it was over and I could go sit down, but it was not. She began to lecture me on how she knew that REAL service dogs (there's that word again... I was starting to feel she was outright accusing me of lying or something) were given a coat to identify them. I told her I had one, and it HAD his patches on it- but the patches are sold, not donated, and so I had not yet been able to add some to his backpacks, which he was using today because he was carrying some library books for me at that exact moment- she acted oh-so-sympathetic in a VERY false way, and asked me to give her my ID again. She took it again and went over it a SECOND time- making little non-word like comments on it (the whole "uh huh. oh, yes. hmm." as she read it again, a LONG time) and then she went back to explaining how from now on your store would demand ID and a marked cape to identify REAL service dogs... and when I told her again that she cannot require that, she told me I was wrong, that it was the law that they could and this was your new policy. The way that she repeatedly told me all about how SHE knew because SHE trained 'guide dogs' was horrifically offensive to me. My dog is a Service Animal under the laws of the ADA, JUST like a 'guide dog'. While I am very sympathetic and understanding to the fears of the guide dog community that someone might abuse these laws by pretending a pet is a service animal, it does NOT justify someone discriminating against me because I am not blind, or my dog is not a 'guide' dog. He is FULLY qualified under the ADA, fully insured by the organization he is trained with, and he is *MY* Service Dog. That kind of personal 'issue' has NO place in the business world- her personal opinions about how things 'should' be, does NOT re-invent the FEDERAL LAW regarding access for Service Animals. I was humiliated today to the point that I can't imagine ever going near your store again... How can people ACT that way? I have the right, protected by federal law, to enter a public business and buy a product like everyone else-- REGARDLESS of my disabilities. How many hundreds of dollars- no, /thousands/ have I spent in your store before- (computer peripherals, a digital camera, the air conditioner, the vacuum cleaner... so many software or music purchases... memory, computer parts... a graphics card...) all with my dog *with* me... before this "new policy"? So much for anti-discimination laws, and so much for good business practices! I cannot even begin to tell you how SICK this makes me. I wish you could GRASP how that felt, to have my physical issues aired in PUBLIC, to be /interrogated/ like that. To be FORCED to show ID not once, but TWICE, and to be lectured on the polictal opinions of your manager twords Service Animals, while she repeated her INCORRECT interpetation of the ADA. I have included a full print out of the ADA law regarding Service Animals. These pages were obtained FROM the Department of Justice, and can also be printed out at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/animal.htm. This "new policy" is WRONG. This is my HOME- My Neighborhood- this is AMERICA, you know? When I put that in context, I realize how serious an issue it is. The ADA protects my right to go into any public place and be a customer of any public place of business, just like any other human being- without being singled out to produce 'special' ID or being interrogated about personal medical issues- I cannot imagine what your company (and that manager) is SO afraid of, that they felt it was a fair trade off- to stop allowing animals unless you first run the owner/handler through a gauntlet of paperwork and questions...? It isn't just illegal, it's terrible business practice! Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider this issue. I will miss shopping at Best Buy, but I will not shop there again knowing that I will be singled out by your staff like that. When businesses choose to institute this sort of policy, or to encourage this kind of behavior in staff, they don't just break a law, they successfully UNdo what can be the most wonderful blessing in the world to someone who is disabled. When you cannot leave the house without someone WITH you... and suddenly you are given a wonderful animal whose JOB it is to restore that... after thousands of dollars worth of training (10,000 to 30,000 for most Service Dogs) and countless months of hard work... bonding... and eventually-- FREEDOM. That animal gives back a thing everyone else in this country takes for granted... but what good will that do, if some businesses make it an ordeal to walk into their doorway? How can the disabled know, when they intend to enter a business, that they will not be pounced on this way? It sends a very clear message, and that is a very very sad thing, to me. ...that you're not only NOT wanted... but you're not wanted because you are disabled and you HAVE been given back your freedom though a Service Animal. David Emery
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