Steak and Shake Denies Service

[Saydrah]

http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/deafmo...and-shake.aspx



This lady is a blogger on the site I work for, and when I read her story about being denied service because she was deaf, I was shocked! I remember seeing another bad Steak and Shake story here, so I thought I'd share.

For those who do not wish to click, the blogger was unable to order with the speaker at the Steak and Shake drive through because she is deaf, so she drove up to the window. The manager at the window refused to serve her and demanded she drive back to the speaker, then threatened to call the police, even after she mentioned the ADA and showed him her hearing aids!

[Emrld]

Ok I read both blogs/ links.

I agree the employee was wrong in his actions.
No where in the articles I read did I see him refered to as a manager.

Some people are not fully educated about disabilites and are only aware of what is displayed in TV and Movies. Sadly it isn't shown that some people have full speaking capabilities.

I do have to wonder with this being after school it was a low traffic time of day they may not have had full or even fully trained staff at that time of day.
I would like to know what corporated decides to do.

Also, Steak and Shake are not just a drive thru business. So why would someone who knows they need to be face to face with a person to place an order not come into the establishment and place their order? Yes, it will be fantastic when the drive thru's match up with the needs of those with challanges . . .and some places are getting better . .. (McDonalds order at one window and pick up and next)but until that time there are other options.

[Saydrah]

It is in the comments on her other blog that the guy was a manager, sorry, should have mentioned that- she only found out after the fact when corporate contacted her in response to her complaint.

The point is, she explained to him that she needed the accomodation of ordering at the window due to her disability- which he is required to provide under the ADA, as allowing someone to place an order for two shakes at the window and be on her way falls under 'reasonable accomodation,' which businesses MUST provide to people with disabilities. The goal is equality- if one simple accomodation means that someone with a disability gets the equal right to be lazy and go through the drivethrough (cause face it, if you are just getting something to take home and drink with your kids, nobody really WANTS to go inside if you can be lazy and do a drivethrough) then the one simple accomodation should be granted, especially after she explained that this is all she needed and cited the ADA.

[repsac]

I wonder how that story is going to turn out. She's got one heck of a case against the company, at the very least for the ADA violation.

[marasbaras]

I'm not a big fan of the ADA, mostly because many folks have gone way, way too far with it.

But, this is clearly a case of the manager being a complete and total jerk. I hope she gets millions, I really do. The company deserves hard-core pain for hiring this Rule Nazi.

I mean ... seriously, who the fuck cares if you take the order through the speaker or face-to-face. I hate sucky people.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Oh for the love of....if she can't hear somebody talking to her through a speaker but can make herself reasonably understood at the drive-thru window, then what's the harm of taking the order at the window?

I mean, how would the person manning the drive-thru tell them what their total was? You could just write it down on a piece of paper and give it to her if you don't know sign language.

I hope she nails the sucky employee to the wall.

[powerboy]

What the hell is his problem. She truly has a case against them, if she wants to take them to court.

[PepperElf]

I mean, how would the person manning the drive-thru tell them what their total was? You could just write it down on a piece of paper and give it to her if you don't know sign language.

isn't the total displayed on one of those little LED things?

i hope they pull their act together there !

[marty]

If it's on the news, then I think that Steak n Shake just got boned.

[PepperElf]

yeah it's already making the news... and it might be put on fox news too.
dang talk about some strong networking!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

isn't the total displayed on one of those little LED things?

i hope they pull their act together there !

I completely forgot about those, but then again I'm not sure everyplace has them. Like the restaurant in question.

[Geek King]

I feel bad for her, and I hope this guy gets canned. The S&S in my area are staffed with good people, and I always get good service from them, even on busy nights. I hope this is just one jerk who slipped through the cracks at promotion time, and not the usual type of employee there. It makes me furious just thinking about someone acting like that to someone trying to function despite disability.

[Saydrah]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sec...cal&id=5912924

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pa...Y&pageId=1.1.1

Fox and ABC cover the story!

[Lingering Grin]

I agree that employee was a total jackass.

but, I gotta wonder, wouldn't it have been easier for her to just walk-in and order at the counter instead of trying to explain everything at the drive-thru window?

I mean, if she went inside, they probably wouldn't have even noticed.



Still no excuse for him to deny service though... what a dipshit.

[Saydrah]

http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/deafmo...n-a-shake.aspx

She answers that question better than I can in this followup post.

The short version is, because it is not on her to accomodate everyone else because SHE is disabled. Deafness doesn't make a person less deserving of the things everyone else takes for granted- like the ability to decide you are just going home to drink your shake, so you don't want to bother going inside. Legally and morally, a simple accomodation must be given; denying this implies that deaf people are less than hearing people.