Yesterday I ate a meal at a restaurant where I had the best service I've ever had in my life from the waitress, yet we didn't speak the same language. It made me think about how too often we get caught up in the excuse that customers with disabilities don't ask for what they need or ask the wrong way, when so much of the service and accommodations needed are just about common sense.
The Mexican restaurant was in a strip mall, tucked away between two nondescript storefronts. When I rolled in, I saw there were about eight tables inside. The place was busy and there was one waitress, who took orders, bussed the tables, brought the food and seated customers.
The food in front of other customers looked great. I rolled up to a table and the waitress asked me where I'd like to sit and moved the chairs. (Yes, I do speak some Spanish, but there are different dialects and I don't always know the nuances.) She brought me a menu and a diet coke, opened the can and put a straw in at my request - immediately. I didn't have to wait until "someone had time" which often happens. My food was cut up as requested and when my meal was over, she was kind enough to even wash my special eating utensil for me. It was a great dining experience.
In contrast, the day before I stopped in at a different Starbucks than I usually do, in a ritzy mall. The counter was not accessible at any spot, yet none of the staff even "heard" me when I asked them to bring my beverage around to me. Nor did they "hear" me when I needed assistance with opening the cover on the beverage, which required dexterity. After I requested help more than half a dozen times from employees, customers assisted me with those things. [There was also no handicap seating - chairs everywhere that had to be moved which I can't do and the women's bathroom door opened in such a way that my wheelchair became stuck between that door and the door to the men's room.]
Ironically, there was a sign posted at the Starbucks with state phone numbers alerting customers where to report discrimination. By the time an employee came over to me, the customers had already helped me, but I did point the sign out to her and asked to speak to the manager. I was told the manager was too busy, that they were all busy, in a very patronizing manner. This was after no one deigned to even make eye contact with me for ten minutes as I tried to talk to them.
Maybe, just maybe, when we talk about handicap awareness for employees regarding respectful customer service, we need to remember that a large part of it involves a language of the heart. And when it comes to mom and pop businesses, they are often light years ahead in that regard. Not always, but it's food for thought.
6 comments:
Your experience at Starbucks is the norm. I have found each and every Starbucks I have entered to be grossly inaccessible in terms of its architecture and culture. Starbucks employees are often uncooperative and with high counters cluttered with merchandise difficult to speak with. Accessing a bathrooms is never easy due to the over abundance of chairs. I prefer Dunkin Donuts in large part because they are accessible and the coffee superior to Starbucks.
First, let me say your resolution series has been real food for thought.
Secondly, the view that workers--on busses, in restaurants, as caregivers, etc, etc-- have of people with disabilities as 'tasks to be completed' (or avoided, or even resented) is just rampant. It must go...
I don't know how. But it must.
a good day out is great! Too bad about starbucks, talk with corp.
Terri, I think being polite yet firm can make an impact when a disabled person is assertive. For example when I fill up my car at the local gas station the ramp to get inside is often blocked by cases of windshield wiper fluid. In the most polite manner possible I ask the people working at the station to move the cases of fluid blocking the only accessible entry. If they refuse I tell them I will call the town building inspector as they are violating the ADA and multiple fire codes. Fast forward a year and the ramp at the gas station is never blocked.
One other thing works for me: When I rent a car I tell the agent I am using Enterprise because they almost always have a car with hand controls ready when I arrive. Hertz and Avis are terrible in this regard--the car with hand controls is never present and extended delays common. The point I stress is that I am giving business to Enterprise because they provide reliable service to customers that need hand controls.
Bill - took your advice- the coffee at Dunkin Donuts is better. I appreciate your comments about what we can do as consumers also.
Terri- ::Nodding::: discussing this is so important so we can come up with ways to make changes where we live and in the world at large.
Greg: was a GREAT day out! saw you got your van fixed and it's working - very cool.
Glad you like the Dunkin Donuts coffee. Be forewarned: the food they sell is terrible!
I wish we as consumers had more power--especially as it pertains to durable medical goods.
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