Businesses Teach Your Employees Service Dog Rules or Suffer the Consequences
By Charles Karel Bouley
It should have been a lovely lunch at The Mint Bistro on Durango in Las Vegas, NV. An Indian restaurant with a heavily vegan buffet, it’s known for it’s food and flavors. I was tired of being excluded from trying it, so decided to go back. You see, in 2020 I tried to go for lunch, but the employees turned me away.
Why? Because I have a Service Dog; not an emotional support animal, but a real-life service dog used to alert me should I need medication for my A-Fib and also to help mitigate PTSD-induced panic attacks. Now, already I’ve told you, the reader, more than any establishment is allowed to ask under the law, but I wanted to be clear that Ember is needed; she can tell me before I know that I’m in A-Fib and alerts me to take medications that can prevent it getting worse and/or having a stroke. She also can sense when I’m about to have a panic attack and can mitigate that, alerting me to either remove myself from the situation or take meds. And she’s darn cute while doing it, all 14 pounds of her. Before her, I was panicked all the time going out. Is Afib going to start? Will I know? And I have PTSD, real, in my chart, seeing psychiatrist for many years PTSD. It got so bad I would often just stay home instead of going out. But she changed that.
Now, I shouldn’t have to explain that to you, or anyone, but I often find myself justifying her service because of all the fake service animals out there, people that just want to take their pets with them (which I really don’t mind) so they go on the internet and buy a fake card, and take a dog with zero training in to public situations. They bark, bite, get on the table…they do things real service dogs don’t. And they ruin it for many.
Ember is trained. She’s trained about loud noises. She’s trained not to respond to petting or humans unless I let her; she’s trained to fly, to be with me at the doctors, she’s been through MRI’s, CTs, Dental appointments. She’s been with me literally almost every hour of our lives for seven years, usually with no problems. Until there is.
Like at Mint Bistro in Las Vegas three years ago when I tried to enter and they flat out refused me. Now, under the law any business can ask me two questions. Here’s the rules from the ADA:
So, there’s the rules. I can be asked two questions about Ember: Is she a service dog and; What service is she trained to perform. I cannot be asked about my medical condition, or asked for any type of card or training form about Ember, as there aren’t any official ones yet.
And yet, that’s exactly what Mint Bistro in Las Vegas has done to me, twice now. The first time, three years back, I just left. I simply didn’t want to bother with it. Why eat where you’re not wanted. I felt terribly, being refused service, angry, all of that, but as a 60 year old gay guy, I’m used to it.
Then there was today, May 11, 2023. You see, I went back to Mint Bistro to give them another chance a few weeks ago, and told the server, Deepen I believe was his name, what had happened a few years earlier and that I thought I’d try it again. He welcomed me, and I enjoyed their buffet’s vegan options like everyone else there. Of course Ember was no trouble, stayed on the floor at my feet, and when we left happily hopped on the motorcycle to go home as always. Well, I guess they had learned their lesson. Well not today, because unlike a few weeks ago it all went South.
Today, I went back and was greeted by a woman. I told her booth for one, and she asked to see Ember’s card. I told her Ember didn’t have a card, no true service animal did, and that she, under the law, could ask me two questions which I’d be happy to answer. She said no, no card, no service. I tried to show her the ADA.gov paperwork online, but nope, she said no. Then, sadly, I began to get angry. Because she was making me feel different, making me feel, well, disabled, less than. She stood there at the door blocking me from coming in, in front of the entire restaurant of people. I have a loud voice. I’m a talk show host. A singer. A stage performer. I implored her to follow the law or get me a manager. She said nope, the owner was in CA on business and she was in charge and was not letting me in without a card.
But there is no card, yes, I said it loudly, and anyone showing you one bought it off the internet and probably isn’t disabled. She said I had to leave. Get out. She didn’t like my attitude and I did not have a card. She said she had the right to refuse service to anyone, and without the card, she was refusing to serve me, and she also didn’t like my tone. Again, I’m loud, not purposely, I just am. If you know me, or have heard me on the radio or seen me on TV you know, I’m loud.
I left, so hurt, so angry that this had happened, that I was denied entry for lunch because of my service animal. I went home, got my phone, I had forgotten it, and printed out the ADA.gov information above. I went back, rolling tape, and showed her the form. I asked her what part of you shall not ask for a card in the law she didn’t understand. She said she’d give it to her boss, but that I was not coming in without said card. She then apologized not to me, but to the man at the counter who was waiting to pay.
Well, I’d like to say I didn’t lose it, but I did. I was owed an apology but she was apologizing to others FOR me, the person she is discriminating against. She was making me the bad guy when this place had broken the law, now, twice. I snapped “don’t apologize for me, you should be apologizing to me and to every other disabled person with a service dog that you wrongfully made produce some fictitious card” as I went out the door.
I left, angry, shaking, and went to 9 Thai Bistro where they always welcome us. He could see I was visibly upset. Then Ember went to my right side, and activated. What? Could it be? She lifted her paw to my leg and then my face when I picked her up.
Yup, my Apple Watch confirmed that my upset and stress threw me in to Afib. So I reached in my bag, got my propafenone, took two and sat, dizzy, heart beating 120bpm and waited. I got food to go, came home, and laid down. Within two hours my Afib ceased, the pills worked. My first bout in months and months. I used to be terrified of them, but with Ember there, I’m not any more. She did her job, alerted me, I took the pills, and it’s all better now.
Thanks, Mint Bistro.
But this isn’t an isolated event. The DOJ just assisted a man in Killeen, TX, where I used to live. He was turned away from a hotel, refused a room, in a wheelchair, a veteran, because the desk clerk didn’t know the law. He sued. And won.
Another lawsuit this year was against Home Depot, who did not let a woman bring her service dog to work with her. She sued, and won.
In fact, there’s over 20 lawsuits that I could find just this year of businesses that have had to settle lawsuits because they, or their employees, didn’t know the way to treat people with service animals.
I don’t care if you think we need them or not, I don’t care if you think everyone is abusing the privilege or not; I truly do not. Yes, there is abuse. And no, not everyone that says their dog is a service dog is one. But not everyone in a wheelchair truly needs it; not everyone on crutches actually needs to be on crutches, do you question them? Some blind people, legally blind, actually have some sight, do you deny they are blind? Do you question every single person with a handicapped plaque or plates (both of which I have for severe back injury), are you one of the ones that stare of them if they don’t “appear” disabled to you? If so, shame on you. Because like service animals yes, those can be abused. But that’s not your call to make.
Businesses need to inform all their employees of my rights, of my ability to not be discriminated against because my heart does weird things or my brain causes me issues. I get to go out where everyone else can go, for the most part, or should have access to the same. Hotels that try and put me in terrible rooms because they are afraid she’ll mess the carpet (she would never), restaurants that seat me far away from others as “not to offend other customers who may have allergies” oh, I’ve been treated second class at many a place because I have her. And it’s wrong.
What Mint Bistro has done to me is wrong. What it has done to others in Las Vegas asking for a card that doesn’t exist, is wrong. And if the owner doesn’t know it, and has been informed (I informed them three years ago) then yes, he should be sued. By me, and every one he’s turned away or asked to jump through a different hoop than other customers. I may, I may not, but that’s not the point. I don’t want revenge, I want education. I want him to take all his employees and train them to stop discriminating against people with service animals. I want them to be informed, and as welcoming to those of us that have them as any other customer. I want to be treated the same.
Businesses, get your act together and follow the law. She is trained. She is needed. And she is legal. Ask the questions, I’ll answer. Anyone with a real service animal WILL answer.
But don’t deny me or them service. Don’t treat me or them less than. It hurts. It doesn’t feel good. It causes actual health problems for some, or worsens their conditions.
Learn the rules. If a dog isn’t trained, barks at customers, is unruly, then no, it’s probably not a real service dog and you have every right to object. If the person has some card that says service dog, they bought it, it’s not real. But if a well mannered dog, wearing an orange vest that says service dog is with someone that has a disability, don’t ask them for a card. Don’t make them feel “other” or unwanted.
It’s just plain wrong. And it’s against the law.
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