Update on Jack's

So ... My momma reads the blog. She went to

Jacks this afternoon and spoke with the manager.

The manager was really upset that someone asked me and Charlie to leave. She said if we ever are treated in a way that makes us feel inferior again, to demand to see the manager in charge, and also that employees wearing red had no right to say what she said. The manager said the red shirts are regular employees and have to defer to a manager for things like requesting patrons to leave, and that Charlie and I were more than welcome to return.

Mom asked for the number for someone higher than the manager, which they graciously gave her. I'm not sure if I want to call them though. I know I need to face it and go tomorrow to talk to the manager myself, but I do feel a little better.

It just really embarrassed me for that employee to raise her voice and call everyone's attention to us like that, when Charlie was being awesome and super helpful. It's not like he was hiking a leg to mark or something. It also embarrassed me because it smacked of being told society didn't want us to be seen, like I could just go through the drive through rather than sit down at a table like a normal person. Charlie has been in more highbrow restaurants, so I thought eating fast food would be totally okay.

It's reassuring to know my parents still have my back, and a little disconcerting to know my mom can read past written word to see how it knocked me for a loop. I mean, Charlie and I have been asked to leave two other places, but each time it was because he's in training, and the proprietor said "please do come back when he's fully trained". It was requested quietly, and I didn't feel deminished or maligned, just that the managers didn't want to risk anything happening on their propery if Charlie didn't act appropriately. Totally understandable. They don't know us, and they do have that right while he's not passed the access test. But the woman today raised her voice and hand from across the diner and ..it just shouldn't have happened the way it did.

Anyway, I just didn't want to smear Jacks or the franchise because of what turns out to be one employee who is just scared of dogs. I plan on going back tomorrow like I posted before, just to make sure that the people who work there know the limits for working teams, that they can't ask someone what their disability is, but they are legally allowed to ask "is that a service animal?" And how the animal mitigates the disability. In situations where I'm not being so open about my health to strangers, I usually tell them that Charlie helps with my balance issues and retrieves items/carries items I need him to. Which is true, and doesn't violate hippa like level of medical knowledge. 

So I guess after work I'm going to go and try again at jacks. Cross your fingers!