BYC Café

[Bunnylady]

Cap, I'm crossing my fingers for good news for you on a bunch of fronts.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning everyone second cup here have a appointment going back to my old Doc 1 1/2 hours from us but does not claim my pain is mild hope all is good news there Cap be well .. finally have the entire garden planted will have Son plant potato while his Dad and I are gone

 

[ShrekDawg]

That's a health department regulation; the manager has to enforce it whether it makes sense to them or not. Dogs aren't supposed to be in the store, period, but the disabilities act means that the manager risks legal trouble if they challenge an "emotional support animal's" presence. The manager is in a "no win" situation, why make life harder for them than it needs to be? Think about this - retailers are getting robbed blind by shoplifters; time spent squabbling with you about something the manager really has no choice about could have been better spent looking for someone doing something that's actually criminal. Some thieves employ this as a tactic - get someone to act as a distraction while they do the actual "lifting." I'm sure you don't want to be a party to that, do you? Who knows, store security may already have flagged you as a possible accomplice.

Agreed! Although that said, technically employees are allowed to ask two (2) questions: if it is a service animal and if yes, what tasks does it perform? Most store owners do not know that though and are afraid of getting in legal trouble, like you said. But legally they ARE allowed to ask questions. But those are the only two questions they're allowed to ask. They're not allowed to ask about the nature of your disability or for documentation (there is no official service animal registry here in the USA) or anything like that. Unfortunately, a lot of employees/owners/managers DO try to ask for documentation and ID and stuff like that or they say only guide dogs or certain types of service animals are allowed or they just flat out say dogs aren't allowed in the restaurant (or stores) if it's a private place that doesn't know any better. But that is all ILLEGAL. But technically to be a service animal it has to do at least 2 different tasks for the owner. And hopefully it can also do them reliably in distracting environments and is well behaved but the only legal requirements are that it knows two tasks. But you're also allowed to kick animals out if they are a disruption or nuisance, even legitimate service animal teams. But of course, you can't just make up some random excuse because you don't want dogs in your store, they have to actually be a nuisance or danger to others. Such as barking at other dogs or people, lunging, growling, eliminating indoors, etc. etc. But sadly most employees are not educated on this. With the amount of fake service animals these days, I think there needs to be more education for employees so that they know what their rights are as employees and owners. Because like you said, a lot of them are afraid to ask because they risk verbal confrontation, legal troubles, or even, perhaps the most dangerous these days, their name smeared on social media and a boycott of their business which could do a small business in. But as long as they are not harassing legitimate teams, they are perfectly within their rights of asking.

Although sadly sometimes employees also just love seeing cute dogs so they don't really care what the actual rules are or even really WANT to kick the cute dogs out.

OH!

And also service animals are not required to be vested at all, even though a lot of them are, so just because an animal is not wearing a vest doesn't mean that you can kick it out.

But sadly, despite the legal rules, some people do still have access issues, even at large, well known businesses.

There DEFINITELY needs to be more employee training.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Cap, I'm crossing my fingers for good news for you on a bunch of fronts.

Thanks. I need all the support i can get.

 

[Bunnylady]

There DEFINITELY needs to be more employee training.

With the rapid employee turnover rates that they see, many employers are hard pressed to train employees about anything before they walk out the door for good.

 

[N F C]

When we were in Sedona, AZ almost every business we went into had a sign on the door to the effect of 'don't try passing off your pet as a service animal'. Apparently that's a big enough problem for them that they've had to post notices.

@Bunnylady you sure hit that nail on the head re: training employees before they hit the door

 

[CapricornFarm]

Most folks now a days want a paycheck without working for it. Once they find out work is involved, they quit.

 

[N F C]

Most folks now a days want a paycheck without working for it. Once they find out work is involved, they quit.

We've seen enough of that attitude the past couple years, we're doing our best to keep older employees this year. The 4 or 5 of them coming back to work at the course are 30+ with 2 of them being over 60 yrs old. I know age isn't the only qualifying factor when it comes to hiring dependable help, but this is the age group that has worked out best for us as they seem to have an actual work ethic.

 

[igorsMistress]

That's a health department regulation; the manager has to enforce it whether it makes sense to them or not. Dogs aren't supposed to be in the store, period, but the disabilities act means that the manager risks legal trouble if they challenge an "emotional support animal's" presence. The manager is in a "no win" situation, why make life harder for them than it needs to be? Think about this - retailers are getting robbed blind by shoplifters; time spent squabbling with you about something the manager really has no choice about could have been better spent looking for someone doing something that's actually criminal. Some thieves employ this as a tactic - get someone to act as a distraction while they do the actual "lifting." I'm sure you don't want to be a party to that, do you? Who knows, store security may already have flagged you as a possible accomplice.

No, there's no health code regulating shoes for consumers. OSHA for workers, yes. So he has nothing to enforce and wally world had no official policy last time I checked. I've been shopping there longer than he's been around, probably will still be when he's gone. it's a friendly conversation anyway.

 

[N F C]

@igorsMistress I like your new avatar!