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discourteous treatment in restaurant

Freedom1

My partner who uses a wheelchair and I recently went to a restaurant with friends. She always transfers to a chair with assistants from me and I move her electric chair out of the way to a bar area, where there is lounge seating. It's always in full site and not far away. We've never had any problems with this and the owner has always been very friendly and a lovely guy and said it was fine to park it there.
On this occasion he was not there and obviously had someone else in charge.
We were given a table and I proceeded to park her chair. We sat with friends enjoying our meal when I suddenly noticed her chair had vanished! She began to pannick and I got up to go look for it.
I found it moved way out of site to the exit without even being told or asked. There was also a bag hanging on the back which could have been stolen.
I asked the staff and it eventually came to light that a guy in charge that evening moved it. He was very arragent and discourteous, and said it was in the way. I pointed out that there was plenty of room for people to sit at the bar, even with the chair there the space was large. However, we would have been quite willing to move the chair over to another area had someone been polite enough to come over and ask her.
Had there been an emergency we would have been searching for her chair and trying to reach it through people rushing through the exit.
I think it was very bad treatment and made her feel as if she wasnt regarded the same as other customers. I'm sure, in fact I know the owner would not have treated her like this as he's a very friendly and courteous guy.

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Comments

Freedom1

Do you think she should complain?

poppy123456

HI,

You should have been asked to move the chair i agree or at least told the chair was moved to a different place. Yes, i would definitely put in a complaint the the restaurant manager.

As for the bag hanging on the back, if it was me i wouldn't have left that there, even with the chair in full view. I would have removed the bag before moving the chair away from me.

exdvr

@Freedom1 Hi,

With Health and Safety it's always a judgement call and here we have a situation where 2 managers have differing opinions possibly regarding evacuation routes being blocked. He should have had the decency to at least inform you that it was being moved to a different area and by not doing so possibly put your safety at risk.

For that reason alone you have grounds for making a complaint regarding the whole incident and how it was handled.

It's never a good idea to leave unattended items on display, there are always opportunist thieves on the go. Don't take the risk..

Freedom1

Well to be honest the bag on the back contained no valuables, but as it was moved all the way to the exit, someone might have stolen it on the off chance. Like I said, we don't have an issue about it being moved, it's the way it was done without informing us and not showing any respect to a disabled customer as a person.

Misscleo

As you said she IS being treated as an lesser customer.
And you SHOULD put in a complaint with the manager and their head office.

A lady in a restaurant was told she must sit at the table with kids cos adults wouldnt want a disabled person sitting by them.
We went over and. moved her by us. That's a mager fish & chips restaurant in the centre of Birmingham bull ring.
We ALL must stop this hate crime towards disabled people.
We had to have words with people in the lift too. They said the lady in the wheel chair would have to wait for the next lift. How dare they she was next inline why should she have to move out of line for able bodied people.
The law needed start acting on hate crime

Freedom1

Yes, we had a similar experience at another well known food chain on one occasion. I have to say it wasn't the norm, but on this one occasion 3 people in wheelchairs were hurded together to sit at the same table not even knowing each other when there was space elsewhere. Wheelchair users should be treated with the same respect as able bodied customers. They are not from another planet.
Also my partner who uses a wheelchair is very amiable and willing to sit anywhere to help the restaurant and comply with safety, so we are not awkward or rude, or stamping our feet about equal rights. All we ask is the same curtious treatment other customers expect.

April2018mom

Yes do complain. We must stop this happening to disabled people. Call the head office and ask to talk to someone who can help. Or boycott that restaurant from now on.
This is not okay. We often go to our local family pub but always have been treated well. On the other hand I have received the same awful treatment at a American cafe I went to on vacation. Can you send them a email? Alternatively you could also go to the newspapers with your story. Sell it as a human interest piece to catch their attention.

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @Freedom1, I'm so sorry that this happened! I agree with the others, definitely complain!

Adrian_Scope

Welcome to the community @Freedom1. Sorry to hear your partner had such a bad experience. Please do encourage her to complain.

Ails

Hi @Freedom1 and welcome to the Community. I'm so sorry to hear of this treatment to your partner and yourself. That is awful and you should definitely complain. Please let us know how you get on. All the best.