I had something rather interesting happen to me the other day. I went out to dinner with my brother and the usher mistakenly put us in the wrong place. I was sitting in the aisle, because my wheelchair cannot fit under any table. It has nothing to do with the ADA, my armrests are simply too high and it's more beneficial for me to sit to the side so someone can feed me. That's my own set of circumstances, so I don't complain about things like that.
Anyway, I made sure there was plenty of room to get by me or I would have never sat there in the first place. The manager comes over after only about two or three minutes and tells me I need to be moved. He was polite, so I simply asked why this was necessary. He explained to me it was a fire hazard to have me in the aisle. While I was moving, I tried to explain to him that some of the modifications they had made recently made the restaurant a little tighter and would probably be more of a fire hazard than he realized. I think he believed I was being a little pissy, so I made sure I changed my tone. I initially thought he got my message, but I discovered later he didn't. Just as I was about ready to finish my dinner, I noticed the waitress setting up some of the tables so a large party could be accommodated. I told my brother, "you know that's going to be a fire hazard when those individuals sit there in the aisle." Well, that's what turned out to be. The waitresses had to turn to the side in order to get by and no one saw anything wrong with this. On my way out I politely asked the manager to take a look down the aisle and tell me if he saw anything wrong. He initially indicated he did not and when I pointed out the problem he too shook his head in agreement. In a polite manner I asked him, "what would happen if I contacted the fire marshal right now?" (In case you're wondering why I asked this negative question, it's because when he was explaining to me why I needed to move initially he told me at the fire marshal was called or came in that they would be closed down for a week if I was sitting in the aisle). His response, "they probably closes down there." "What are you going to do about this situation?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders in bewilderment. Then I ask what can we do about this. His suggestion was for me to call corporate headquarters. I intend on doing this, but for some reason I keep forgetting to lay out the contact information. Don't get me wrong the guy was very polite and they accommodated me, but the blatant institutional discrimination gets on my nerves. This problem truly is not about being disabled though. It's more about making sure restaurants comply with the safety restrictions and not simply choose to ignore the ones which are most profitable to them. I'm sure if I would have had six or seven guests, they would have let me sit anywhere I wanted. I know, it sounds pissy, but the manager thanked me for not blaming him. I guess some other people have gone off on him about an accessible bathrooms, as if it's his personal fault. He's only a 20 something-year-old young man. He can bring it up with corporate, but if they don't do anything, I guess it's up to someone else to take charge. Sorry if this is a rambling mess, but it is simply dictated it rather quickly. Quadius
