Autism Service Dog Mom Punched by McD Manager

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I hope this family gets a good settlement.
It would have been different if the dog was acting hostile, or the family was causing a scene and customers were becoming agitated. Nothing was even happening, I don't get why the manager went crazy. She was a big lady, I would have been terrified of her.

That poor woman. I hope she gets a big payout. I've been in a similar situation, without the violence, and that was bad enough.

I don't get why that manager was the only one upset and she wasn't even working that night, just there hanging out. She seemed the only employee upset by the dog. It was strange.

Yeah, I just saw the article and footage just now, and thought that's totally appalling!! I suppose Jennifer Schwenker and her 2 autistic twins didn't meet Ms. Allen's standards of a "normal" customer and that she was entitled to a workplace free of such irregularities. Well I say let Ms. Allen go and search for such a workplace, she ain't gonna find one now.

Notice on the video the mom has one of her sons tethered to the autism service dog and the boy who is not disappears. I am tethered to Orka via a skijoring belt, canicross bungee towline and at the moment his Wilczek drafting harness, working on getting a skijoring harness that actually fits.

When a child is tethered usually he is also connected to an adult. But an adult autie / aspie is directly tethered and has to have the presence of mind to be the handler also. The service dog makes sure he directs the owner's mind to the here and now! Transitioning and focusing attention is a huge service the dog provides. Those who have autism will know exactly what I mean.

...and I'm sure it's ignorant people like Ms. Allen who continue to believe, and perpetuate the assumption that "these kids with their autism these days, I'm sure they could overcome it if they really wanted to, it's just a crutch to get special treatment or attention..." duh!!

It is an overt example of the sort of hostility one encounters in our culture.

Well, now I'm slightly less happy to work for them... However, I am confident that none of my coworkers would punch somebody out over a service dog. We would probably let a pet dog in if need be. We're just cool like that (at least at my location)

Why can't stuff like this happen to me? I would love to sue an evil company like McDonalds and I would love to ruin the a**hole manager's life with a lawsuit. I know a guy who got a $200,000.00 + settlement for a head injury that resulted in him having a constant ringing in his ears. He bought two rental properties with his settlement cash and is doing quite well for himself. But he really has the ringing in his ears though.

Well I say that the "Race Card" has been played again, unfortunately in the past few months more people with all forms of Autism have been targeted or attacked, and so far I guess this is getting as bad as the "Racial Color" discrimination has also been on the rise as well, so that means do expect more of this kind of activity probably leading into 2012.

And I thought people got freaked out over my service animal (which is a lizard). When people question her, I don't say anthing but just hand them the letter from my shrink that says she is my service animal and then they appoligse profusley and ask all kinds of questions about her such as how big will she get and what does she eat. It isn't very obvious I am autistic unless you know what you are looking for. I was looking into having a little vest made for her that says, "Autism Assistance Animal" but I was worried that the word autism would be an invation for bullies. It's not everyday you see a bearded dragon (or any type of reptile) here and most people are too facinated to say or to do anything deragatory. The worst I have ever gotten is "Eww!" or "That's so gross!" and keep a good distance. I'm looking into getting a dog to be my service animal but dogs are so common place I'd have to get something very unusual looking such as a Chinese Crested or a Komondor to distract people from the fact that there is something "off" about me. If Pippin were a Labrador Retriever or German Shepard, I think people would be more willing to harass me.

Pippin is more of a "psychiatric service animal" than an autism assistance animal. She's even alerted me to dizzy spells and sezuires at times.

Hah. McDonalds doesn't even teach you not to use the coffee stirring spoon in refill cups, thus perpetrating the spread of germs from one refill cup to any coffee stirred afterwards.

There have been at least 5 times where I've witnessed McDonalds employees making this error, and at least three times where I've said something about it to a supervisor. They don't seem to understand there's a health code violation.

I don't want someone else's bird-flu spank you very much.

Key words: Train & McDonalds. Mutually exclusive.

I think often times that these big punitive settlements can be a problem... McDonald's isn't to blame nearly as much as their employee is. They can't control their employee at all times.

If McDonald's doesn't educate its employees during orientation on how to recognize a service dog and under what circumstances they can expel the dog (i.e., if the dog is badly behaved or very dirty), then they would be liable. If not, then it's the employee who's at fault.

In any case, if there is a huge settlement and I were involved, I would be trying to divert some of that money to some organization that trains autism service dogs and/or works to increase the rights of autistics or service dog owners in general. Even $1 million is more than you need if you are a private individual. Sure wouldn't be averse to having my kids' college tuition paid, though.

In this case, the woman was off-duty, so she wasn't acting in any official capacity, making her either another customer (or a loiterer). Blaming McDonald's suggests that companies have a right to dictate what employees do on and off the job. The only responsibility McDonald's has (in this case) is to bring the police in to question witnesses about the attack and arrest the off-duty manager for assault and battery.

Even if the woman was trained by McD's to behave as a rational human being during her shift, she's responsible for her own actions when she's not on the clock.

Most fast food managers aren't hired for their management skills, they're usually hired because of seniority in an industry known for it's high turnover rate. It sounds like this particular manager had anger issues, abusing authority based on esteem problems, and possibly a irrational fear/hatred of dogs.

I'm going to also predict that the other employees and higher-ups were probably relieved to have a reason to fire this particular manager. If she has no problems abusing customers, imagine how horrible she would be to work with.

When on company property, an employee can be considered as still representing the company and must behave in an appropriate manner befitting the intentions of the employer.

The acting manager knew she was hanging out at the McD's the manager could have told her to go home at anytime but allowed her to hang out. She was a manager and should have acted better than she did. That local McD's that hired her had a responsibility to teach her about service animals and that they are allowed since they failed to educate her about it that McD's is responsible. Does anyone know if she is going to be charged with a hate crime?