Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No, in the '50s someone with autism would never have left an institution.
Yep. Society has become much more enlightened than that now.
I work for a company that does direct support for adults with mental disabilities to help them live independently, I deal with people who have cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome and autism.
Community inclusion is much more prominent than it was years ago and I don’t think it’s too much to ask for people to be more patient and accepting, if anything they should count their blessings that they don’t have to face the challenges that these people live with every day of their lives.
EOE doesn't imply you hire people that can't serve your customers.
Its one thing to have employees that can function in only one specific capacity as long as they aren't the face of your business or interacting with your customers..putting them out on the floor and hoping it all goes well is simply a bad business decision.
And, its a free country - you can make all the bad decisions you want...but doubling down on your stupidity and defiantly putting up a snarky sign to dissuade anyone from complaining about your intentional lack of customer service and disregard for your customers, is something that hopefully isn't rewarded by the marketplace.
Hiring people with disabilities or limitations is a good thing, no question. But putting them in positions they can't adequately fulfill is a disservice to all concerned. I've dealt with many who were well-trained in a position and could handle a crisis when it arose. But I've been (quietly) frustrated when a cashier or waiter or the like was clearly in over their abilities and customer after customer is just expected to cope with it.
Hard to say what happened in this instance.
No - My problem is when supposedly fully capable individuals with no such learning impediments act like they are morons. I find that people with Autism have more common sense than a large amount of "normal" customer service personnel.
Apparently it was refilling a "lettuce bowl," whatever that is. The author was too busy being outraged to put any facts about the incident into the story. It seems quite possible that the real cause of this whole incident was that the person who had this task in his job description was either slacking off and/or being inadequately supervised by the outraged manager.
A lettuce bowl is part of a salad bar. It is a large bowl that holds lettuce.
I've worked restaurants and dealt with customers from the best to the worst. Some complain tactfully if something isn't right, some demand that their every wish be fulfilled if it takes the whole staff to do it, right now if not sooner.
I'd like to know more detail but I suspect the customer was a hothead. Yes, the manager should get the job done by someone but it sounds like the guy kept wanting to sound off, hence the comment about putting up a sign.
If people are offended by the reference to God's children, they should move to the Soviet Union. Ah, but the Soviet Union shut down. Maybe China or North Korea?
Hiring people with disabilities or limitations is a good thing, no question. But putting them in positions they can't adequately fulfill is a disservice to all concerned. I've dealt with many who were well-trained in a position and could handle a crisis when it arose. But I've been (quietly) frustrated when a cashier or waiter or the like was clearly in over their abilities and customer after customer is just expected to cope with it.
Hard to say what happened in this instance.
The manager already stated refilling the salad bar was not part of that kid's duties, that he was trained very narrowly to do a specific job. He told the patron this, and that's when the patron stated they should put a sign up in the window alerting people there's an autistic employee. Sure, that wouldn't be a violation of the kid's dignity at ALL.
I love the sign the manager put up instead! This manager has 10 special needs employees out of 16 total employees, I think he's awesome.
Apparently there are a**holes around the world. In looking for other articles on this one, I found another where a table of customers in the UK complained about an autistic waiter: https://www.eater.com/2016/3/5/11166...ity-employment
EOE doesn't imply you hire people that can't serve your customers.
Its one thing to have employees that can function in only one specific capacity as long as they aren't the face of your business or interacting with your customers..putting them out on the floor and hoping it all goes well is simply a bad business decision.
And, its a free country - you can make all the bad decisions you want...but doubling down on your stupidity and defiantly putting up a snarky sign to dissuade anyone from complaining about your intentional lack of customer service and disregard for your customers, is something that hopefully isn't rewarded by the marketplace.
Reading the comments on this thread, this story does seem a bit unusual. Why did the manager not just fill the salad bowl herself or have another customer do it while the manager was talking to this potentially hotheaded customer?
People with special needs should not be handling food in a restaurant, OR be anywhere near food prep or serving areas. That's insane. Think of the potential contamination risks to customers by people who cannot grasp food safety. The customer was right about the sign. It will alert customers to go somewhere else with less potential risk, but something tells me that manager will be shown the door.
Customer complained, manager explained, customer said put a sign on the door, manager did.
I don't know about degrading, I'm still searching for the word I want.
So...uh, the manager put a sign on the door saying, what, "We hire people with disabilities, so:
-- be patient with employees who may appear to not understand your question?
-- try to understand if employees move slowly
-- please understand out service maybe slower than usual...
-- what exactly?
To be honest, as a customer walking in the door I don't know what I'd think about that.
Glad they warned me so I'd be more understanding?? or bad for the employees that a sign had to be posted making excuses -- OK "explaining" why their performance is "different" from others who work there.
The manager should have just fill the salad bowl and moved on.
I suppose depending on how angry or irate the customer was -- the manager -- any manager would offer an explanation in that case. But I'd have to either see and hear video of the tone in their voices, see body language for me to know what happened...and whether the manager or customer or BOTH didn't handle the situation correctly.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
