Haley L.
Yelp
I had the worst bar-going experience ever here the other night. I guess I've just grown used to people who work in the bars around here actually being friendly... The manager of this bar openly discriminated against me on 11/10/17 for having a SERVICE dog and made me feel so incredibly unwelcome that I will NEVER be back; except to get an apology from the rude guy with his hands up in this picture. I know the laws, he clearly DOES NOT.
In short, what happened: My 3 friends and I try to enter, the manager says, rudely, right off the bat, "Yeah no dogs allowed." I told him she was a service dog and he asked me for "papers or identification." I told him there was no such thing as a "national service dog registry" or cards identifying a dog as a service dog and he insisted that there IS a national service dog registry. (LOL, those sites are SCAMS!) I told him I had accidentally forgotten her service dog vest at home (which I do have, and usually put on when going new places to avoid situations like this). I attempted to explain to him that there are two questions he is allowed to ask me to determine if she is a service dog, but that she's not legally required to have any identification, at which point he said, "Yeah no, the health department told me they need papers, I can't let you in." I told him it's illegal to refuse entry to someone with a service dog and instead of hearing me out, he became ruder, and said, "Can't you just find somewhere else to go?" I asked him, "Can't you just follow the law?" He continued to get more upset, practically physically blocking me from entering the building and stating, "Can you just go? You don't have papers, she's not a service dog" I told him I wasn't going to purchase fake papers online when I have a real note from my doctor (which I certainly don't have to produce to a bartender!). He then told me, "I know you're lying and that she's not a real service dog because you said you weren't going to buy fake papers." I can't even begin to explain to you the level of incompetence exhibited by this man! I tried to show him the law on my phone, and he just refused to look at it and told me to go somewhere else. When I said, "Ok so just so be clear you're discriminating against a person with a disability?" He sarcastically said, "yeah ok sure." I almost didn't believe he was the manager, based on how rude he was being, so I took his picture in case I needed it in the future.
I should have left sooner, but I kept thinking "if I try to reason with this guy, like I have so many other people, he'll look up the law, and be informed." NOPE.
UNBELIEVABLE. I deal with this all the time, but never have I encountered someone so obstinate, who refused to listen to reason or look up the law for himself, here ya go (http://www.wla.org/assets/WALE/2015WALEConference/Service%20Animals%20and%20the%20Washington%20Law%20Against%20Discrimination.pdf )
I'm considering filing a complaint with the disability services section of the department of justice. Yes, I realize I don't use a wheelchair and I'm not blind. I don't look like the typical person with a disability, but any educated person knows about invisible disabilities and any bar MANAGER SHOULD KNOW THE LAW. (He claims "the health department told me this": people in the health dept are just people and they make mistakes, the law is the law and it has the final word)