This morning, I was greeted with this lovely comment left by David R.:
you are a (bleep) retard. the world does not revolve around you, you lazy dumb (bleep). how are the employees at steak n shake supposed to help you when you can’t even hear them talking to you? it’s your own fault for being lazy and not just walking in. stupid dumb (bleep) people like you piss me off. if you have a problem with steak n shake then DONT GO THERE. why would the spend thousands of dollars on new technology just satisfy a (bleep) lazy (bleep) lady? THEY DO NOT NEED YOUR BUSINESS so you can take it elsewhere and shove it.
With attitudes like this out there, who needs drive-thrus that are accessible to deaf, hard of hearing and speech-challenged people? Segregation at its finest! Apparently the drive-thrus are only for people who can use them as they are currently set up. The rest of us less-than-perfect people are supposed to get out of our cars and go in and order.
Unless of course, you head over to Culver’s, the restaurant chain that has decided to make sure that their customers are welcomed in the restaurant and in the drive-thru:
Order Assist System at Indianapolis Culver’s Restaurant.
Isn’t it ironic that this Culver’s restaurant is located in the same city as the Steak ‘n Shake headquarters?
For those who aren’t familiar with the story, my son and I were denied service at the Bolingbrook Steak ‘n Shake restaurant a year ago. The incident was picked up by Fox and ABC news and several newspapers. Bloggers from all over chimed in: Steak ‘n Shake, Looks Like This Touched a Nerve. The Consumerist landed over 200 comments as people discussed the situation. Deaf Life did a five-page spread on the story. Down in Australia, the topic was a large part of a presentation given at an RMIT Communicator of the Year Awards banquet. Diversity, Inc. did a story and a video interview (captioned): Deaf Mother of Three Denied Service at Restaurant.
In the year since the incident, I met with the Steak ‘n Shake executives and then later, their two lawyers. I didn’t get anywhere with them. During our first meeting, Steak ‘n Shake appeared willing to make some changes and perhaps blaze the way for drive-thru access. Once it was turned over to their lawyers, I felt as if they simply wanted to sweep the issue under the rug. During our final meeting, they brought in the Steak ‘n Shake employer to issue an apology. It was quite apparent that the attorneys crafted a very lame, “I-won’t-admit-I-did-it-but-I’m-sorry-it-happened-to-you” apology that the employer droned out. The Steak ‘n Shake attorneys admitted during our meeting that they didn’t even look into the drive-thru solutions that I had suggested all along. They clearly weren’t interested in making any changes, but to simply have me shut up and go away.
I guess I’ll be seeing more of the Steak ‘n Shake lawyers. That is, unless the company truly wants to welcome deaf, hard of hearing and speech-challenged customers in their restaurants. In that case, they know where to reach me.