Fast food employees mocked a blind woman who needed help reading menu

Fast food employees mocked a blind woman who needed help reading menu

www.nydailynews.com

Alice Camarillo, who is legally blind, says she was ridiculed when she asked for help reading the menu at fast-food restaurants like Burger King, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's.

She sued. A federal judge in Albany threw it out, saying the law doesn't require restaurant workers to be polite.

Yesterday, a Manhattan federal appeals court overruled the lower court, and Camarillo can sue the restaurants under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Perhaps allowing this lawsuit to proceed will engender these establishments "to adopt policies or procedures to effectively train their employees how to deal with disabled individuals."

Yeah, right.

However, if the restaurants were simply encouraged to at least provide large print menus or those with pictures of what they serve they wouldn't be subject to this type of litigation.

Do you think it was right for her to sue?

www.nydailynews.com
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Absolutely right. My mom is blind and some people just deserve to get sued and fired from their customer service positions. They are a small minority and maybe they had a bad day or something, but they dont deserve to work with people.

Being unable to see is not bad enough? Then to be mocked because of it? Those people should be horsewhipped instead of being given lesssons on how to be a human being. Those soulless scum that did that should all be fired.

The lady should get a handsome amount for her pain and humiliation and suffering and the retaurants should be closed until every employee knows how to act like a person with a brain and a heart. Shame on them all.

Her suit did bring attention to the case, if nothing else. My mother is also legally-blind and I have seen clerks roll their eyes when she's asked for help reading a sign or price tag or whatever. And yes, it enrages me. It's their job to assist customers and to assist them with courtesy-- isn't that implied when they're hired to assist customers? Of course, when I am with her and witness something like that, I take care of it myself-- first personally with the clerk in question, then with the manager of the store.

Yep, this is the reason why legal suits were invented. Although the law doesn't require these people to be polite, society does by allowing this suit to bring attention.


Hopefully she earns enough from this case that she never has to visit another fast food restaurant again.

No business employee should be rude to customers regardless of any circumstances.

My brother is legally blind and I'm aware of how people can be toward the disabled.

However, I also know that some disabled persons can be antagonistic and militant, not to mention litigious.

I don't know how she was treated, but if she was not denied services and she was only asked to wait for special services, then I don't think that's so much to ask.

Is it fair to make other customers wait while the order-taker/cashier reads the menu to someone?

The other complaints involve inexcusable rudeness, but whether or not it's grounds to sue a restaurant, I don't know.

We've all encountered idiotic twits at fast food restaurants.

I don't think only the disabled have that problem.

As it is, the court will rule.

[edit on 2008/2/12 by GradyPhilpott]

that is pretty low of those employee's to mock her. I dont really understand how you can be so cruel, its not like she can help being blind.


I guess, some people have completely lost touch with their sense of humanity, or never had one to begin with...

I will say, since she was blind but we don't know to what extent, the fast food locations must know her from previous service. I highly doubt if she is totaly blind she would be patronizing fast food establishments beyond walking distance or even know of any beyond her neighborhood without a companion escorting her.

I suspect she could see with limited ability and the resturants know her enough to maybe joke with her and she felt dissed.

reply to post by WorldShadow


With all due respect, it doesn't sound like they joked with her.

Sounds more like they joked on her.

Which would only be cool if they were blind as well, you know?

Being grossly insensitive to persons with disabilities isn't acceptable, even if the person in question is being a strident pain.

There are proper methods to sensitively handle demanding customers, and apparently these measures were not employed in these instances.

If it takes the filing of a lawsuit by the offended party to force these businesses to take a proactive stance to ensuring that this situation is not repeated in the future, then so be it.

But what does that tell us about these entities' current practices?

reply to post by goosdawg


Wouldn't it be wise for a person who frequents a fast food establishment, they would know the menu before hand, since being blind does not affect the memory to remember what is liked and usually the order remains the same on return visits.

I like tacos, I go to taco bell and can rattle my order off without looking at the menu. Same with McD and wendys. So, I also have visual problems, but refuse to be a problem when in a public resturaunts. As for the bathroom foolery. She wasn't that blind since she is out on her own and she recognized her mistake enough to file a lawsuit.

I suspect this story is a frivilous case since more than 1 resturaunt is named. Kind of like shot gunning for a payout.

It shouldn't take a lawsuit to make businesses courteous and helpful to all customers regardless of their disability. If I were the manager I would at least warn an employee if not fire him or her outright. I know fast food workers are not well paid, but they should still be able to deal with the public in order to get and keep their jobs.