deaf woman claims she was denied service from Steak & Shake

Jclarke said:
:eek3: Whereabouts in the U.S? Somewhere in the county?
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And I don't travel 12 miles south to go to McDonald's.....

If I am going to go out to eat, I prefer a sit down restaurant and an independent restaurant as well.

If I had to choose for fast food, I'd probably pick Wendy's.
 
Good for Karen to stand up for her rights!

One time, I had a problem with a McDonald's at the drive thru. I wanted a coffee cuz it was below 0 outside and I was freezing despite the heat in my truck. So, I went thru the drive thru and they told me to come inside to order. I am like no way cuz I had my two kids who were sleeping..not gonna wake them up and put them out in the freezing weather for a cup of coffee. I told them that it is JUST a cup of coffee for god's sake! They gave me my coffee...geez. Not only that, there was nobody behind me. :roll:

Hey, someone posted a comment asking why couldnt the 10 year old speak and listen for her. :eek3:
 
Byrdie714 said:
Towards the end of the news article it says that Steak-n-Shake would like to sit down with her to discuss the situation....

I've heard of Steak-n-Shake...great shakes.

Luckily where I live, we have no fast food restaurants! Afterall who wants to have their arteries clogged with all that grease?
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Seattle metro area has fast food restaurants, even in Seattle city limits. You probably live in a small town out in middle of nowhere, I guess.
 
Ignorance? No, ignorance means they didn't know or didn't understand. I find it very hard to believe in this day and age that there could be an adult in a management position working for a restaurant that serves the public who does not know someone with a "disability" (I don't like that term but can't think of a better one) is to be treated to the same service as someone who does not have a disability. Misunderstanding? Absolutely not. The woman made it clear she could not use the speaker, the manager chose to be rude and deny service. Illegal? Yes! I do think the manager should be taken to court rather than Steak-n-Shake since the manager is the one denying people service.

Why should she have to ask her child to order for her? Why should she be made to feel dependent upon a child because of someone else's rudeness? This was a simple food order for goodness sake!
 
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shel90 said:
Good for Karen to stand up for her rights!

One time, I had a problem with a McDonald's at the drive thru. I wanted a coffee cuz it was below 0 outside and I was freezing despite the heat in my truck. So, I went thru the drive thru and they told me to come inside to order. I am like no way cuz I had my two kids who were sleeping..not gonna wake them up and put them out in the freezing weather for a cup of coffee. I told them that it is JUST a cup of coffee for god's sake! They gave me my coffee...geez. Not only that, there was nobody behind me. :roll:

Hey, someone posted a comment asking why couldnt the 10 year old speak and listen for her. :eek3:
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Her son is deaf.
 
vallee said:
I don't think all of you realize that Karen is a member of alldeaf too. She is DeafMom22. Her blog is A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
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Hi All,
Yes, that's me. I just finally got over here to Alldeaf. The comments and my regular work are keeping me hopping.

First of all, each and every time that I use a drive thru, the first thing I communicate is that I can't use the speaker because I can't hear or that I'm deaf. I always point to my ear to add to the clarification. I've been doing it the same way for so many years now that it is a habit. I communicated this several times to that manager and each time, he refused to proceed with the order and give me the milkshakes. Of course, a person is going to be a little upset when someone refuses an order.

If you look at my blog, you'll see that every member of my family is deaf or hard of hearing. Whether my son was hearing or not, I'm the parent and I'm the one doing the ordering.

Most people who know me understand that I'm a reasonable person and I give people a chance to understand what I'm asking of them. This manager simply was not willing to accommodate me at the drive thru. Had he simply taken my order, given me the shakes, none of this would be the hot topic of discussion today.
 
DeafMom22 said:
Hi All,
Yes, that's me. I just finally got over here to Alldeaf. The comments and my regular work are keeping me hopping.

First of all, each and every time that I use a drive thru, the first thing I communicate is that I can't use the speaker because I can't hear or that I'm deaf. I always point to my ear to add to the clarification. I've been doing it the same way for so many years now that it is a habit. I communicated this several times to that manager and each time, he refused to proceed with the order and give me the milkshakes. Of course, a person is going to be a little upset when someone refuses an order.

If you look at my blog, you'll see that every member of my family is deaf or hard of hearing. Whether my son was hearing or not, I'm the parent and I'm the one doing the ordering.


Most people who know me understand that I'm a reasonable person and I give people a chance to understand what I'm asking of them. This manager simply was not willing to accommodate me at the drive thru. Had he simply taken my order, given me the shakes, none of this would be the hot topic of discussion today.
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Agree with you completely, Deafmom22. If a drive thru is offered as a service option, then accommodations need to be made to offer that option to ALL customers. To offer a service option that can be used only by the majority of customers is in violation of the law.
 
DeafMom22 said:
Hi All,
Yes, that's me. I just finally got over here to Alldeaf. The comments and my regular work are keeping me hopping.

First of all, each and every time that I use a drive thru, the first thing I communicate is that I can't use the speaker because I can't hear or that I'm deaf. I always point to my ear to add to the clarification. I've been doing it the same way for so many years now that it is a habit. I communicated this several times to that manager and each time, he refused to proceed with the order and give me the milkshakes. Of course, a person is going to be a little upset when someone refuses an order.

If you look at my blog, you'll see that every member of my family is deaf or hard of hearing. Whether my son was hearing or not, I'm the parent and I'm the one doing the ordering.

Most people who know me understand that I'm a reasonable person and I give people a chance to understand what I'm asking of them. This manager simply was not willing to accommodate me at the drive thru. Had he simply taken my order, given me the shakes, none of this would be the hot topic of discussion today.
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The guy, and the manager at that, was PMSing and on nothing but a power trip! Lol....
 
Way to go Karen! Ive never had that sort of problem with a drive thru but I hate it when my mom or dad send me to SONIC of all places to get some food. I have a very hard time understanding them over the speaker, and often I have to guess at whether or not they got the order back when they read it back to you. Its hard to get a carhops attention at sonic anyway since they are in and out and dont pay any attention to the cars, even though on the menu it says at the bottom in small print if you are having accessibility problems to ask a carhop.

Ive had to skip the speaker altogether for the drive thru.

And you know what the more I think about it the more I wonder, why do you need a speaker for the drive thru, you wil still need to converse with the cashier at the window anyway for your change, and they often dont start making your order until you have paid for it anyway.

There is a Steak and Shake here in Russellvile, but I rarely go to it though since Im not often on that side of town.
 
Byrdie714 said:
If I had to choose for fast food, I'd probably pick Wendy's.
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(retches)

Wendy's has gone downhill since Dave Thomas, the founder died. We have several locations here, but they taste like absolutely crap.

Most fast food chains are terrible though.
 
Dixie said:
Way to go Karen! Ive never had that sort of problem with a drive thru but I hate it when my mom or dad send me to SONIC of all places to get some food. I have a very hard time understanding them over the speaker, and often I have to guess at whether or not they got the order back when they read it back to you. Its hard to get a carhops attention at sonic anyway since they are in and out and dont pay any attention to the cars, even though on the menu it says at the bottom in small print if you are having accessibility problems to ask a carhop.

Ive had to skip the speaker altogether for the drive thru.

And you know what the more I think about it the more I wonder, why do you need a speaker for the drive thru, you wil still need to converse with the cashier at the window anyway for your change, and they often dont start making your order until you have paid for it anyway.

There is a Steak and Shake here in Russellvile, but I rarely go to it though since Im not often on that side of town.
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I worked at Jack in the Box for 3 years in high school. I can undy the need for a speaker (it can be modified to meet deaf people's needs). If there is no line and an order comes thru, of course the car will come to the window immediately when we start making their order. However, when there is a long line, it makes a difference to have the speaker cuz while they are in line, we can make multiple orders at one time and get them out asap when the customer comes to the window.

I think they need to have a touch order screen for us.
 
Banjo said:
(retches)

Wendy's has gone downhill since Dave Thomas, the founder died. We have several locations here, but they taste like absolutely crap.

Most fast food chains are terrible though.
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**nodding agreement**
 
shel90 said:
I worked at Jack in the Box for 3 years in high school. I can undy the need for a speaker (it can be modified to meet deaf people's needs). If there is no line and an order comes thru, of course the car will come to the window immediately when we start making their order. However, when there is a long line, it makes a difference to have the speaker cuz while they are in line, we can make multiple orders at one time and get them out asap when the customer comes to the window.

I think they need to have a touch order screen for us.
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A touch screen would be a perfect accommodation. Not just for deaf, for for people with other forms of a communication disorder.
 
Banjo said:
(retches)

Wendy's has gone downhill since Dave Thomas, the founder died. We have several locations here, but they taste like absolutely crap.

Most fast food chains are terrible though.
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I know that when KFC changed their grease to be more healthier, it tasted like crap!

Like I said in previous posts, we don't have fast food where I live and I guess that is a blessing in disguise....
 
Banjo said:
(retches)

Wendy's has gone downhill since Dave Thomas, the founder died. We have several locations here, but they taste like absolutely crap.

Most fast food chains are terrible though.
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I glad I don't go to Wendy's anymore for one year since I have Milios Sub Sandwich or
Culver's near me. Fortunately, there's no Wendy's near me! YAY, YAY!
 
I liked Wendy's Spicy Chicken Fillet. It's one very few fast food chain that actually make it spicy and crispy. Bojangles is one of another.

Bojangles is one of best fast food if you are going for chicken and biscuit. It's very popular in my area. I am always disappointed when I go to the North and find none of them have Bojangles. It drives me crazy, where can I find chicken with biscuit in the morning? lol

All other fast food is just alright. I just try to avoid them because of high in calories despite it being cheaper than anything else.
 
drive thru's

so basically, i'm scared of going through drive thru's just because of that discrimination. but also because of the speaker. my city isn't very well-known of deaf people around here because there's about... a rough estimate of 15 (that i know of anyway!) that are deaf. i'm not counting hoh. if i was, i'd be counting all the elders and some of my friends, but.. ya..

anyway, i know some people around town are rude. and there have been times where i felt like i was in a rush to eat food. but thankfully, they had fast service inside.

whenever i DO use the intercom.. my boyfriend's with me. he's so helpful! i love it. he knows my order, he knows his own (duh)... and then we just pull up and pay for it. he tells me the price and i pay right away..

it's as simple as that, but i wish i didn't need to have someone in the car with me in order to understand people in the drive thru
 
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