Earlier this week I went to a restaurant with a friend. Every single time, without fail, that I have gone to a restaurant with this friend the person seating us has asked for papers that show that her service animal is indeed a service animal. Guess what? That's illegal. What's even more egregious is the manager who after our meal told us that when the restaurant is busy, it is not a good time to come with her service animal. WTF?! His answer, "I love dogs, it's just that some customers complain." Again, WTF?! Put in any other person, identifying characteristic, ethnicity, or trait for "dog" - would you ever say that?
This is unacceptable people. Restaurants, hotels, shopping centers: TRAIN YOUR PEOPLE! LEARN THE LAWS! This manager could have had a huge lawsuit on his hands had my friend chosen to do so. Instead my friend gave the manger information on service animals and the Americans with Disabilities Act and walked away. In doing so she gave the manager what she didn't get: the dignity of choice.
Follow below for what is legal to ask, for rights of the restaurant, and for basic information about how to treat all people with dignity.
Here's what is legal to ask under federal law:
1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task is the dog trained to do?
Now some states have a slightly different wording (and different animals are recognized as service animals). For example, in Washington State here is what is legal to ask:
1. Is the animal a pet?
2. What is this animal trained to do for you?
That's it people! You have customers that are scared of dogs? Too bad! Allergic - again, too bad! You can't tell what disability the person has? Too bad! Going to a restaurant is a right - not a privilege (remember the sit-ins of the 50s and 60s?). No one has to be your victim-porn just so that she or he can take their service animal and enjoy a meal. Because here is what us able-bodied people really don't get sometimes: without the service animal, she can't go to the restaurant/the movies/the grocery store/the hotel, etc, etc. and she does not owe anybody an explanation of the why.
"But then everyone will take their animal in!" I doubt that very much. (Why do people always use the very few who violate the law as a reason to strike down the law?)
Here's the thing - any service animal that is improperly behaved may be asked to leave - that is the right of the public and the restaurants, hotels, etc. Beyond that - your dislike of a service animal in a public place, or fear that someone is taking advantage of the rule, is secondary to that person's right to be treated with dignity.