Thursday, January 2, 2014

Shocked by My Experience

Thank you all for you your patience while I took some much needed time off to relax and enjoy my vacation.

I was on vacation in California and ran across something that still really is bothering me over a week later. I went with a friend to a restaurant that I go to locally in Austin. I have always had such a wonderful experience in Austin I assumed the same would be true for the location in California. It was on December 22 and I was doing some last minute shopping and wanted to get a gluten free pizza for a late lunch. My friend had never been to this restaurant and they have a good selection of beers and such. So I knew he would enjoy having lunch there. So we go in and we waited for a table. Then I notice that people who came in after were being seated before we were. Finally my friend approaches the hostess to find out why we had not been seated.

The hostess then states they called his name but that was not the case. So I was already annoyed at that point. Thankfully they seated us promptly. As they are walking us to our table I noticed that the area we are being seated at has a woman in a wheel chair, a guy with a cain, a woman with assistance devices. They seated all of us in a one area. I have never been seated or segregated out in a restaurant in my life until this point. I looked around the restaurant and noticed that all the disabled individuals were in this small section away from the other customers. I also noticed they did not seat anyone near my table because I had Duchess with me which is strange because I have been in very busy restaurants before and had no issues.

I pointed this out to my friend and he noticed that I was correct sure enough they were separating us out from the other customers. I was really offended and upset because I feel like I should be treated like any normal customer. I also was rather dismayed because the server we had was terrible and did not even come over to the table for over a half an hour. Then we received our order but our salads had not shown up yet. Overall it was a terrible experience. I normally have had such a great experience locally in this same restaurant I was shocked and really disappointed by my experience. I think regardless of what obstacles we face we all want to be treated the same. I know I have contacted the corporate of the restaurant to address this issue. I think they need to rethink their position on how they treat disabled people.  I am hoping that this can be resolved quickly and efficiently by the corporate office. I know I plan to update you all on the response from the office.

6 comments:

  1. I hope this wasn't BJ's...typical CA BS... PLEASE keep us posted. AWFUL.

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    1. That is a really great guess. I will definatly update you once I hear back.

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  2. Sorry that you had some an unpleasant experience. My guess is that your treatment stemmed from the restaurant manager and just a poorly-run restaurant. But good for you for contacting corporate headquarters so that hopefully others will have a better experience.

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    1. I think that is correct in general the restaurant seemed poorly managed. I am hoping there is a resolution to avoid this from happening again.

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  3. I think you should post the name and location. I always do.

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  4. The restaurant is

    BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse
    334 Coddingtown Center, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

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