And The Real Fun Begins!
U.S. Army veteran Ernest Walker of Cedar Hills, Texas, went to Chili’s on Veteran’s Day to partake of their free meal to veterans.
Walker, accompanied by his service dog Barack, said he believes an elderly man wearing an American flag shirt and Trump sticker told the restaurant manager that Walker was wearing his cap indoors and was not a U.S. veteran and should not receive the free meal.
Okay, we have a lot of stupid laws in Texas, but wearing a baseball cap indoors ain’t one of them. Otherwise, you’d have to arrest the entire VFW on most bingo nights.
… the manager asked for Walker’s military ID, which he provided. Walker also provided his discharge paperwork.
Walker said the manager then took his to-go meal.
“I looked around and I’m embarrassed at this point,” Walker said. “People are looking. I’m a soldier. I’m a person and everybody’s looking like I stole food.”
The manager also indicated the service dog was not a service dog, despite having a red service vest and certified service tags.
Chili’s has apologized all over themselves.
By the way, Texas now has a veteran designation on veteran drivers licenses so they don’t have to carry around their discharge paperwork to get their discount. I appreciate that.
Thanks to Old Mayfly for the heads up.
always consider the scource.
1It’s 2016, and a black man who served his country, still can’t get served at the lunch counter.
2Shameful. Also doubting his service dog was not the real deal. If the segregationist, Jeff Sessions, is made atty gen things will get worse.
3It’s infuriating and very sad.
That mgr. should be fired if Chili’s really wants to apologize.
4Where we live, boycotting fast food chains isn’t a sacrifice. They don’t exist. Yes, we’re that rural. Plus, we wouldn’t eat that stuff on the rare trip to the big city, Reno. We like all our food authentic; we’re peculiar that way.
There are unauthentic service dogs. I’ve met two owned by white privileged women of a certain age who don’t think the rules apply to them. First clue, white women. Second clue, the dogs are poodles or some variation thereof usually named Fifi.
Mr. Walker deserves better than owning Chili’s. I wouldn’t wish that even on the frauds who misuse service dog credentials. But a cash settlement that would allow him to dine in the restaurant of his choice on any day he chooses would be good.
5The racists have become emboldened and the appointments of Bannon and Sessions have validated their behavior.
6PKM –
7Poodles are the second most intelligent breed of dog. It’s entirely possible the white privileged owners of Fifi require a mentally resourceful service dog for assistance, when out dealing with the general public.
PKM, a friend of ours uses a service dog. She’s a white woman (legally blind). Back off a bit, okay?
8And so it begins. The long slide into open bigotry has begun.
9When the President-elect behaves that way and appoints a white nationalist to his cabinet, the signal has been given.
Had to laugh at Trumps hypocritical, “That really saddens me. Stop it.” Just who does he think he’s fooling?
maryelle, whoever he *thinks* he’s fooling, the one getting fooled is himself, especially if he thinks he can say “stop it” and make that happen.
It’s going to be an interesting ride.
10I know people who’ve gone online to buy the red “Service Dog” vest for their pooch just so they can take him everywhere. It happens.
People who need a service critter ought to have one and that ought to be respected. Troublemakers ought not be able to buy a vest and fake it. They need to make it like Disabled Parking hangers and auto licenses.
The Chili’s manager ought to be forced to give a free meal to Mr. Walker every day for a month. And personally serve him at their best table. And bring food and water for the dog.
Just sayin.
11We’ve gone to a Chili’s and enjoyed it. Rarely eat out, but that’s one place we went for a special treat. I tweeted to Chili’s that we were both veterans, and were not going back to Chili’s until they apologized to Walker publicly. I haven’t seen anything but the vague “We take pride in serving our customers…” sort of nonsense. Yes, the manager should be fired. He looks alt-right to me.
As for the two (or more?) white guys who told the manager Mr. Walker wasn’t really military and his service dog wasn’t really a service dog…they would get two earfuls and a black eye from me if they were nearby. Disgusting. Did the manager even check *their* credentials to see if they had any military service behind them?
I am still spittin’ mad about this.
12A vector I know but… I had an exchange as a AF ROTC officer candidate with a USMC sergeant at Fort Sill in 1971 over my wearing of a c*** cap under cover without being under arms. The exchange was comical because I recognized this ancient sergeant as a close friend of my sainted father’s but, absent my curly locks, he did not recognize me. Exasperated he finally said “You have a bad attitude Mr XXXXXXXX” reading my name off my name tag. (Even then he didn’t make the connection to MSF.) To which I replied “At least it’s not self-inflicted, sir.” With that one of his trainees garnered his attention and beat a hasty retreat to my flight’s corner of the room. Every time he saw me thereafter until I got the hell off Ft Sill, he would begin harumphing to himself at close to 100 harumpfs per minute.
13maryelle-all may not be lost, yet. Bannon may be in serious trouble. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/campaign-legal-center-bannon-super-pac-payments
Oh, who am I fooling?
14First off, Debbo has the perfect response. That said, this was one stupid manager, even after he saw the ID. Wearing a cap indoors, in a restaurant, in Chillis on the free food night, is nothing at all unusual. So many do it and do it with pride in their units.
15As far as having the VETERAN designation on the driver’s license here in Texas, it does not make much of a difference. If I go to Lowes or Home Depot where they give a veteran discount, they do not accept that on the license as proof positive, nor do they just accept a DD214. I have a VA card and that is the one they will accept.
I’m so glad I live in my small town – my husband never has to show anything to get his Veteran’s discount. The one bad thing is that friend of mine, U.S.Army Col. (Ret.), always catches hell from some wanker or other for parking in the Veteran’s parking spot, even with a service-related disability…..because she’s female.
16Debbo, you and me both!
17Well, clearly the manager didn’t understand that erring on the side of caution was going to be a bigger win than the price of a meal.
I mean, what does a “certified” former US soldier look like anyway?
18For the cost of one free dinner, they got a lifetime of bad publicity. Serves them right. And that is another black mark against Drumpf##k!
19Arlington Cemetery is full of them, Old Fart. Just saying.
20IF you go to Chili’s Facebook page, you’ll find they’ve tripped over themselves apologizing, and it looks like that manager has been fired.
21The person I want to fire is the a$$hat who started this. 2 bits says he never wore even a Boy Scout uniform.
Rhea and Rick, I agree that poodles can be smart. But the 2 women of whom I spoke have no disability. Just two selfish women that bring questions on those who deserve service dogs. When KJ and Jack are a little older, training service dogs will be a good project for them.
22Mr. Walker, thank
23you for your service.
Cause I didn’t serve. My hat’s off. To you.
24PKM, it wasn’t the remark about poodles I objected to; it was this:
“There are unauthentic service dogs. I’ve met two owned by white privileged women of a certain age who don’t think the rules apply to them. First clue, white women.”
Why would you smear all white women for the actions of two? That’s not what I thought we did around here, so it stood out and bugged me. (I am a white woman, but if you’d said “First clue, black women” or “Asian men” or “Jews” it would also have bugged me.)
25Two white guys walk into a Chili’s… that’s the beginning of a bad joke. Where are we in this country where an accusation (he’s not a vet) is a certainty? If it were me as manager, my first question would have been to the accusers “How do you know that?” And then a warning, “OK. I’ll check him out. But if you’re wrong, you two aren’t being served. Got it!?” And I would have made good on that.
26Bernard, it must vary. At my home depot, if I am wearing a vet’s cap, the clerk will ask if I want the discount. A VFW or Am Legion card is all the proof I have needed. I am a white 70 year old male so mileage may vary.
27JAK … I like your comment at #26 best of all!!
28C’mon guys, you know we made this whole thing up to make Drumpf and his cretins look bad. Just ask them. We aren’t listening to them. This isn’t about shabby treatment of a Veteran, it is about HRC being a crook and Obama establishing Sharia law because of his Muslimness.
29Jace, I have been shopping at the same Lowes and Home Depot for the past eleven years. When I found out about the Vets discount, I brought my DD214 and got the discount, but had to show it every time. We moved this June and did extensive landscaping, meaning multiple trips a day to the same stores and, every single time, they had to see my ID. I forgot m wallet one time, they said we know you are a vet, but we still have to see your ID, so I had to go home, get my wallet and go back and show it. I am white, 76 years old and tired of that kind of crap.
30Rhea, sorry. I should have added obnoxious to modify privileged. Trust me they were. But certainly they are not indicative of most white woman or how I feel about most all people. My bad for thinking “privileged” would narrow the field as it does for white privileged men. It’s not a race or a class distinction, but a descriptor of a certain entitled attitude. Again, please accept my apologies was cavalierly throwing around “white privileged” without sufficient background to those two.
31The relatively few who would “fake” service to get comped a meal is a drop in the bucket for Chilis or any other chain restaurant. For now. The bad publicity might cause more problems. I believe that “manager” yokel has been fired.
32This just in-Philando Castille-the Minnesota man killed by cop reaching for his concealed carry permit might get justice. The cop who basically murdered him has been charged with 2nd degree manslaughter and faces 10 years in the pokey.
33Nobody talks about the jerk who challenged the vet: an old fart who claimed he couldn’t have served in Germany because they don’t let Blacks there. Idiot, ignorant, venomous old poot thinks we are still in the 40s or something. Send him off to the locked ward at the retirement home.
34While this country, in its long history, has involved itself in too many wars, I can assure the ignorant Cedar Hills bastard that Blacks have fought as combatants in every war this country has involved itself in since the first male slave arrived. To say otherwise is to perpetuate a lie born in arrogant racism.
And while I’m at it, a similar statement can be made for Hispanics and indigenous peoples.
35Linda Phipps, that is as bad as the VA doctor who told my friend he couldn’t have a TBI (traumatic brain injury) because he didn’t serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. The doctor refused to refill his TBI meds. He got the TBI in Djibouti. I was livid. He refused to kick it upstairs, so I did, leaving his name out of it. (You can get a TBI in training for goodness sake, as we discovered here at DPS when one of our recruits died from taking a training blow that should not have hurt him since he had on his safety gear.) The VA got back to me and groveled nicely. I refused to name names or even say which hospital it was. I just asked them to get more training out there, as this was obviously a training issue. It was for that poor manager as well.
36Chilis needs to run ads. They need to put signs on the entrance door of every restaurant. They need to step up and they need to apologize in capitol letters. It may have been just one guy and they need to assure the public that is the case. They also need to educate their employees on how to behave. Did he think he was just defending the old guy because he was an old vet or because he was a white vet????
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