I came across this post on social media in regards to a restaurant called Milton’s in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON (Warning, the footage is disturbing and has adult language in it):
The summary of the situation is basically this:
The young man yelling in the video has autism and owns a service dog that was accompanying him to the restaurant in question. For some reason, the owners in the video got upset with him and forced him to leave their restaurant over the animal in question. As someone in the service industry, they should know that service animals are absolutely permitted in restaurants and denying someone service because of it is a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code. However, that is an argument for the lawyers to debate.
What is apparent is this. This restaurant’s reputation has been destroyed in less than 24 hours of this video being posted.
A Google search of the restaurant has shown its rating has taken a nosedive and when visiting the website it appears their account is suspended.
So what is the moral of this story? It’s simple when you are in a service industry no matter what the context you always always always treat the customer with respect and dignity. Especially when in the age of social media a bad decision can destroy your reputation beyond repair.
Joel MacLeod.ca 