Chicago Restaurant Apologizes for Mistreatment of Fort Collins Veteran
A Chicago restaurant has apologized for the disrespect they gave a Fort Collins veteran at the end of last week, and he now hopes this will be a learning lesson for businesses across the country.
According to ABC7-Denver, Major Bob Diggs Brown Jr is a retired member of the US Army's Special Armed Forces. He also works with Veterans Plaza in Fort Collins.
Last week, Brown was in Chicago with his service dog Arthur and visited the restaurant Cochon Valant. That day, Brown posted the following on Facebook after the experience he had at Valant:
“We were seated, ordered breakfast, and then the manager, Hanna, came over and told us I would not be served due to having a dog. I explained that Arthur was a service dog and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) allows service dogs anywhere and she would be violating the law. ‘I don't care’ was her response. We left without causing a scene. Guess this would be a case of ‘No thanks for your service.’”
Brown utilizes the services of Arthur because of the effects that PTSD has on him including waking him up from nightmares and calming Brown down during anxiety attacks.
After the incident that occurred last week, Cochon Valant wrote the following on their Facebook page on September 13th:
"We at Cochon Volant sincerely apologize for the unfortunate situation that occurred yesterday morning at our establishment. We admit with much regret that this situation was handled inappropriately and apologize for the disrespect it has caused. Yesterday's circumstance was a not a true representation of our company policy and we have begun immediate internal review of protocol, training of staff and ADA regulations to ensure this will never happen again.
To show our earnest apology, we are making donations to Puppies Behind Bars and Colorado Disabled Veterans which we know are organizations close to Maj. Diggs Brown. The willingness of America's Veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting respect and gratitude. We take full responsibility for yesterday's events and sincerely apologize."
The restaurant will also review the training of their employees, and their has been no word on the status of the manager (Hanna) who refused to serve Major Diggs Brown last week.
This should also serve as an eye opening event for restaurants and businesses across Colorado and the country. Our veterans deserve whatever we can do and give them for the near AND long term future.
What Maj. Diggs Brown did to protect our freedoms that we enjoy on a daily basis should give him and the rest of our veterans the red carpet treatment for every walking day they have on this great land that they served.
Maybe instead of focusing on the next round of refugees that will roll into the country...or where the next political fundraiser is...we should focus on what we need to do to help our veterans live as close of a normal life as they possibly can.
That's the least we can do...but we should keep raising the bar higher.