Sat Mar 10 08:32:25 PST 2007
Non-Disclosures in Potatoville
It's been quite a while since I've
written in my blog. It's not that interesting things haven't been
going on; it's just that I've been so busy with my new job that I
simply haven't had the time.
When I flew up to Boise for my interview, I showed up on Friday with Glindy in tow. Even though her presence had been unanticipated, the reception we received was pretty positive. I introduced Glindy as my "business partner," and joked about how she did all of the hard work while I just tagged along for moral support. That seemed to bring a smile to everyone's face; one should never underestimate the power of a well-timed joke to lubricate potentially awkward social situations.
One minor blip was when one of the executives tried to insist on details about my disability. When I politely declined to discuss it, he insisted that they needed to know "in case anything happened to me on the job." I assured him that if I thought the nature of my disability was job-related, I'd share with them, but that it was genuinely immaterial. He let it drop, and that was the end of it.
I'm not sure my original concerns were unwarranted, but I'm now positive that I made the right choice in handling things the way I did regarding the interview. As for the job itself, that went even better.
Again, despite surprising them with the dog, the executives and staff at the new job all reacted positively. A few people complimented me on my dog's looks and how well-behaved she is, but none of them made an issue of her presence. In fact, several of them went out of their way to try to make the two of us feel comfortable.
Since I was going to be staying at this hotel for several months, I called ahead to negotiate a long-term stay rate. I did *not* get an exceptional rate from this man, and might have actually been better off getting the standard government rate and negotiating a room upgrade later once I was on-site. Nevertheless, we agreed on a rate and a way to waive some weekend charges, which is important to this story.
When I showed up, the young lady at the registration desk told me pets weren't allowed. I assured her that Glindy was a service dog, and she told me she'd have to inform the manager. "Go right ahead," I told her, "so long as you give me my room first." I had no intention of cooling my heels while they sorted things out internally.
A few days later, I was talking to the manager about the fact that none of my weekend charges had been waived. He got angry, and said that since we were on the subject of unmet expectations, he "felt betrayed" that I hadn't warned him that I was traveling with a service dog. When I pointed out that I wasn't obligated to do so, he said "And I'm not obligated to give you any discounts, either!"
I told him that the presence of a service dog was totally irrelevant, at which point he started ranting about how much effort it was to clean a room after a dog was in it, and did I have any idea of how much work this was for him personally? Mind you, he wasn't talking about damages, just about following whatever sanitizing policy his hotel had. Because of his negative attitude, I pointed out that this simply wasn't my problem. I've stayed with my service dog at Marriott-branded hotels all across the country; it had never been an issue before, so this was clearly his personal issue.
When I said that routine turnover wasn't my problem, the guy went apoplectic. He actually said, and I quote it here for the record:
After this incident, I had to think about what sort of action to take. The bottom line is that this guy was clearly prejudiced, and was even willing to verbally admit that he would discriminate given the chance. But while he was behaving in a remarkably rude and clueless fashion, he hadn't actually discriminated in a concrete way. The fact that he claims he would have, given the opportunity, isn't quite the same as having done so.
Mind you, that's a pretty fine distinction. I'm not at all happy about this guy's attitude, but I'm not sure it's worth pursuing, especially since I'm still staying in the hotel at the agreed-upon rate.
If you stop and think about it, that strategy has worked flawlessly: my interview went well, I got the job, and I held the hotel to its agreements. Non-disclosure certainly seems to be an effective strategy for me most of the time, and I will be sticking with it for the foreseeable future.
The Interview
Speaking of new jobs, I recently blogged about my concerns regarding disclosing my disability during the interview process. It turns out that, in this case, Glindy's presence never became a significant issue.When I flew up to Boise for my interview, I showed up on Friday with Glindy in tow. Even though her presence had been unanticipated, the reception we received was pretty positive. I introduced Glindy as my "business partner," and joked about how she did all of the hard work while I just tagged along for moral support. That seemed to bring a smile to everyone's face; one should never underestimate the power of a well-timed joke to lubricate potentially awkward social situations.
One minor blip was when one of the executives tried to insist on details about my disability. When I politely declined to discuss it, he insisted that they needed to know "in case anything happened to me on the job." I assured him that if I thought the nature of my disability was job-related, I'd share with them, but that it was genuinely immaterial. He let it drop, and that was the end of it.
I'm not sure my original concerns were unwarranted, but I'm now positive that I made the right choice in handling things the way I did regarding the interview. As for the job itself, that went even better.
The Job
Because the job itself is with the federal government, I was confident that I was on firm ground showing up with a service animal. After all, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act ensures that government agencies can't discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities, and doesn't arbitrarily limit its scope to "employees" in the same way as Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act.Again, despite surprising them with the dog, the executives and staff at the new job all reacted positively. A few people complimented me on my dog's looks and how well-behaved she is, but none of them made an issue of her presence. In fact, several of them went out of their way to try to make the two of us feel comfortable.
The Guards
I had the usual hassles with guards at the job site, of course, since apparently the Department of Homeland Security doesn't provide enough awareness training to its jackbooted foot-soldiers regarding disability access rights. Typical exchanges, some of which made me doubt their sanity, went like this:Guard: Is that a dog with you?I had a number of such conversations before they got tired of the sharp end of my tongue, and have left me alone since then. Since none of the challenges ever amounted to more than a bit of time-wasting, and none of the guards ever tried to actually prevent me from going where I needed to go, I didn't really pursue the matter.
Me: (thinking, "What does she look like, an alligator?") Yes. She's a service dog.
Guard: You can't bring pets in here.
Me: She's a service animal. She can go anywhere I can go.
Guard: So, she's a guide dog?
Me: No, she's a service dog.
Guard: (looking at me looking back at her) Are you blind?
Me: No. Do I look like I'm blind?
Guard: So, what's your disability?
Me: Look here. Once I tell you that a dog that is clearly marked as a service animal is a service animal, that's pretty much the end of the conversation. If you need additional training on this issue, speak with your supervisor; if you just want to argue the matter, do it on your own time.
The Hotel
The manager of the Marriott hotel where I'm staying, whom we'll call "Jeff" (because that's actually his name), was a bit of a different story. Jeff provided me with a wonderful anecdote that illustrates why one should be very careful about disclosing the presence of a service dog ahead of time.Since I was going to be staying at this hotel for several months, I called ahead to negotiate a long-term stay rate. I did *not* get an exceptional rate from this man, and might have actually been better off getting the standard government rate and negotiating a room upgrade later once I was on-site. Nevertheless, we agreed on a rate and a way to waive some weekend charges, which is important to this story.
When I showed up, the young lady at the registration desk told me pets weren't allowed. I assured her that Glindy was a service dog, and she told me she'd have to inform the manager. "Go right ahead," I told her, "so long as you give me my room first." I had no intention of cooling my heels while they sorted things out internally.
A few days later, I was talking to the manager about the fact that none of my weekend charges had been waived. He got angry, and said that since we were on the subject of unmet expectations, he "felt betrayed" that I hadn't warned him that I was traveling with a service dog. When I pointed out that I wasn't obligated to do so, he said "And I'm not obligated to give you any discounts, either!"
I told him that the presence of a service dog was totally irrelevant, at which point he started ranting about how much effort it was to clean a room after a dog was in it, and did I have any idea of how much work this was for him personally? Mind you, he wasn't talking about damages, just about following whatever sanitizing policy his hotel had. Because of his negative attitude, I pointed out that this simply wasn't my problem. I've stayed with my service dog at Marriott-branded hotels all across the country; it had never been an issue before, so this was clearly his personal issue.
When I said that routine turnover wasn't my problem, the guy went apoplectic. He actually said, and I quote it here for the record:
If I'd known you had a service dog with you, I would never have given you a discounted rate!Unbelievable, I know. What he was essentially saying is that he was angry that I hadn't given him a chance to discriminate against me, and that he would have charged me a totally different rate if he'd known I had a service animal. Since I didn't give him a chance to discriminate, he felt "betrayed." Hmmmm.
After this incident, I had to think about what sort of action to take. The bottom line is that this guy was clearly prejudiced, and was even willing to verbally admit that he would discriminate given the chance. But while he was behaving in a remarkably rude and clueless fashion, he hadn't actually discriminated in a concrete way. The fact that he claims he would have, given the opportunity, isn't quite the same as having done so.
Mind you, that's a pretty fine distinction. I'm not at all happy about this guy's attitude, but I'm not sure it's worth pursuing, especially since I'm still staying in the hotel at the agreed-upon rate.
The Moral
So, there are definitely times when I think it's worth it to notify people ahead of time: when calling for a cab or when making plane reservations, for example. But overall, I think it's better to ignore the issue in the same way I expect people to ignore my dog's presence when she's working.If you stop and think about it, that strategy has worked flawlessly: my interview went well, I got the job, and I held the hotel to its agreements. Non-disclosure certainly seems to be an effective strategy for me most of the time, and I will be sticking with it for the foreseeable future.