Rudeness at GNC
Sunday afternoon, I zipped over to my
local GNC store with Glindy to snag some low-carb stuff before they
closed. I knew exactly what I wanted, so I grabbed a few
high-protein drinks off the shelf, and headed straight for the
counter. The girl at the counter rang me up, and that was it:
mission accomplished! Elapsed time in the store was around four
minutes at that point.
As we turned to leave, though, the girl at the counter said: "Next
time, leave your dog outside."
Now, when something like this happens, I typically assume that
people haven't noticed Glindy's service vest, or are ignorant of
the laws which protect service animals other than guide dogs. So, I
politely told her that Glindy was a service dog, and was allowed to
accompany me by law.
The clerk was unpersuaded. "I'm allergic to dogs. You need to leave
your dog outside," she insisted.
"I'm genuinely sorry to hear you're allergic," I replied, "but the
law is quite clear that my dog may accompany me. If you have any
questions about how to handle this situation in future, I suggest
you speak to your manager."
At this point, of course, the store clerk was exacerbating any
allergy issues she may have had by dragging out my time in the
store. Still, I thought it had been dealt with sufficiently, so I
thanked her for her help and began walking towards the door again.
However, instead of letting it go, she sent me on my way with a
final snide comment: "Thank you so much for giving me an
allergic reaction."
I didn't say anything more to the young lady, but I did
call the store manager the following day. I explained what had
happened. It turns out that the clerk had reported most of
the incident to her manager, but had neglected to mention the rude
parting comment.
The manager was polite to me, agreed that the clerk's comments were
uncalled for, and told me that she'd explained the laws to her the
previous evening after the incident. The manager stopped short of
saying that she'd reprimand the girl, and didn't actually apologize
to me for the problems I'd encountered, but I still finished the
conversation feeling that the incident was unlikely to be repeated
at this particular store.