Posted on 04/25/2010 7:58:32 AM PDT by JoeProBono
SYDNEY – An Australian restaurant that refused a blind man entry because a waiter thought his seeing-eye dog was "gay" has been ordered to apologize and pay compensation.
Ian Jolly was told he could not take guide dog Nudge into Adelaide's Thai Spice last May because a member of staff objected, The Sunday Mail reported.
The restaurant's owners said a misunderstanding had arisen between Jolly's female companion and a waiter, who understood the woman "to be saying she wanted to bring a gay dog into the restaurant".
"The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog," the owners said in a statement to South Australia's Equal Opportunity Tribunal.
The tribunal on Friday ordered the restaurant to pay Jolly 1,500 dollars ($1,400) and offer him a written apology for discriminating against him on the grounds of disability.
The restaurant, which displays a "guide dogs welcome" sign, refused to comment to the newspaper and was unavailable to respond on Sunday.
Jolly told the Sunday Mail he was happy with the result.
"I just want to be like everybody else and be able to go out for dinner, to be left alone and just enjoy a meal," he said.
Say “guide dog” with an Australian accent... it sounds a lot like “gay dog”.
LOL
Reminds me of the line they’re advertising from a movie where some bimbo cheer leader type comments to her friend that “Dolphins are just gay sharks. No, really.”
LOL!
The accent was the first thing I thought of, too!
Still, it was a bit preposterous for the restaurant people to do this. And anyway, aren’t they Aussies too? Actually, I just noticed that it was a Thai restaurant, so maybe they weren’t Aussies after all.
That a waiter thought the customer said “gay dog” says rather more about the waiter than the customer.
However, if the customer didn’t ask for, and see the management about this issue, it seems unfair to bill the management for the act of a clearly non-functional employee.
The fine should be paid by the waiter, not the employee.
The above assumes that management didn’t support the employee.
Could be, could be. But, I think there were other clues, too....
“I just want to be like everybody else and be able to go out for dinner, to be left alone and just enjoy a meal,” he said, “and if my dog homosexually rapes other dogs, well, that’s just his choice.”
A written apology?!? WTF! Is this the elementary school teacher court? Is the minister of apologies going to decide if the apology is sincere enough?
Don't be silly. The Aussies don't have a Ministry of Apologies.
You're confusing them with the British.
>”You’re confusing them with the British.”
LMAO!
Niaxt toime, wrat it oot, say thay kin oonnerstan what ye be sighin'!
I managed to insult two countries in one joke. I could go to work for 0bama’s State Department.
That must be Mohammed next to Stan.
Also - did the judge consider how the blind owner of the guide dog was going to READ that written apology?? At least order the restaurant to submit it in braille.
Reminds me of the line they’re advertising from a movie where some bimbo cheer leader type comments to her friend that “Dolphins are just gay sharks. No, really.”
That wasn’t from a movie. That was from the TV show “Glee”.
This week she said, very seriously, “I think my cat is reading my diary”
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