Monday, October 08, 2007

Fired up

We had the second meeting of the Centre County Down Syndrome Society today. I am blown away with the enthusiasm and ideas that are starting to come together from our little group. There are quite a few families in the area; we are just reaching the critical mass that is needed to organize events like a buddy walk or advocacy campaign. It is inspiring to be around such a great group of people, and we're already making a difference.
We were told a story of a recent visit to Pizza Hut. Our friend was gathering the kids in the car when her sister came out with a look on her face...apparently the 'manager' of the restaurant was getting a series of phone calls from the same person during the lunch rush. After telling the caller again that they couldn't call during the busy lunchtime, she hung up and said something like 'what, do they have down syndrome?' Appalled, her sister told the 'manager' how inappropriate her comment was.
After our meeting, our friend made a call to the National Headquarters of Pizza Hut and passed along her experience. The regional manager called her back only hours later and told her to apologize to our entire organization, and that there are employees of that very restaurant with Down Syndrome. Apparently there had been issues with this 'manager' in the past, and this conduct was inexcusable, so she was
FIRED.
How's that for instant karma?

5 comments:

Tom said...

Glad to hear that the support in your community is growing; maybe at your next gathering you should serve something other than pizza. Glad to hear they took the matter seriously...

Shannon @ Gabi's World said...

I hate to hear of people being fired, but I am glad the made an example of her otherwise this type of behavior will continue.

Archie said...

Tom - Actually, we were thinking a pizza party is in order!

Shannon - I agree; I'm not out to punish everyone who says something dumb - I'd rather educate them so they don't do it again. It sounds like her days were numbered and this was the last straw.

Jeff said...

Rock on ....

Try Hardee's.

Peace

jotcr2 said...

A fair call. Your group sounds great.