[Vision2020] Protest at Archies on the Square

[Paul Rumelhart]

Chasuk,

Thank you for doing this bit of research.  We now have at least two 
sides to the story, with one admittedly being only second- or 
third-hand.  It also sounds reasonable to me that what you say happened 
did happen.  It's easy to believe that someone could possibly not 
recognize that someone else was "specially-abled" or 
"mentally-challenged" or whatever the current PC term is.  Especially 
since we don't know the exact type of disability present.  I can also 
understand that someone who is in charge of helping that person (who 
should not be referred to as a "handler") would be miffed if he or she 
did not know that the proprietor was not aware of that person's disability.

This is a classic case of a misunderstanding fueled by emotion.  One 
person thinks the other is insensitive to a person with a disability, 
the other is upset at being assumed to be insensitive to that person.  
Compound this with a bunch of protesters that may or may not be informed 
of the entire event who may or may not have an effect upon this person's 
livelihood and you have a recipe for disaster.

My advice to everyone involved, humble as it is, is to just let the 
whole thing drop.  It's a misunderstanding, not Good vs. Evil or the 
Jedi vs. the Sith. 

Paul

Chasuk wrote:

>JeanC wrote (of Archie's on the Square):
>
>"... a family with a disabled daughter were asked to leave as her
>presence was bad for business."
>
>Of course, she was reporting this story at one remove; a friend
>conveyed this information to her, and now it is a matter of public
>discussion on Vision2020.
>
>I talked to Jim Johnson today.  He and his wife ("Archie"), are the
>proprietors of Archie's on the Square.  I don't get free meals at
>Archie's.  I'm not any more enamored of the meals served there than I
>am of meals served at any other dining establishment in Moscow.  In
>short, I'm as impartial as it is possible to be while still feeling
>sufficiently motivated to conduct my own investigation.
>
>Mr. Johnson's version of events are quite different than those that
>JeanC provides us.  Mr. Johnson was chatting with a table of senior
>citizens, apologizing for lukewarm coffee.  A young man (possibly in
>his early-to-mid-twenties) interposed himself between Mr. Johnson and
>the senior citizens.  This young man (let's call him David) was
>mentally handicapped, but this was not obvious to Mr. Johnson.  For
>all appearances, David was a young drug abuser.  Mr. Johnson invited
>David to sit at a nearby table until he had finished business with the
>senior citizens.  David continued his disruptions, and his companion
>-- now known to be his handler -- did nothing to intervene.
>
>Eventually, Mr. Johnson gave up and went back to the kitchen.  Neither
>David nor his handler were asked to leave.
>
>It was not until David's handler later phoned to complain (of Mr.
>Johnson's apparently insensitive behavior) that Mr. Johnson learned
>that David was mentally handicapped.  The handler threatened to write
>a letter to the editor.  Mr. Johnson suggested that he write two, the
>second to be inserted up the handler's ass.
>
>Mr. Johnson reports that they have never had such a busy Sunday, and
>that those aware of the situation are sympathetic to his side.  He
>further requests that the protesters return on Mon/Tue/Wed nights, as
>it might again improve his business.
>
>So, now we have not a little girl and her family cruelly evicted by
>the heartless proprietors of a local restaurant, but instead the paid
>companion of the mentally handicapped not doing his job.
>
>Or maybe we just have a misunderstanding that could have been
>rectified if anyone had bothered to do five minutes of research?
>
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