The best places that I have found for us have been Target and GameStop. Each time I go in there the associates are friendly, treat me like a normal person and either let Alice do her job or just acknowledge that she is there and move on. A few people ask us what type of dog she is and that is fine, I do my little Meet the Breeds speech and move on. Another great place is IKEA, we went up to the closest IKEA to myself at the end of June while we were on our way to pick up my newest Hamiltonstovare from the airport. We chose IKEA because Hamiltonstovare are a Swedish breed and it isn't every day that I get to show off so much Swedish pride as taking a Hamiltonstovare to IKEA. The associates at IKEA were great, didn't know what she was, but great. We had fun looking around all the various things and generally had a good time.
The worst place by far to go with a service dog that I have found is Wal-Mart, hence the title of this blog. Now I usually avoid Wal-Mart in general just because I don't like their policies on their workers and other things. However, I do go there for prescriptions. The first time I took her to a Wal-Mart we were scared, I mean absolutely terrified by the associates. Alice has a bright red harness on and an ID badge that explains her qualifications and mine, per the ADA I qualify and there is nothing that any person can say about it. Alice performs a job for me that makes my life easier and has been specially trained to do so.
Our first trip to Wal-Mart was to pick a few grocery items and a prescription, then go home. While on our way to the grocery section an associate asked me if she was a service dog. I responded that she was and he said in a very bitter way "Well it better be, because we don't allow dogs here...." First off, she is a living breathing thing with a gender of female, calling my dog an "it" is a surefire way to get my blood boiling. Next off, the red harness and badge are a clue that she is a service dog. To have a dog in a service dog vest/harness that is not a service dog is a federal crime. So I guess that associate thought I was committing a federal crime for kicks, nope, not my style. After we were finished in the grocery section we made the long walk to the pharmacy section, during that time several customers openly glared at me and the associates pointed and stared. So after I paid for my purchases, we promptly left, rather shaken up because I'm not used to being pointed at.
The next time I went to Wal-Mart with Alice was yesterday. I have a stress fracture on my left foot and have unfortunately developed severe tendonitis in my right foot. So I really cannot walk very well without being in pain. So taking Alice with me was a must. I was able to sit with Alice acting as my walking ottoman (her body heat acts as instant heat therapy too) while my boyfriend stood in line. Notice I said that there were no seating areas in line, there were outside of the line. So if someone with a disability sits on a bench near the line but not in it, they will not be served at all. We got to the counter and there was some confusion over a coupon for one of my pain medications, I didn't see the issue, my podiatrist gave it to me some 20 minutes before. So, we stand and we stand and we stand while they give us no indication of what the issue is. Finally to try and speed the process along my boyfriend asks another cashier if she would give us some bags so we may bag up the other items that had already been rung up while we wait. She got really snarky with us about waiting until the cashier got back for her to bag things up. I guess she doesn't expect to see a 25 year old with a service dog going slightly green from pain. What should have been a 10 minute or less time at the counter turned into 25 minutes. By the time I got in my car I was nauseated from pain with tears pooling in my eyes from the pain.
So avoid the great Wal-Mart menace if you can dear clubbies because from my experience that they have no idea what a silent disability is.
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