Willing Partners Canine Education, Inc.
Linda Krutsinger
(618) 525-7387
juneau@shawneelink.net
Willing Partners Canine Education, Inc.
On June 5, at 2:44 p.m. at the New Athens Casey's General Store (store number #3252) one of our veterans reported a major conflict occurred with a store employee over the presence of their service dog.
The veteran entered the store, was greeted by the cashier and engaged in conversation about the dog of a general nature, (i.e. Can I pet him? How old is he?). Everything nice, nothing unusual. The veteran continued to shop and as the team moved through the store an employee from the kitchen area actually came out from that area and started asking questions in a very confrontational manner.
The employee asked if that was a service dog, he was assured that it was. The employee then wanted to know what it was trained to do. The veteran listed the three tasks the dog is trained to perform. The employee then wanted further information on the veterans medical condition. When he was told that federal law dictated he could not ask for further information, he informed her that he could ask "any damn thing he wanted" and that that was not a service dog and for her to get him the "f" out of his store. His comments were far more vile than what I have reported, but you get the idea.
The veteran obtained this employees name, the name of the cashier, the time, date, store number, location and what was said.
When I got this information, besides being very disturbed over the incident I was disappointed in Casey's. As many of you know, we do quite a deal of business with the Casey's in our areas. Willing Partners probably buys about $2000 in gas cards a year from them to keep our veterans on the road to training, educational meetings, seminars and social events.
I was able to contact the Casey's customer line and transmit all of this information to them.
It took about a week, but Casey's District Manager Mary Ham called to apologize over the situation. She stated that she was not only shocked she was appalled over the incident since the Casey's General Stores have always been veteran friendly. We talked for quite a while, with Willing Partners offering to help with employee training if they needed.
I was assured that the employees in that store, and employees throughout the system, would be re-trained on this issue.
Only time will tell if that store will be a problem in the future. I do feel that Casey's moved quickly on this and will take steps to correct it.