Woman with underdeveloped hands, arms sues eatery over treatment
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:26 p.m. CT July 3, 2007
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ROCKFORD, Ill. - A woman born with a condition that resulted in underdeveloped hands and arms is suing a McDonald's restaurant owner, claiming employees refused to serve her when she wanted to use her foot to collect bags of food at a drive-through window.
Dawn Larson was born with Holt-Oram Syndrome and has small hands that extend not far from her shoulders. She has adapted by using her feet for many activities.
"I drank my baby bottle with my feet. Nobody ever taught me how to do it, I just did it," Larson said. "I can ride a regular 10-speed bike. I can swim. It has not been a problem in my life at all. It didn't stop me from having four boys. I've never dropped one of them."
In a lawsuit filed last week in Winnebago County Circuit Court, she alleges employees at two different McDonald's restaurants in Rockford recoiled when she tried to retrieve her food using her foot.
In both incidents, employees eventually agreed to give Larson's food to other people in her vehicle, including her son and a friend, the lawsuit alleges. Both times, cashiers at different windows took her credit card from her foot with no problem.
"I felt discriminated against, harassed, embarrassed," Larson said. "All I wanted was the food I had paid for with my money card. I just wanted to feed my kids."
Larry Taylor, director of operations for McDonald's Restaurants of Illinois Inc., which owns the two restaurants, said in a statement e-mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times that the company had not seen the lawsuit but has a strict policy prohibiting any form of discrimination in its restaurants.
"We care very much about our customers and take this allegation seriously," Taylor said. "We do our very best to serve our customers with the utmost care and respect."
First of all, she has four kids, so clearly she's not a youngster. Is this REALLY the first time she's run into a problem like this? Or just the first time she ran into a problem like this with someone who has deep pockets?
Second, what exactly constitutes "Discriminated against, Harassed, and embarassed" in this country anymore? I can buy the embarassed part, to a degree. I would think after 40 years or so of having young kids who know no better blurting out comments about her short arms, going through grade school and high school with short arts, etc., that this woman is pretty used to it, so just how "embarassing" can it be when a clerk at a drive through won't hand a bag of food to your foot?
And exactly who are you embarassed in front of? You're in a friggin' car! YOUR CAR!
That's to say nothing of the fact that I wouldn't be shaking ANYONE'S foot myself! So if you try to have me hand something to your foot I'd probably decline the request too!
How was she discriminated against? Was she not allowed to have her food? Sounds like she got it.
How was she HARASSED (this is the one that REALLY gets me). I mean seriously? Did the clerk call her names, point and laugh at her? What exactly does this woman think harassment is?
This stuff just cheeses me off so bad!
Maybe all fast food restaurants should be required to make their employees take "Holt-Oram Syndrome" training so that the .00001% of customers who have it won't be treated with any level of surprise when they show up.
OR MAYBE, this woman should realize that people are HUMAN and when someone pulls up to a drive through and wants to complete their transaction with their FEET people are going to be a little startled!
she did have someone take her card from her foot, so I can see that it might be more directed in the direction that she was not treated equally at each window.
I might have naturally been hesitant to let her foot the bill so to speak....LOL!!!!
But in the long run it would have been more out of concern for not wanting to redo the order if she dropped it.
