A McDonald's restaurant in Fredrikstad, Norway may face legal action after a blind customer was asked by staff to leave the restaurant before finishing her meal due to her guide dog.
On her Facebook page he customer, Tina Marie Asikainen, recounted the ordeal. She and her five year old daughter were brought to tears as five employees 'loudly' ushered her out of the restaurant.
Kastet ut fra Mcdonalds i Fredrikstad i dag med datteren min pga førerhunden vår Rex. Flott. Vi rakk ikke spise opp maten engang, de tjente i det minste pengene sine.
Posted by Tina Marie Asikainen on Friday, August 7, 2015
The whole situation was "such a bad experience, I was completely in tears, it was so embarrassing," says Asikainen on her Facebook page. This treatment is against Norwegian law, which states that people with disabilities cannot be denied access to any sort of services.
In an interview with Norwegian news website NRK, she shared further details about the incident:
"We had Rex with us when we ordered food," she said. "... one of the employees came and asked us to leave because we had a dog."
Asikainen told the employees of her condition and presented her handler's identity card however "They were not interested in reading it. There must have been twenty customers there watching while five employees loudly asked me to go. I started to cry, which isn't something I often do." According to NRK, Asikainen finally threatened the staff members with legal action, saying she would report the incident to the police.
The two police officers who handled the incident scolded the McDonald's employees for their behavior, but no arrests were made.
Katherine Moe, a public relations officer for McDonald's Norway, offered this apology in a statement to the Associated Foreign Press:
"If this is true we regret it, for this certainly isn't what is supposed to happen."
Asikainen is now considering legal action against the restaurant.
