IHOP Blew It
The letter below was sent to the IHOP corporate office by a disabled friend of mine. After reading it, I am thinking I will discontinue patronizing IHOP altogether. I ran a quick report on my debit card, and I have spent $2,947.99 at IHOP #1919 (Fort Smith, Arkansas) in the past five years. That doesn’t include my cash tips or purchases or the money spent by others in my party. It also doesn’t include the amount spent by my adult daughter who often meets me there with her gang.
My $60 a month won’t break IHOP, but my friend’s letter has been posted on several well-read disability-related websites, and their participants have expressed overwhelming support.
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IHOP Corp.
450 N Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91203-1903
To Whom It May Concern:
I had the opportunity to visit the Hagerstown, MD IHOP at 17820 Garland Groh Blvd this past Tuesday, March 4 2008. My nephew and his girlfriend were home from college and no one in our party had ever been to an IHOP previously. I can say for sure that none of us will ever be back.
I am disabled. I have a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy called Mitochondrial Cytopathy with Dysautonomia. I use a power wheelchair, a non-invasive vent, and most notably related to this letter I receive all of my nutrition and hydration through an IV catheter implanted into my heart (known as TPN or Parenteral Nutrition). To look at me there is NO doubt I have special needs.
Upon our arrival (party of 4) we were not exactly greeted. I had to ask if seating was available and was told, despite a ½ empty restaurant, that there was no seating that would accommodate my wheelchair. The greeter never asked my party’s name and never put us on the list. Several other parties came in after us and were seated before us. I understand that my wheelchair takes some extra space, however there was an entire half of the restaurant that was not being utilized (purportedly because staffing issues) that we would have been more than happy to have been seated in. I find it hard to believe that a server couldn’t “serve” us in the other room?
After we were seated a server came and offered menus and asked about drinks. When she returned with the drinks and wanted to take the meal order I asked if I could order off of the kids menu, briefly explained that my entire GI system is totally paralyzed and that I had a card for medical proof if needed. She immediately told me that this wouldn’t be possible. I asked her to take the card back to the manager which she apparently did however I was still refused. At this time I asked to speak to the manager and I was told the manager was NOT available and would NOT speak to me. After a brief but very embarrassing discussion in the middle of the dinning area I was told the manager was working the line. I then asked if I could go back to the kitchen door to speak directly with her, not wanting to create a scene in the dining area, but also feeling as though not a single employee of this IHOP had any sense of what they were doing to me.
I headed back to the restroom, but was headed off by no less than 3 servers. I asked again if I could speak with the manager and I was told that if I didn’t “settle down” the police would be called. ??? After another brief exchange I excused myself and went to the bathroom to pull myself back together. The bathroom was disgustingly dirty and the floor so slick/slippery that I almost didn’t make the transfer between my wheelchair and the toilet. (Side note) This has become the most embarrassing, most awkward, uncomfortable eating out experience I have ever had.
Upon arrival back at the table my family and my aide had been served. I asked for a small plate so that I could at least have “tastes” of their meals. “Exercising my taste-buds” is really what it is all about, that and “social graces”. The server brought the plate. Needless to say the atmosphere was not enjoyable and neither my nephew nor his girlfriend had a lot to say. They were discomfited for me and did not know how to act. We basically ate in silence and couldn’t get out of there soon enough.
The final blow came with the bill. The bill where I was charged $2 for an empty plate! If it wasn’t clear before this point it was now… the ONLY thing this IHOP cared about is MONEY!!! I paid my bill, NO TIP and we left. We will not be back.
The manager of the Hagerstown store is VERY short-sighted! Good reviews don’t often get shared, but the BAD they spread like wildfire. This one has been shared with an international group of friends, all of whom are either tube or line feeders. It has also been sent to the Oley Foundation, an organization that reaches out to support thousands of people who live full active lives with their life-lines.
In trying to find out who and how to contact with my concerns I found the following statement on your website: “Our management belief is that an equity involved franchisee is very responsive to the needs of the guest.” And “We are always focused on satisfying the needs of customers and guests.” You couldn’t prove either of these statements by my experience on March 4th.
Shame, shame on you IHOP!
(signed by Kristie _____)
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This kind of behavior is, indeed, deplorable. When I was a teen, my mother ran a life enrichment center for physically challenged adults. I'd spend my summers riding the wheelchair accessible bus, helping staff run the route to pick up clients, and spending the day with some awesome people -- some with cerebral palsey, others with MD, a few with mental challenges, some young, and some old.
We did all kinds of stuff -- bowling, movies, finger painting, playing pool, picnics, shopping, and the like.
It took awhile for me to understand that most people with special needs don't want special treatment -- they simply want accomodations so they can enjoy normal activities. As normal as possible, given their circumstances.
Unfortunately, I also learned that most individuals are extremely uncomfortable with wheelchairs and the whole notion of being around folks who aren't like them. They're scared to death or have some hang-up. It seems that is more of a barrier to people with special needs than any sort of physical barrier like stairs or opening doors.
That said, I would ask if we know how the employees and franchise owners at the Fort Smith IHOP would treat your friend Kristie. It's quite possible that they would embrace her, accomodate her, and treat her with dignity and respect.
Certainly, you must feel somewhat comfortable in the store or you wouldn't continue to frequent the restaurant. It seems a bit, well, upsetting to think that you'd give up something you enjoy and that the employees here in Fort Smith might suffer economic hardship because of the deplorable actions in another state.
I haven't researched the IHOP franchise arrangement but, typically, a small business person pays a LOT of money to purchase the right to operate exclusively in a town. In exchange, that business owner has access to proprietery recipes, products, training, service marks, etc. In exchange, that business owner must maintain very strict standards in many areas.
Your friend, without question, should tell her friends to stay away from that particular store. In fact, I'd suggest that she find out if the franchisee owns any other restaurants anywhere else in that region. Boycott them, too. Encourage IHOP to pull its franchise agreement. Try to find out if IHOP can legally break that agreement. If the store hasn't done anything legally to violate the contract, encourage the franchise to add language to future contracts that prohibits this type of behavior. Ask advocacy groups to intervene and advise how to stop this from ever happening again at this store, within any other restaurants the franchisee owns, or anywhere else in our great nation. This should never happen again.
But why should another restaurant in another state be penalized if the employees or owners haven't done anything wrong?
My guess is that the Fort Smith store has nothing to do financially with the offending location.
If you're pleased with the service here, if you're pleased with the product, the upkeep of the location, and the people who wait on you -- and your loved ones -- I'd sure consider continuing the relationship. Especially if this store has no financial ties to the franchise in Maryland.
i've worked at an ihop, sadly, and i know that the ihop i worked at had a standard of shutting down one side of the restaurant at some arbitrary time (after the breakfast and lunch rushes). i understand the idea of a 'special needs' person, but i don't understand why a special needs person would assume they deserve special treatment simply because they do have specific needs. perhaps your friend is somewhat justified in his negative reaction to the situation, and certainly has every right to send any letter of any subject to anybody at any time, but this whole situation seems fairly comical to me.
simply because a person requires special attention does not mean that society is somehow magically indebted to that person, as crass as that may seem. you can appeal to emotion and perhaps many people will buckle under that pressure, which obviously wasn't the case at the ihop, but it's just not logically consistent to assume.
what if an exceedingly dumb person chose to visit an authentic chinese restaurant, and when confronted with chopsticks decided to speak with the manager about the potential of having a waitress come over to help him take bites? sure, you can argue that that would be a nice thing for a nice person to do, but we wouldn't assume the establishment's poor quality because the manager chose not to allow that and decided the issue wasn't worth pursuing through a lengthy discussion with somebody who felt entitled to special treatment.
don't get me wrong, i don't think people with 'special needs' should be shunned or ignored, but i do know that if i walked into ihop when they had one section closed and asked them if i could eat in that section and order from the child menu (which is something i don't quite understand, the food seems to have the same consistency as 'adult' meals, though in smaller portions?) i would be informed that it isn't a possibility and my choices would be to either find an establishment that would accomodate my needs, seat myself somewhere else and order from the regular menu, or cause a scene and repeatedly request private sessions with the manager.
no offense, but i don't think ihop is worth the hassle of making a stand against insensitivity to special needs sorts, but i also think contesting establishments is a healthy practice and pretty much fully support anybody in their wish to do so, for whatever reason. i simply do not see any issue here other than that of somebody's sensibilities being violated, and that's pretty petty in my opinion.
this response doesn't even take into account the fact that the only information available to us about this incident is from a probably biased viewpoint of a person who seems to have been emotionally affected by it.
here's my contribution to your cause, though:
the food at ihop sucks. you are better off buying the ingredients and making it yourself.
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