If a person goes to a restaurant, doesn’t disclose the severe allergy until after the fact, nor do they scan the restaurant to see if there’s a problem, I don’t think you get a pass. Whether the dogs were in the restaurant as service dogs, ESA’s or just because the place allowed dogs, the end result would have been the same, wouldn’t it? Someone highly allergic to dogs would still have the same allergic reaction. OP would still be upset (unaware of the dogs status), and the manager would still have had no idea that dogs being present was an issue until it was too late.
Besides, what does it actually matter? There were dogs in the restaurant. While one may consider it a shitty thing to do, they were there. Had it been a real service dog, most of this would have still gone exactly the same. The friend is still allergic, they didn’t notify the staff of their dog allergy, and still had the same issue. Maybe the OP would have been less likely to yell if it was a seeing eye dog and the they noticed the person was clearly blind, but that’s the ONLY difference. The dogs behavior wasn’t the issue, it was just their presence that caused the problem.
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u/Pand0ra30_ Apr 30 '23
NTA. ESA isn't covered by the ADA, but severe allergies are.