Merged "A Most Upsetting Incident" combined with "B&N and State of AZ"

I hadn't realized how dependent I've become on Gilligan. No, that's not quite right... I hadn't realized how dependent I've become on the degree of independence Gilligan gives me. That is, until today.

On Saturday, we changed cell phone providers to AT&T, purchasing an AT&T Tilt at the same time (It's a fantastic phone, essentially the Windows Mobile 6 answer to the iPhone: http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-pho...sku=sku1060009 ). The phone is so new, the local AT&T Store had to have one delivered, overnight, from their Flagstaff location. They had inadvertently forgotten to pack a few things; today, I needed to go down to the AT&T Store, at the MetroCenter in Phoenix, to get those items. Since a round trip was just outside Gilligan's range, I got on the bus with Gilligan - a straight route - and planned to glide all the way home.

Last week, the continuous pain in my feet was diagnosed as diabetic nueropathy. As I left the AT&T Store, my feet were hurting, I was thirsty, and - since I hadn't eaten yet today - could feel my blood sugar was a little low. On the corner was a Barnes & Noble, with a Starbucks inside, serving as "The B&N Cafe." I glided up the wheelchair ramp, into the store and into the cafe. I parked Gilligan in the corner beside a table, and walked up to the counter, order a Grande Orange Mocha Frappuccino.

A woman walked up to me. She was not wearing any indication whe was a store employee. She simply walked up to me at the counter.

"You need to park the vehicle outside."

I looked at her; she didn't identify herself, she wasn't wearing any employee badge, and I simply responded: "No, I don't." And turned back to the counter.

Again the woman told me I needed to leave Gilligan outside. When I again said, "No, I don't," I added "Arizona recognizes the Segway as a mobility device to assist the handicapped. Title 28. Look it up."

"You have a disability placard," she responded. "Show it to me."

I just looked at her and said "No."

She walked away, I got my frappuccino, sat down at the table, and drank it while perusing a special issue of "SmartPhone and Pocket PC" magazine. When I finished, I started Gilligan and glided toward the door.

As I was getting to the door, the woman stepped out of nowhere, with a Polaroid, and snapped my picture. I stopped Gilligan and stepped off, saying: "You are not authorized to take my photograph," and reached for it.

"This is for the police," she said, "they're on their way and told me to get a picture of you if you tried to leave."

She flat-out refused to identify herself, or her employee number. She set the photograph down on the counter, I reached for it, she snatched it out of the way and said: "You attacked me. You need to leave, now."

I refused, unless an employee there would verify, in writing, there was no attack, and that she was unbruised. None would, so I stayed... and stayed... and stayed... an hour-and-a-half later, the police still hadn't shown. At one point, she again laid down the photo, again I tried to grab it, again she snatched it, and started screaming: "You attacked me! Twice!"

None of the employees would identify themselves; all of them had turned their badges around so no names/pictures were displayed.

I used my Tilt to go online to get Barnes and Noble's corporate number. The number is not readily found on their website, so I called another store, locally, and asked them for the number. I was put on hold. And transferred. And put on hold again. Finally, someone picked up the phone and said, "Oh, it's 1-800...) and gave me a number.

That number was, actually, a local sex-chat line. I immediately called that store back, the same woman answered the phone, laughing, and told me "I don't have corporate's number, it's a big secret," and hung up the phone.

So I called Bill at work. He went online, got the number, and called me right back. I immediately called their corporate office and got VoiceMail; corporate was closed for the day.

Still, no police had arrived, so I called them. I said: "Hi, someone from Barnes and Noble at the MetroCenter called quite some time ago, and no one's responded." They asked me my information; without thinking, I gave it to them. The woman who had taken the picture was scribbling the info as fast as she could. The police then told me someone named "Sammy" from Barnes and Noble had cancelled the call.

Thinking there was, finally, someone sane to talk to, I asked an employee to please get Sammy; he said she was unavailble, and had just left for home.

In the meantime, my blood pressure is all over the place, my pulse is racing, my heart is pounding, and I'm starting to get the little electric shocks that indicate, to me, a major sucker-punch of angina is coming up.

I finally just said: "I'm not going to let you people kill me." I looked at the woman who had started this whole embraglio and said: "I'm going to see to it you're fired." And left, leaving behind my photograph and my personal information (or however much of it she was able to get).

I glided up to the nearest bus stop... and BAM. I got a nitro out of my pocket and slipped it under my tongue.... ten minutes later... BAM!! A second nitro. In the 40 minutes I waited for the bus, I used three nitros.

As soon as I got home, I called my neighbor and told him I fully expected to be arrested at any moment; I was sure the woman, who must have been an employee, would have no compunctions about bruising her forearms to support a claim of my "attacking" her.

I called yet another Barnes and Noble store, in Fountain Valley, and asked about their corporate structure, to determine if there was a "regional" division before the corporate level. There was, and the Regional Manager's office was, coincidentally, at the Fountain Valley location I called (which I only called because it was the last one in my area code with which I hadn't had contact, personal or telephonically, today). The District Manager, Julie Heyes, was out of the office "in a meeting," but I spoke with JoLynn Bizjak, her assistant.

I laid everything out for Ms Bizjak. She kept trying to minimize the actions of the employees, but I wouldn't let her. After I related the incident, she said she would contact Ms Heyes, and would try to get back to me. I told her, as I told my neighbor, that I fully expected the police to arrive at any moment and arrest me for a non-existent assault and that, if I lived through that, my first phone call would not be to a criminal attorney, but to a civil attorney to sue Barnes and Noble, Julie Heyes and Ms Jolynn Bizjak, as corporate and private entities.

I called Bill back at work; he was fed up. "Most people," he said, "would have called an attorney as soon as they left the store. You call her back and tell her you want the regional manager right now."

Bill and I talked for about 20 minutes, then I hung up and called the regional manager back. The assistant hemmed and hawed, saying she had passed along some of the information, but that Ms Heyes was in an important meeting and, probably, "couldn't do anything about this until sometime tomorrow."

Again, I spoke of the health issues and how they were still playing with me. "You interrupt that meeting and tell Ms Heyes she has one hour to call me, or in one hour and once second, I'm calling the first attorney in the phone book."

"She's in a meeti...."

"One hour. That's it." And I hung up.

The regional manager called me back within five minutes, attempting to brush everything aside with "Segways are new. I think this is the first time one's even come into one of our stores."

"Wrong," I said, "I've taken mine into your stores; I've taken mine into THAT store before."

"Well, she just didn't know how to handle it; it's like when people first started coming in in electric wheelchairs, it was something new, and we needed to evaluate...."

I cut her off.

"You don't evaluate anything. In Arizona, the Segway is considered to be a personal mobility device. It's an aid to the handicapped. It's allowed anywhere wheelchairs are. And it's a complete violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for your employee to ask what my disability is, and to provide her with some type of "proof" I'm disabled."

That's the way our conversation went. In the conversation, I finally learned the woman's name... Sammi. The very same Sammi who called and cancelled the police call, yet kept the situation going in the store. I also learned Sammi violated company procedure by calling the police. The local district, except in cases of extreme emergency to stop the threat of immediate violent, must channel all police calls through the district office. In calling the police, Sammi did not go through the district office.

It's now 8:47, almost six hours later, and I'm still getting little punches of angina. I'm still pissed someone would hinder my access to "real life" out of their own ignorance. The District Manager told me there were complaints from customers; I told her that was a lie. When Ms. Heyes said she didn't know that, I simply pointed out all of Sammi's actions that afternoon... then asked if she REALLY believed there were any customer complaints.

She was silent.

Sorry for being so long, but I needed to get this out. Tomorrow, I call an attorney and contact the ACLU.

Eric Payne
Glendale, AZ

[polo_pro]

Absolutely infuriating. Situations like that merit videotaping so there's no question as to how people behaved and what transpired. Those B&N employees behaved in a completely inappropriate manner, and if one or more of them end up fired due to your actions, it's completely understandable.

One of my fellow gliders is a pit bull of an attorney. I've seen him in action when defending his rights to glide as a disabled person. In reading your story, I wished that he were in that situation with you because I've seen him tear apart people like Sammi. He has spent alot of time in AZ so he knows the laws there well (and possibly can give you some referals). PM me if you'd like to "bring in the big guns".

[KSagal]

It is frustrating and upsetting to hear your story, but I want to support your efforts here... Ignorance is all about us, often punctuated with arrogance. The best answer is to no let them get away with it. This was not the type of ignorance that is a simple lack of education, but that which is borne from the abuse of power...

You should proceed at your own pace, even if it is not the pace that another may use. Heed the advice of your attorney. If the first one does not fight hard enough for you, then stay up late and jot down the number of some of the pit-bull-lawyers that often advertise on late night television...

My last comment is that you should not let it get to you. The world is full of fools, as I am sure you know. Also do not forget the technology you have with you. If nothing else, that high tech phone may have a camera in it, and photographs of the emplyees with their badges turned backwards would have helped your case, as they will make it into a 'he-said, she-said" kind of thing. At that point, a few employees with their badges reversed would give your situation more credibility in the face of a non responsive corporate upline...

[macgeek]

My only problem, is why didn't you show that idiot woman your placard, and shut her up?
I am met with rudeness and arrogance all the time, from police, from bicyclists
The way I handle it, is by smiling, and calmly explaining the facts.

I think this whole incident could have been avoided if you just would have shown her your id, stated the law, and had your drink. YOU HAVE THE LAW ON YOUR SIDE!

Jonathan

That's right, and part of that law is:

A disabled person doesn't need to keep proving a disability the state has already determined falls under their definition of disabled. As soon as I told her I was disabled, that should have been it.

Technically, my using the placard on Gilligan to identify myself as disabled is ILLEGAL, since the issuance of those placards is for motor vehicles only, and a Segway, in Arizona, is NOT a motor vehicle.

By law, a merchant is NOT allowed to ask the nature of, or ask someone to prove a disability. Would you have even bothered to ask that question if I had come in the store in a wheelchair? She had internet access; I told her the applicable Title and statute. I didn't even need to do that.

Eric Payne
Glendale, AZ

[hellphish]

The law doesn't require you to show proof of disability nor does it require you have a placard while using an EPAMD. Placards are for parking and are strictly a DMV thing.

EDIT: Beat by Eric

[Tarkus]

Way to hold your ground Eric.

As far as "placards", any generic Handicap Symbol will do. It doesn't have to be issued by anyone. I use one just to avoid questions.

Be Big,
Alan

[Sharkie]

I got one of the disabled placards that were selling on EBay that used a light mount peg to attach it to the CS. It is nicer than the stick on ones I had on my front bag, and it doesn't peel off when I lay the Seg down in the van. It's not authorized by anyone, but as pointed out, it doesn't have to be. It's there to help stop arguments and most of the time it accomplishes that goal.

Jim

[unclejay]

Everyone in America thinks they're a cop these days. I was at PHX airport plane watching with binocs (a 50 year habit) and got accosted. It seems 9-11 is the catch all for trash the constitution.

[Mr_Laurenzano]

20% VA
10 for my feet
and 10% for PTSD

When they ask me to explain my disablity I tell them that it is triggered by loosing my freedom and I become unexplainablly violent, with no memmory of the event. Then I kick people wildly and call my lawer on speed dial one. It's very effective and rarley do they denie my access to where-ever.
Eric Please SUE THEM HARD. When the direct actions of people cause harm to those arround them they ussally are arrested.
CALL THE LOCAL NEWS- have them meet you there and give demos right out front.
I can come and visit. Wait till they get a load of me.
CRASH, Antonio R Laurenzano, LVN
Accident free since 2003