If there is one thing that we realize about the world that we live in, it’s the fact that there is a lot of diversity. We see it in everything from food and living accommodations to the people that share our communities. Sometimes, people are different but it doesn’t mean that they are better or worse, they just are different. Perhaps you have seen this with special needs individuals and if you get to know them, you realize that they have an awful lot to offer. Unfortunately, not everybody feels that way but when a special needs employee came under attack at a restaurant, the owner stepped forward and put them in their place.
When Amanda heard of an incident at her restaurant, she was eager to learn what really happened. That’s when she understood that one of her employees who happens to have autism was harassed by a rude customer.
Many of the people who work in her restaurant are disabled and the reason behind her decision to hire them is because she knows very well that these people might need more time to master a task than others and they learn at their pace, but once they acquire the skills they are unstoppable.
Amanda has a unique way of doing business and that’s appointing specific tasks to different people so everyone is in charge for their tasks only. The customer asked the employee to refill a bowl with lettuce, but he wasn’t trained to do that. After the manager explained to the customer their way of doing things and how the employee didn’t do what he was asked to simply because he didn’t know how to do it, the customer became even more frustrated. Before he left Pizza Inn he said how they should have hanged a sign with a ‘warning’ that disabled people work at the place.
Instead of getting angrier, Amanda actually thought that might be a good idea.
The sign she put at the door of the restaurant said,
“We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and hire all of God’s children.”
Amanda told WYFF that putting that sign was sort of appreciation for her employees’ job well done over the course of the years. That was also a perfect way of protecting their emotional and mental health. Amanda says, “These are like my kids, and it made me angry. I wanted to do something that was not rude, but got my point across.”
