Oops! We Did It Again!

An autistic girl was asked to leave a store in Canada, due to a misunderstanding regarding her service dog.  There was no misbehaving, it seems an employee made a mistake and was a little enthusiastic about keeping order in the store.  The little girl was cool, her mom was good about it, and the store sent her a $25 gift card and an apologetic letter.

Sounds okay, right?  It was, until she went back and was asked to leave the store again.

On Sunday, Emily, Levi and her mother visited the store to use the gift card when they were told by store staff that Levi, whose harness identifies him as a service dog, was not allowed into the store.

"We were asked to leave the store," she said. "My child's service dog was not permitted in their establishment anywhere. And if that's true, then that includes my child because there is no separation between the two of them."

Emily said leaving the store made her sad.

"I was disappointed that I didn't get anything from the store, even my dress that my mom picked out nicely for me," she said.

Ainsworth described the incidents as uneducated and unfounded bullying.

"It's demoralizing," she said. "It's demeaning."

Ainworth doubts the sincerity of the store's apology.

"Had they taken it with seriousness, then I think their staff would have become educated," said Ainsworth.

She's got a point. If the store had actually wanted to correct the problem, they should have taken steps to make sure that employees were made aware of the mistake so it did not happen again, least of all to the same child.

The parent company of Winners says allowing service animals in its stores is standard policy.

"We are looking into the particulars regarding this customer's experience and will reach out to her directly, as well as take whatever actions we believe are appropriate," said Doreen Thompson, TJX spokeswoman.

For those who do not speak corporate-ese, that's just a fancy way of saying, "Holy crap, you saw that, did you? Okay, okay. We'll do something this time."

Stupidity sale, 50% off! Though I don't think anyone's buying it this time.