A TikTok uploaded yesterday is going viral for showing just how misunderstood service dogs and their owners are. In it, an owner is shut down outright by a restaurant manager who has been misinformed or is willingly oblivious about the law and how it applies to service animals, per 1990’s Americans with Disabilities Act.
@jakethes.d I got asked to show proof of jakes registration at this country store, and when I tried to explain to the manger she cant ask for proof, there is no such thing as registrations she was extremely rude to us. #servicedog #serviceanimal #fyp #foryou #disabled #disabilityawareness #tiktok #dog ♬ original sound – Haylee&Jake❤️
Haylee and her service dog Jake, who go by Haylee&Jake (@jakethes.d) on TikTok, were shown being cut short by a restaurant worker in a video that now has 1.5 views.
In the caption, Haylee states, “I got asked to show proof of Jake’s registration at this country store, and when I tried to explain to the [manager that] she can’t ask for proof, [that] there is no such thing as registrations, she was extremely rude to us.” Haylee did not identify the restaurant in the video.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act’s website, “Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.”
The website goes on to note, “Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.”
When Haylee explains that there is no such thing as special documentation for her service dog, the manager (who is not shown in the video) insists that she needs to see some because “we have food.” Per the ADA, service animals are allowed in any business in any public area—including restaurants and other establishments that serve food.
One viewer commented that some establishments actually get the tables turned on them when they try to call the police on customers with service animals. “This has happened to me twice where they called the police on us for not leaving and both times, the restaurants got written up,” they wrote.
In the video, Haylee goes on to explain to the manager that she is only allowed to ask two questions of anyone with a service animal. Haylee then states that the manager brusquely put up her hand as if to say, ‘enough,’ thanked her, and walked away. The Daily Dot has reached out to Haylee via TikTok for further comment.
Many of Haylee’s viewers responded with similar stories. One wrote, “This happens to my partner all the time, especially because our dog is a Cocker Spaniel, ‘not a normal service dog breed,’ and it’s extremely frustrating.”
“We just encountered this this past weekend. My service dog is a GSD, [the] manager got in my husband’s face and I passed out. Glad to say, he was fired,” another viewer wrote.
Shockingly, another user commented that a similar situation “happened to us at the doctor’s office and they insisted I send his ‘credentials’ to the nurse’s private email.”
Most of the commenters chose to focus on Haylee’s grace in handling the frustrating situation.
“You handled that with so much class — my anger issues could never,” one viewer wrote.
“Your calmness is admirable,” another noted about the customer’s reaction to the manager demanding papers for her service dog.
Someone else added, “You’re one of the kindest, most reasonable SD handlers I’ve seen. She had no reason to speak to you like that.”
More information on the ADA and how it pertains to service animals, as well as what a service animal is, can be found at the ADA.gov website.
