Christmas is coming and the stores are busy blocking all their ailes. This gets me so mad every year.
You have big chain companies that put stacks of product down the middle of an aisle. They leave just enough room for one shopping cart. Two people can’t even pass each other.
The point of this post is how is a handicaped person supossed to get around. The aisle isn’t accessable to a walker, and certainly not to a wheelchair. Do they just suspend the handicap accessablity laws for Christmas? They might as well cover the signs in the parking lot too, since handicaped people can’t shop in their store.
One year I shoved about five display tables over to one side for someone could get through. This was the main entrance to the store. I didn’t stick around to see what the store personnel thought of that, and I sure didn’t put them back.
I want to know why the stores get away with this. Isn’t it illegal, besides thoughtless?
Our Fire Prevention office stays rather busy from November to the beginning of January chasing down stuff like this at our Mall. Most fire departments worth their salt will chase this stuff down. Its not just a hazard for blocking exits, it also greatly increases the fire load (total amount of stuff that can burn) in a fire. Plus, it makes it a royal pain to move lines around if there is a fire. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. Then again, I’m really uptight about this kind of thing.
Jeremy…
I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine - Kurt Vonnegut
The fact of the matter is most places aren’t handicapped equipped. But remember you only have to make a reasonable accomodation, that is. The law doesn’t say every handicapped person must be helped. Just that a resonable effort is made to serve them.
In fact the last hotel I worked in got away with a lot simply because it was declared an historical landmark and we were forbidden to alter any of the outside. We couldn’t update it with a new door or window or anything. It was funny the rooms had large bathrooms so did the lobby bathroom, but you couldn’t get into the lobby and because the elevator was a funky rare “Euo - Stye” it couldn’t be touched. So if you were in a wheelchair and somehow managed to get into the lobby you’d never make it up to the room. Weird huh?
Mark, there is something called ‘grandfathering’ that means that they don’t have to make changes. Im not sure what that means, anyone want to explain it?
I think that you are referring to the fact that when such rules are made, most of them apply only to new construction. Buildings that were there before the rule are often not affected.
To stay on topic, I’m refering to large retail stores that start blocking even at the main entrance. Large retail corporations that build new stores every year, not a 10x20 foot specialty store, or a historical building.
Reasonable accomodation doesn’t mean you have accessable aisles for ten months of the year, and then block them for two months.