GorillaXI Posted August 10, 2012 Member ID: 62 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 73 Topic Count: 480 Topics Per Day: 0.09 Content Count: 4124 Content Per Day: 0.74 Reputation: 1413 Achievement Points: 27905 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 10 Joined: 09/02/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: July 4, 2015 Birthday: 06/16/1972 Share Posted August 10, 2012 After reading this, I will never stay in a Best Western again. A paralyzed Army veteran wants “major policy changes” from a national hotel chain following an incident in which he was mocked when he asked for help down a flight of stairs, his father told FoxNews.com. Staff Sgt. Chad Staples, 28, was checking out of Best Western Plus Monahans Inn & Suites in Monahans, Texas, on Tuesday when he discovered the elevator was out of service, his father Robert Staples said. The former Army sniper, who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in Baghdad in 2007, then called the front desk for help down the stairs from his third-floor room. “He wanted somebody to take his bags and wheelchair down,” Robert Staples told FoxNews.com by phone from his Maine home. “Basically, the girl said, ‘Are you serious?’ He said, ‘Uh yeah, I’m a wheelchair. I need some help.’” The hotel employee, Staples said, replied: “’What do you want me to do about it?’ She laughed at him.” At that point, Staples said his son used a couple “poor word choices” by using two expletives. “He said, ‘Are you [expletive] serious? I’m in an [expletive] wheelchair,’” Robert Staples said. “He then hung up the phone and then threw his bags and wheelchair down the stairs and slid down on his backside.” “It goes beyond serving his country. He’s concerned about anyone who’s handicapped." - Robert Staples, father Best Western representatives, in a statement posted Thursday on its website, apologized for the incident, citing a power outage that impacted the area. “We spoke directly to Mr. Staples and offered a full and sincere apology and reimbursed his expenses while at Best Western,” the statement read. “Best Western has been an industry leader in proactively communicating ADA requirements to its hotels and provides extensive training to address the needs of our disabled guests.” Best Western will now “look to do an even better job” ensuring that all guests are treated with dignity and respect, the statement continued. “We respect Mr. Staples’s status as a disabled veteran and the sacrifices he has made for our country,” the statement read. “We can only hope that Mr. Staples will stay at a Best Western hotel in the future, as our guest, and afford us an opportunity to express our gratitude.” Craig Smith, a Best Western spokesman, said the hotel chain planned to issue another statement later Friday. But Staples, who lives in North Carolina and could not be reached for comment Friday, isn’t satisfied with an apology, however. He wants “major policy changes,” his father said. “This corporation needs to make major changes in how they do things,” Robert Staples said. “He was adamant — this isn’t about money. He wants things changed.” Staples said the hotel employee — identified in news reports as Holly Oyerbides — could have offered extra help or explained to his son that she could not leave the hotel’s front desk. The Monahans News reported hotel owner Andy Patel said staff could have injured Staples if they attempted to help him. Patel also told the newspaper that hotel policy is to call emergency medical services to request help, but he was not sure why that policy was not followed. Staples received a Bronze Star Medal for Valor for his actions in Baghdad on April 10, 2007, when his convoy was ambushed and he used his body to shield another downed soldier, his father said. Despite his service to the country, Staples said the incident has nothing to do with being a veteran. “It goes beyond serving his country,” Robert Staples said. “He’s concerned about anyone who’s handicapped. He was fully capable of getting down the stairs by himself, just not capable of getting his bags and wheelchair down. What if there was a fire? What if someone else wasn’t able to do that?” Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/10/disabled-veteran-says-hotel-employee-mocked-his-request-for-help/#ixzz23Ag5gtAE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowSnow Posted August 10, 2012 Member ID: 14 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 37 Topic Count: 90 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1148 Content Per Day: 0.21 Reputation: 744 Achievement Points: 8230 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: June 25, 2021 Birthday: 03/30/1969 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Sounds like one really fucking stupid fucktard of a person at the front desk. simplemod, BeerGoat, GorillaXI and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
window Posted August 10, 2012 Member ID: 1189 Group: ++ COD2 Admin Followers: 21 Topic Count: 82 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 2012 Content Per Day: 0.38 Reputation: 886 Achievement Points: 12862 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/26/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: 1 hour ago Birthday: 07/20/1966 Device: Windows Share Posted August 10, 2012 Sounds like the BW employee fucked up on this. Why was there not a supervisor to handle this matter? The Best Western chain will suffer from this in the short term. GorillaXI and simplemod 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
hxtr Posted August 10, 2012 Member ID: 220 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 147 Topic Count: 595 Topics Per Day: 0.11 Content Count: 16950 Content Per Day: 3.06 Reputation: 13538 Achievement Points: 129714 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 120 Joined: 09/04/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: October 26, 2023 Birthday: 04/05/1970 Share Posted August 10, 2012 sounds like everyone in the world should smoke a joint and relax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masterlixx Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 285 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 3 Topic Count: 69 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 290 Content Per Day: 0.05 Reputation: 20 Achievement Points: 2204 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/06/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: April 14 Birthday: 11/04/1965 Device: Windows Share Posted August 11, 2012 Well i can say the employee handled it bad, the chain apologized to the client, called him etc so why the boycott Best Western for this.. was not the hotel chain that did it it was an emplyee, Every company has some bad emplyees who handle things bad, there are employees at mcdonalds that get your order wrong, there are best buy employees that dont do things right and so on.. It wqas one bad employee and any hotel i been to asks if i need help with bags, alsmot all are ADA compliant, bt thye can only do so much so his "I WANT POLICY CHANGE" demands to me seem a little, i want some attention.. and usually the statment "Its not about money" usually means.. "its about money". So now all the haters are gonna jump on my opinion.. and my opinion has nothgin to do with his disiability or service to his country.. very commendable to him.. It is strictly on the principle of the article.. Dark Asylumn, HarryWeezer and YellowSnow 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
Labob Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 42 Group: *** Clan Members Followers: 50 Topic Count: 338 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 8337 Content Per Day: 1.51 Reputation: 6072 Achievement Points: 54119 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 12 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Online Last Seen: Just now Birthday: 01/30/1959 Device: Windows Share Posted August 11, 2012 Stuiped press going over board again and dumb asses listening. Had he called somebody else before he blew up he would of had enough people around to carry his clothing down folded one peice at a time. Being a handicap person does not mean when your imposed apon by inaccessability the right to assume everybody should stop and help. What would he of done had it been an 60 year old lady working the desk or heven help us an other wheel chair person who would of told him sorry dude I can'r help ya but let me look around. This reminds me of the assholes who blow up at the counter help at fast food resturants when the cook screws up. HXTR right take a chile pill and look for another answer to yopu issue don't go blaming the help. YellowSnow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
simplemod Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 623 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 21 Topic Count: 62 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1072 Content Per Day: 0.20 Reputation: 417 Achievement Points: 7809 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 10/24/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: January 27, 2018 Birthday: 10/26/1982 Share Posted August 11, 2012 The person at the desk laughed at him, thats a piece of shit person. She didn't offer to call anyone else to help him either. The chains policy blows ass for saying that they are supposed to call Emergency medical personell. That's just retarded. The policy should be that there should always be AT LEAST 1 able bodied person on duty/staff to assist situations like that. Especially if the electricity is out. Yeah, it sounds like a Best Western screw up if you read the entire article. GorillaXI 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowSnow Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 14 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 37 Topic Count: 90 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1148 Content Per Day: 0.21 Reputation: 744 Achievement Points: 8230 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: June 25, 2021 Birthday: 03/30/1969 Share Posted August 11, 2012 It should not matter if it's a Vet or not! Its how we treat one another. Being that this is a War Vet (I'm all for war Vets) should not matter one way or the other. This was one person. The one who answered the phone at the front desk is a dip shit. What changes does this guy want? It was not mentioned in the article. I love all War Vet's and people alike. HMM, I wonder if he wants a PAY DAY! Really can what happened to this guy be that bad. The elevator was down. He could not wait for it to be fixed? How long was the elevator down for? The Hotel has a service elevator I'm sure. Was he alone with noone else to help? I'm sure there are many questions we can ask ourselves. Let's see where this goes. There are always to sides to every story. I'm sure BestWestern is deciding to not make this a big deal because the guy is disabled and a vet. I'm interested in seeing where this goes! Hemps and DEEJAYKEG 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
DEEJAYKEG Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 1238 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 35 Topic Count: 1207 Topics Per Day: 0.23 Content Count: 6083 Content Per Day: 1.14 Reputation: 4984 Achievement Points: 50727 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 11 Joined: 03/12/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: April 11 Device: Kindle Fire Share Posted August 11, 2012 Pleased to see that the USA has enacted law with the aim of removing discrimination against the disabled but I wouldn't think Best Western would have fallen foul of it in this instance as the lift/elevator was unavailable for the able-bodied as well. I do wonder, however, why the accommodation was on an upper floor. What training do BW staff receive in such areas, I wonder? I share the opinion that it appears to be more of a problem with an individual member of staff rather than a hotel chain failing disabled veterans generally. Hemps and Warface 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
Sykorsky Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 3380 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 22 Topic Count: 63 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 376 Content Per Day: 0.08 Reputation: 171 Achievement Points: 3170 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 04/15/12 Status: Offline Last Seen: May 4, 2018 Birthday: 08/18/1965 Share Posted August 11, 2012 call them "Worst Western"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
Warface Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 490 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 50 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 446 Content Per Day: 0.08 Reputation: 350 Achievement Points: 3309 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/22/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: October 18, 2023 Birthday: 04/25/1973 Share Posted August 11, 2012 i agree with deejay,why in the hell would you put a person in a wheel chair on the third floor in the first place???Most places i stay (with any common sense)reserve handicap rooms on the lower level.The one person handled it extremely wrong,but the management that layed out the hotel needs fired as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
simplemod Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 623 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 21 Topic Count: 62 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1072 Content Per Day: 0.20 Reputation: 417 Achievement Points: 7809 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 10/24/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: January 27, 2018 Birthday: 10/26/1982 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Apparently some still not reading the WHOLE article. It says the power was out, which is why the elevator was not working. Understandably not the fault of the hotel itself, but, also, it says that they provide extensive training for their staff to assist disabled, so why some BS stating they are supposed to call emergency personel? This is failure on employee AND chain. GorillaXI 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAH Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 1032 Group: *** Clan Members Followers: 43 Topic Count: 49 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 614 Content Per Day: 0.11 Reputation: 320 Achievement Points: 4179 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/18/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: October 17 Birthday: 10/08/1984 Device: Windows Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) boycott best western? i'm pretty sure there's a mcdonald's employee selling drugs to kids. u gona boycott them too? An employee does a bad job and responds poorly when asked to help a man probably twice her weight thinking he's asking to her to carry him down. Minimal dialogue between the two of them to come to an arrangement. There is a clear hotel policy in place which she didn't do. Emergency services are usually called in to ensure full and proper treatment relevant to condition and to ensure hotel suffers no liability if any fall or injury is sustained because they could get sued. Any details on how she felt after he came down? Misunderstanding? was she available or unavailable to comment. Not mentioned in article.She's apparently not that bright. How long had she been working there? How much experience had she had? Was she young and not yet trained as to full responsibilties of a receptionist. She's refered to as a girl in article. Is the story 18 year old disrepects war vet? I do agree that improved disability access is important and that is the intention of the war vet but it's important everywhere. Best western is doing the same as any other chain and instead of this being about disability access this story is turned into a demonization of best western and saying 'my god what a horrible person she is' and 'how could she do this to a war vet?' sensationalisation if u will. Edited August 11, 2012 by JAH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
Nutcutter Posted August 11, 2012 Member ID: 1540 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 13 Topic Count: 40 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 856 Content Per Day: 0.16 Reputation: 100 Achievement Points: 4812 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 06/28/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: May 6, 2017 Birthday: 09/20/1969 Share Posted August 11, 2012 “He wanted somebody to take his bags and wheelchair down,” Sounds like he just wanted someone to carry his belongings while he dragged his own ass down the stairs. To that I would fault the lazy ass behind the desk who is probably married to the dude at Mcydees selling drugs. Best Western is only paying minimum wage so you get what you pay for, and that would make it their fault also. simplemod 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CobraBites Posted August 12, 2012 Member ID: 2313 Group: Fallen Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 330 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 4924 Content Per Day: 0.99 Reputation: 3034 Achievement Points: 33897 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 4 Joined: 03/19/11 Status: Offline Last Seen: August 2, 2017 Birthday: 05/26/1974 Share Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) yellow snow said it best too many questions not answered but yet everyone quick to judge either way....i understand he is war vet and in wheelchair but some use that to their advantage and abuse the fact they are disable and tend to exaggerate stories ..i mean really how do we know that the girl at desk on the phone really laughed at him...and if it was how we know it was couple other patrons near the desk talkn to each other that were laughing i mean really think bout it just not enough facts listed to post judgemnet Edited August 12, 2012 by CobraBites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GorillaXI Posted August 12, 2012 Member ID: 62 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 73 Topic Count: 480 Topics Per Day: 0.09 Content Count: 4124 Content Per Day: 0.74 Reputation: 1413 Achievement Points: 27905 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 10 Joined: 09/02/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: July 4, 2015 Birthday: 06/16/1972 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 War vet or not, the employee failed to do her job, and the chain failed to fallow up with a correct response. They did not take take care of the people registered to stay there. If you call the front desk of a place you are staying in looking for assistance, then I would hope that they would do their best to provide that to you. Not sit there and laugh at you. Very disappointed BTW, do not let Ping Lo in your room to cal the front desk.. simplemod 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts