Deaf man sworn at in drive-in
Burger King worker yelled at Christchurch man and refused to take his clearly written order for takeaways
When Christchurch dad Barry Kay does the Burger King run for his family, he writes their orders in large letters on a piece of paper and hands it to the drivethrough operator.
Kay, who is profoundly deaf and can’t use the drive-through intercom, has always ordered this way.
But on Friday last week the experience turned sour when the operator instead told Kay to go inside — he gestured that he’d forgotten his mask and so couldn’t — and then, after opening the window to tell Kay to move his car, yelled and swore at him when he refused to leave the drivethrough lane without his order being taken.
Kay, who had gestured that he wanted his order and then turned his engine off — prompting cars behind to toot their horns — could tell he was being yelled and sworn at because he lip-reads and can pick up tone of voice through body language and facial expressions.
Another staff member then came outside and asked him to move his car.
The incident, which took place at the Burger King in Shirley, Christchurch, left Kay “shocked” that someone would treat him that way.
“I’m normal just like anyone else, I just wanted to order dinner for my kids,” he told the Herald on Sunday.
“Why would they treat me differently than others?”
Staff eventually gave in, giving Kay his order — which he then discovered was wrong and that he’d been overcharged, prompting an angry response from a staff member when he raised it, Kay said.
He decided to drop the matter and leave, but was stunned at his treatment from the popular fast food chain.
It shouldn’t matter if a person was deaf or hearing — all should be allowed to use the drive-through, he said.
Kay, whose three children are also deaf, was telling his story to raise awareness.
Burger King staff should be trained to adapt to deaf customers’ needs, he said. They should also learn basic New Zealand Sign Language, to make deaf people feel included in society.
Burger King NZ couldn’t be contacted yesterday, but the chain’s head of marketing Andrea Spearman told Stuff the company had contacted Kay to apologise.
Their staff member hadn’t handled the situation “as we would have liked them to” and they’d followed up with Burger King Shirley, and other outlets, to make sure orders through the drive-through by members of the deaf community could be handled safely, Spearman said.
They’d also contacted Deaf Aotearoa to talk about how to take orders safely under Covid-19 restrictions, which required drive-through windows to remain closed.
Deaf Aotearoa chief executive Lachlan Keating told Stuff that deaf people regularly struggled to order at drive-throughs before Covid-19, and the pandemic shouldn’t be used as an excuse.
Kay’s experience was discrimination, Keating said.
He encouraged staff to remove face masks so deaf people can lipread — mask removal for communication with deaf and hard-of-hearing people was allowed under Covid rules.
Writing down orders on paper or turning around the screen were other ways to be helpful, he said.