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California Mall Replaces Santa Accused Of Turning Away Autistic Girl Over Her Service Dog
Obviously not the Santa in question. (bnilsen)
Perhaps the only thing worse than being terrified by a mall Santa Claus is not getting to hang out with the guy when your heart is set on it. The family of a 7-year-old autistic girl in California says the youngster was “heartbroken” when she didn’t get to see Santa after a 30-minute wait, because he didn’t like the look of her service dog.
According to a family friend who spoke with the OC Register, the man was afraid of the five-year-old pit bull named Pup-Cake, and turned the girl away, she said.
“For an autistic child to wait in line for 30 minutes, that’s an accomplishment in itself,” the friend said of the girl’s experience.
She says that the family tried to explain that the pooch was a trained service dog, allowed by law to be at the mall. But then, “Santa suddenly became allergic,” claims the friend.
“This particular dog … she’s trained, not menacing, and she’s little,” she said.
The family contacted mall officials, who immediately responded and said that the Santa in question had been removed from his post.
“We do not condone the behavior displayed by Santa and have worked with our partners at Noerr, the company that hires our Santas, to replace this Santa with one that is more compassionate to our guests’ needs,” the mall said in a post on its Facebook page. “We look forward to welcoming back the… family and Pup-Cake for a special Santa experience.”
That’s good enough for the girl’s family, the friend says, and they hope others can learn from the incident.
“They want people to get educated not about autism or pit bulls, but about the disabilities act so that little girls [like her] won’t go and see Santa and end up crying.”
Santa at Mission Viejo mall rebuffs autistic girl over service dog [OC Register]
Self-Storage Facilities Grow, Keep Our Useless Junk Out Of Sight
This is an amazing country, after all: a place where we don’t just have a self-storage industry, but we have an multiple television shows about people who buy items that storage unit renters have left behind.
Bloomberg Businessweek called our attention to this growing sector of the economy and of the suburban landscape, and to an incredibly weird statistic provided by the self-storage industry’s lobbying association:
There is 7.3 sq.ft. of self storage space for every man, woman and child in the nation; thus, it is physically possible that every American could stand – all at the same time – under the total canopy of self storage roofing.
Yes, they are saying that it would technically be possible to lock every person in this country inside of our self-storage facilities. Actually, U-Haul tried that with one of our readers back in 2009 (not on purpose).
According to the Self-Storage Association, almost 9% of households in this country have a self-storage unit. That’s rather impressive, especially since the size of average homes has grown significantly during the last century. While being able to store items long-term is important, it does raise the important question of what we’re keeping in there. While many people who currently live in tiny apartments might have inherited their grandmothers’ sideboards, that can’t be everyone.
Hoarder Nation: America’s Self-Storage Industry Is Booming [Bloomberg Businessweek]
2013-14 SELF STORAGE INDUSTRY FACT SHEET (as of 11/22/2013) [SSA]
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Manassas City Council votes against proposed study on opening Lake Manassas - Washington Post
Manassas City Council votes against proposed study on opening Lake Manassas Washington Post The Manassas City Council voted Monday not to proceed with a study that could have led to opening Lake Manassas to the public for recreational uses such as fishing and boating. The council voted, 4 to 2, against a motion by member Marc T. Aveni (R) to ... |
Girl Scouts Will Finally Be Allowed To Sell Cookies Online
The AP reports that Girl Scouts will now be allowed to sell cookies online — through mobile apps or personalized websites — if they get the thumbs-up from their scout councils and guardians.
Girl Scouts of the USA tells the AP that scout councils will be given two online platforms to choose from (they can’t opt into both) when sales season heats up in the coming weeks.
The website option would allow individual sellers to create their own online pages that can be personalized with the scout’s first name and, if she chooses, videos introducing themselves and explaining the purpose of the cookie sales.
The scouts would send out links to their personal sites to potential buyers, who can order and pay online. These sites would only be accessible by the e-mailed links. The notion is that this both encourages the scouts from developing sales leads and maintains some level of privacy.
The mobile platform appears to be a higher-tech version of the more traditional person-to-person sales the scouts have done for decades. But rather than carrying around paper order forms or hoping to eventually get paid, everything would be done via the app.
So while, in either of the options available to scouts, consumers would still need to make some sort of connection with a local scout, it gives the young sellers new options in terms of reaching more people. For example, parents who help sell by taking orders at their offices no longer need to hunt down their colleagues for cash, or worry about the cookie stash being stolen from their desk. Instead, people would be able to pay directly online and orders would be shipped straight to the buyer.
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Find Local Parenting Groups to Share Baby Supplies
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Avoid Losing Stuff in Hotel Rooms by Laying Out a Towel as a Home Base
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All the National Chains That Offer Free Wi-Fi
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10 Grammar Mistakes People Love To Correct (That Aren't Actually Wrong)
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The Difference Between “Nonstop” and “Direct” Flights
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Four Actionable Ways to Improve Your Running
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Pour a Carton of Juice Upside Down for Fewer Splashes and More Control
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Five Common Myths About Meditation Debunked
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Another Researcher Shows How Social Networks Can Follow You Online
Security researcher Andris Atteka discovered a way to see LinkedIn users that came to his blog page, and get their profile information as long as they were logged in when they did it. It serves as a good reminder: log out of social networks when you're finished.
Deal with the Elephant in the Room First to Become a Better Leader
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Wrap Your Paint Trays in Plastic Bags for Easy Cleanup
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This Video Explains When Carbon Steel Knives are Better than Stainless
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Wrap Corks with Wax Paper to Easily Reseal and Reopen Wine Bottles
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What “Frugal” Habits Aren’t Actually Worthwhile?
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Ask Yourself These Five Questions to Prioritize Your To-Do List
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Eight Ways to Help Improve Your Child's Vocabulary
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