Racism at Lowe's

[cyclonefence]

This is an email I just sent to Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe's--who happens to be a black man:

Dear Mr. Ellison,

Organized Democrats generally shop at Lowe's rather than Home Depot for political reasons; my husband and I have not shopped at Home Depot since the second George Bush administration. We shop at the Langhorne PA Lowe's and have always been treated with respect and even friendliness by the staff. We are white.

Our friend, Sam (I am omitting his last name because he does not know I'm writing this) is a black man who works two jobs (he is a counselor at a nationally-recognized residential school for people with disabilities and a personal trainer at a prestigious national chain of gyms) in order to support a charity he founded several years ago in Liberia, where he was born. He has made it his mission to help his native village become independent and prosperous through supplying them with modern farming equipment, educational materials for the school, and general donations of clothing and household goods. He has even raised enough money through his salaries and donations to send them a truck.

He was in our local Lowe's looking at marked-down items he might buy to send to Liberia. He saw a sink in the sale aisle which had been reduced in price because the packaging was damaged. He further opened the box to see how badly damaged the sink itself was. Two salesmen swooped down on him and asked if he needed help. He said no, he was just trying to see what the sink looked like. The two men lingered nearby until he was so uncomfortable he left the store.

I have never been approached by a salesperson at Lowe's. It is a busy store, and I have always had to flag down someone when I've needed help finding something or getting information.

Sam's story made me sad and ashamed, and I think Lowe's owes him an apology.

Sincerely,


cc: democraticunderground.com

[Melon]

1. I worked at Lowes

People….all people…damage, open packaging, take parts out of boxes. We would obviously watch for that. Opening a package if we saw it would absolutely be a reason to ask if someone needed assistance. I don’t see any racism here at all.

[Xavier Breath]

6. Yep, if I opened a package in any store I guess I'd expect that same response.

[Mosby]

2. I worked at Lowes for a short time.

Nothing in your letter etc sounds legit.

Maybe it's the local store, but employees are trained and held to standards when it comes to customer interactions. Minorities and foreigners are a HUGE part of the customer base and everyone knows that. Every customer is greeted and asked if they need help.

Moreover, floor employees are not tasked with loss prevention, they have undercover employees to handle that so it there were employees "lingering" it's because they wanted to help. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Hmmm!

I'm a 68 year old white guy, and I think if opened packaging, I'd have somebody come over to see if I needed help.
Sam seems an admirable guy, but I'm not sure their reaction was as you have inferred.

[LogDog75]

4. My Lowes Story

I like Lowe's more than I do Home Depot. Lowe's stores are cleaner. shelves neater, and they have better lighting to see things. I recently had a problem with Lowe's but it's been resolved.

On March 3rd, I ordered a microwave oven from their store and I also paid for delivery and installation. A couple days later I received a call from the store saying the microwave was in and the installation company would pick it up and call me for an installation date. They called and I scheduled it fr Wednesday. On Tuesday, I went into the hospital for two days with vertigo so I missed the installation date. After I was released, I called the installation company and left a message on Thursday and Friday. They finally called on Monday and we set Tuesday to install it. When they came. the asked if I had the microwave and I said they were suppose to have it. They said they didn't have it. I called Lowe's customer support and explained what happened. The customer service rep looked up my purchase and put me on hold while they contacted the store. The rep said the store manager looked up my purchase and said my wife had picked it up. I told the service rep that was impossible because I'm single and have never been married. The service rep said I'd have to go to the store and straighten it out. I couldn't drive because I was still having dizziness room the vertigo and could barely walk. I called the installation company the next morning and explained what Lowe's said and I asked if they could check so see if they had it. They checked and it turned out they had it. I scheduled a day for installation and it was installed.

Why Lowe's said my non-existent wife picked it up is beyond me.

[Clouds Passing]

5. Do you know how many things, how much time , how many miles on our cars and how much money

we have spent returning items to Lowe’s which were unopened in the original box because they did not work, were missing parts, dented or broken????? If manufacturers made things correctly to work, with all the parts, not dented or broken then maybe people would not have to open the boxes to check them to make sure they’re in good condition. We open the boxes all the time, especially if it’s a sink or a faucet, etc. And yes, Lowe’s workers do approach us occasionally when we’re doing that and ask if we need anything.

I’m not going to apologize for opening boxes to make sure the product is undamaged and all there.

[MichMan]

7. The first sentence distracted from the point being made about the incident

"Organized Democrats generally shop at Lowe's rather than Home Depot for political reasons; my husband and I have not shopped at Home Depot since the second George Bush administration."