Racist/ biased profiling at its worst!
I am a 6'7" 250lb native male. And every time I walk in these stores I'm followed by multiple employees, especially if I'm in the tool section, looking for my next purchase! Tonight was the that straw! This is the last time that I will go into these stores. I've been in construction for 20 years now and I cannot even imagine how much I've spent in this 20 years in tools, not to mention the materials I've paid for in behalf of my customers.
Tonight I walk in fully intent on finding the next tool for my ever growing business tool selection, and a usual I start to notice just moments after I enter that almost 8 different employees start to gather around the tool section that in in.
Growing up in spokane in all aware of the underlying facial bias towards me, especially given my size. I've done my best to try to ignore it the majority of the time, but this is the second time in 2 weeks that my experience was a glaring example that how I look is much more important to the employees here than the business I have brought over the years.
After trying to ignore them watching my every move I finally select my new skillsaw, since the last one skills aware, bought was a left handed tool and I didn't find that out until I had already arrived at my Hobson and I needed to work more than I needed to waste another hour off the clock returning it and trying to find the correct tool. As I grabbed the tool and started walking 2.5 steps towards the pro desk, where I make all of my purchases, I was stopped by one of the 8 employees who were all watching/ not watching me. He told me that I needed to bring it to the bone pro desk to purchase the tool. I told him: I purchase tools here all the time and I've never I've been told that! He then doubled down and tried to tell me it was their new policy.
Just 2 weeks earlier my sister had to drive me to home depot in my truck to help me return materials from a different job. My brother and his employee helped load it into my truck for me, as I had surgery on my ankle the day prior. This time I was given nothing but a negative attitude from two of the older employees in the return section, telling me the bags were damaged from the rain. To be fair the younger female actually checking me out was great. I informed the older lady that the bags were covered under the 4x8 melamine sheets, and that it was not raining when we left the house. Further more that I could not predict the Waltheweather actually enough to know I needed to wrap them in plastic. It only trained for 5 minutes of the 20 minute drive that entire day. After nothing but more attitude from her I asked for the manager, she said she was one, so I asked for her manager. The guy that showed up was very suspicious of me. Again I am a 6'7" 250lb native male, and given the surgery I was in one of their disabled go carts. After I noticed the male managers suspicious I mentioned that I was not happy with how I was being treated, like I was trying to steal from them, when all I was doing was returning in used materials as I've done thousands of times before. Through our talk I mentioned my business account, the work I'vedone over the years and the amount of business the other company I work for does with them. Only then did his attitude start to change.
Tonight however, there was no such task with a manager, only suspicions and profiling. Honestly in my experience here in spokane they should be looking at ragged looking white males if they are looking for shop lifters. We all know what a meth has looks like, and I am not that. I am a clean cut male, in new clothes, all be it they are a bit big due to it being impossible to find clothes that fit me correctly, but that is a different battle that I struggle with in a daily.
I am sick of spending tens of thousands in tools and 100 in materials each year at a business that looks at me as a their the very second I walk in! Peace out, I know of another business across the street who sells building materials, another tool supplier who sells Milwaukee tools. You will not get a done from me nor any of my customers ever again.
I didn't have yelp before this experience. It was so horrid and ugly, from the who knows how many times in my life that it made me finally get this app to give full account of my last 2 experiences in the past 2 weeks. read more