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[cryptoadam]

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/ho...ack-man-trump-supporter-screams-racist-abuse/

“I said to him, “Sir, when you have your dog in here we prefer that you keep it on a leash,'” according to the Times-Union.



He turned around and said, ‘F**k you. You’re an a*****e you’re a piece of s**t,'” Rucker said.



He says, ‘If Trump wasn’t president, you wouldn’t even have a job.’ He said, ‘You’re from the ghetto, what do you know?'”



“I’ve lived all over the country and I’ve had no one talk to me the way that this guy talked to me,” said Rucker.



After the relentless barrage of insults, Rucker shot back.



“‘You’re lucky I’m at work, because if I wasn’t, this wouldn’t be happening, or you wouldn’t be talking to me like this,'” Rucker told the Times Union.



Home Depot, which had not given Rucker a sizable raise during his decade of service, told the paper that they were sorry their employee was subject to racist abuse, but that he was nevertheless in the wrong.

I don't want to focus on who was right or wrong, but more on how companies now thanks to outrage culture won't stand behind their employees and this is what happens.

We have seen it over and over again the past few months. Employeers are ready to throw their employees away at the slightest complaint or negative press. People aren't worth it if it means someone with 10 Twitter followers and 20 likes on Facebook will post about your company then any employee has got to go.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

WTF? This guy got screamed and yelled at and yet HE is the one who got fired for keeping company policy?

How fucking fucked outrage policy is in the US? I hope he manages to land on his feet, and sue both the fucker and his fucking company for it.

 

[BANGS]

Double edit: Nevermind, I see OP conveniently left out this part: “The problem here is that he had several opportunities to disengage and contact management to deal with the customer. We’re appalled by this customer’s behavior, but we also must require associates to follow proper protocol to defuse a situation for the sake of their safety and the safety of other associates and customers,” a spokesperson for Home Depot said.

Nothing in the article implied this was the effect of outrage culture, and it only reports the employee's side of the verbal exchange...

 

[SpaceNoodles007]

Absolutely ridiculous, and there has been many more cases like this before too. This makes me feel even more disgusted of how Racism is still a big part of this world after all these years.

 

[VAL0R]

Double edit: Nevermind, I see OP conveniently left out this part: “The problem here is that he had several opportunities to disengage and contact management to deal with the customer. We’re appalled by this customer’s behavior, but we also must require associates to follow proper protocol to defuse a situation for the sake of their safety and the safety of other associates and customers,” a spokesperson for Home Depot said.

Yeah, what a garbage misleading thread title (which is becoming a tradition in race related topics). Anyway, in customer service the customer is always right. Always. Even if they are being colossal racist morons you can never engage and start yelling back. The company cares more about their customer friendly image and the bottom line than your feelings.

 

[cryptoadam]

My point of posting this wasn't to say who was right or wrong. Its to show how far companies have gone in their trigger finger to fire their employees. Companies will not stand behind an employee now because of the fear of outrage culture.

Personally in my line of work even if a customer is hurling insults at you, if you swear or threaten them you will get written up and a good chance of getting fired. But the issue wasn't to me about who was right or wrong. I think an exception could of been made, maybe a suspension or serious reprimand based on the circumstances.

 

[off duty ninja]

Even with their explanation, it is in really poor taste. How the hell do you fire an employee for essentially defending themselves against an irate customer. Sure he could have disengaged but reacting the way he did (if the story is accurate) still shouldn't have gotten him fired. I hope this one severely backfires on Home Depot.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

The person was 60 years old, let that sink in, he was not some up and coming rookie, who knows how many years he spend in the company, they could give him a less strict punishment, than a possible life-ruining one.

 

[rokkerkory]

Fuck that

 

[Shiki_]

"Sorry sir, maybe you would like to talk with the manager to resolve this situation?*

*Racist customer start ranting about the worker being weak and a coward*

Judging how Home Depot handled the situation, maybe he would have been fired anyway.

 

[Spheyr]

I'm so glad I work in the position I do, so long as I can justify it after the fact I can say or do pretty much anything within the bounds of the law to an unruly person on-site.

 

[cryptoadam]

Even with their explanation, it is in really poor taste. How the hell do you fire an employee for essentially defending themselves against an irate customer. Sure he could have disengaged but reacting the way he did (if the story is accurate) still shouldn't have gotten him fired. I hope this one severely backfires on Home Depot.

Because the white guy could of been filming it and then posted to his 12 followers on twitter and next thing you know it goes viral.

A company in today's day would rather fire someone then deal with twitter/social media backlash. So this guy is out of a job instead of the company saying that he will be reprimanded but they stand by him and don't think their employees should be subject to racist abuse.

But that doesn't fly in outrage culture today.

 

[off duty ninja]

Because the white guy could of been filming it and then posted to his 12 followers on twitter and next thing you know it goes viral.

A company in today's day would rather fire someone then deal with twitter/social media backlash. So this guy is out of a job instead of the company saying that he will be reprimanded but they stand by him and don't think their employees should be subject to racist abuse.

But that doesn't fly in outrage culture today.

It makes me wonder how much thought these companies are putting into this. They are devaluing their own jobs by showing how easily you can get fired. At least that is how I see it. Their potential workforce will see this and decide to take their skills elsewhere to avoid being axed so easily.

 

[Straight Edge]

Because the white guy could of been filming it and then posted to his 12 followers on twitter and next thing you know it goes viral.

A company in today's day would rather fire someone then deal with twitter/social media backlash. So this guy is out of a job instead of the company saying that he will be reprimanded but they stand by him and don't think their employees should be subject to racist abuse.

But that doesn't fly in outrage culture today.

Except now they have to deal with twitter backlash for firing a long term employee for standing up to someone calling him nigger.

 

[Forthefuture]

Yep sounds like a Trump supporter. Now the poor man is out of a job.

 

[BANGS]

My point of posting this wasn't to say who was right or wrong. Its to show how far companies have gone in their trigger finger to fire their employees. Companies will not stand behind an employee now because of the fear of outrage culture.

As I stated before, there's nothing to be outraged about if the article is true. They didn't fire him because of outrage culture, they fired him for escalating the situation...

If anything, they are gonna get a ton more shit and backlash from outrage culture because they fired him...

 

[Ke0]

Not surprisingly. This has nothing to do with outrage culture and more about the fact your country has very little of any workers rights in place. America got rid of them all because Americans decided that profits and corporations are more important than employees.

 

[LOLCats]

he basically threatened a customer... in any retail setting that isn't acceptable. No matter what race you are.

If a customer berates me over the phone at work (which happens) I dont say things like "oh you're lucky were talking on the phone buddy..."

Thread title is misleading and should be changed.

Other than the lunatic customers comments, this isn't about race, its about one guys bad decision at work and he got let go because of it.

 

[Spheyr]

Yep sounds like a Trump supporter. Now the poor man is out of a job.

Sounds like an asshole, regardless of politcs

 

[Straight Edge]

Sounds like an asshole, regardless of politcs

The asshole specifically brought Trump into his hissy fit.

 

[off duty ninja]

As I stated before, there's nothing to be outraged about if the article is true. They didn't fire him because of outrage culture, they fired him for escalating the situation...

If anything, they are gonna get a ton more shit and backlash from outrage culture because they fired him...

So they fired him for being a human being and having feelings? This is one time where I think feelings are appropriate and we shouldn't be punishing people for having them. Unless he escalated it by getting physical or obscene than I don't think he deserved to be fired. Obviously we don't know if there were other disciplinary issues and this was "the last straw" so this is all based solely on this incident.

To expect people getting paid $13 an hour to maintain the calm of a zen Buddhist while having abused tossed at them is ridiculous. Pulling him aside and having a talk, etc. while allowing him to cool down would have been a much more reasonable approach.

 

[Forthefuture]

Sounds like an asshole, regardless of politcs

That asshole used the black unemployment propaganda used by Trump who also frequenly uses it to silence and shame his African American critics. You say coincidence, I say target audience.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

I'm not seeing the connection to outrage culture. Outrage culture would be on the employees side. Firing this dude seems ridiculous even if he didn't handle it well.

Anyway I worked in retail for a while and while the managers would handle abusive customers with professional courtesy, they would always side with the employees privately.

 

[gohepcat]

Yeah, what a garbage misleading thread title (which is becoming a tradition in race related topics). Anyway, in customer service the customer is always right. Always.

There is a big sign in the sandwich shop down the street from me that says "If you are rude to our employees you will be asked to leave". No self-respecting human being should work for a company that thinks "The customer is always right, even if they call you a nigger" Even when I was a kid washing dishes in a dinner we didn't think "the customer is always right" That's literally the lowest of the low-end job and a terrible way to run a business.

 

[cryptoadam]

Except now they have to deal with twitter backlash for firing a long term employee for standing up to someone calling him nigger.

which is stupid, they should of just stood up for the employee. But I don't think any company wants to do that anymore. Better to fire someone.

 

[BANGS]

So they fired him for being a human being and having feelings? This is one time where I think feelings are appropriate and we shouldn't be punishing people for having them. Unless he escalated it by getting physical or obscene than I don't think he deserved to be fired. Obviously we don't know if there were other disciplinary issues and this was "the last straw" so this is all based solely on this incident.

To expect people getting paid $13 an hour to maintain the calm of a zen Buddhist while having abused tossed at them is ridiculous. Pulling him aside and having a talk, etc. while allowing him to cool down would have been a much more reasonable approach.

I guess they did him a favor then, because you can't have that attitude in retail and he should find a different line of work. You are not allowed to express your true feelings in customer service. If some belligerent asshole like this guy approaches you, you are supposed to smile, walk away, and grab a manager to deal with it...

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

I guess they did him a favor then, because you can't have that attitude in retail and he should find a different line of work. You are not allowed to express your true feelings in customer service. If some belligerent asshole like this guy approaches you, you are supposed to smile, walk away, and grab a manager to deal with it...

He is 60, mate, finding work in this kind of times, now matter how Trump has boosted the USA economy, is not going to be easy, as a matter of fact, it is going to be very difficult.

The company is to blame before the idiot who attacked the manager. Hope both get sued.

 

[BANGS]

He is 60, mate, finding work in this kind of times, now matter how Trump has boosted the USA economy, is not going to be easy, as a matter of fact, it is going to be very difficult.

The company is to blame before the idiot who attacked the manager. Hope both get sued.

So because someone has outlived their usefulness, they are suddenly entitled to employment despite displaying they cannot properly do that job? Sorry but I don't buy that bullshit...

Neither the douche who said racist things nor home depot did anything illegal here according to the evidence we have via that article. YOU are outrage culture...

 

[off duty ninja]

I guess they did him a favor then, because you can't have that attitude in retail and he should find a different line of work. You are not allowed to express your true feelings in customer service. If some belligerent asshole like this guy approaches you, you are supposed to smile, walk away, and grab a manager to deal with it...

Since he had the job for ten years prior to this I am going to assume he didn't have an attitude problem until he was confronted by this guy. Most people working retail aren't doing it out of their love for the industry but rather because they can't find better work opportunities.

I actually agree with you in a lot of ways. I worked retail for years myself. I just think firing him went too far.

 

[BANGS]

Since he had the job for ten years prior to this I am going to assume he didn't have an attitude problem until he was confronted by this guy. Most people working retail aren't doing it out of their love for the industry but rather because they can't find better work opportunities.

I actually agree with you in a lot of ways. I worked retail for years myself. I just think firing him went too far.

I would agree with you that firing was going too far except we don't know all the evidence. We don't know exactly how far the employee tried to escalate the situation and exactly what he said. I reserve judgement until then...

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

So because someone has outlived their usefulness, they are suddenly entitled to employment despite displaying they cannot properly do that job? Sorry but I don't buy that bullshit...

Neither the douche who said racist things nor home depot did anything illegal here according to the evidence we have via that article. YOU are outrage culture...

Outlived his usefulness for a single mistake that was primary the other party's fault? I do not buy it, neither do I buy that he did not properly did a job that he held for a decade.

In fact, HoDep acted both against the interest of their business and the interests of their customers, for firing this guy, yet I am sure would be willing to let the idiot (customer) come back here and harass another worker..or even another customer, next time.

 

[Spheyr]

That asshole used the black unemployment propaganda used by Trump who also frequenly uses it to silence and shame his African American critics. You say coincidence, I say target audience.

Propaganda? You mean "hard statistics"

 

[BANGS]

utlived his usefulness for a single mistake that was primary the other party's fault? I do not buy it, neither do I buy that he did not properly did a job that he held for a decade.

You've obviously never worked in retail... they hold onto whoever they can for minimum wage... and you don't know if this was his "single" mistake...

I am sure

But you really don't know. Again, YOU are being the outrage culture here. You don't know the evidence but you already decided who to defend and how the other side should be punished. Get real...

 

[Straight Edge]

I would agree with you that firing was going too far except we don't know all the evidence. We don't know exactly how far the employee tried to escalate the situation and exactly what he said. I reserve judgement until then...

You keep saying he "escalated the situation" when not even Home Depot is saying that.

 

[King of Foxes]

I could never work retail or as a police officer, I would be too tempted to smack arrogant fucks for this kind of shit

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

You've obviously never worked in retail... they hold onto whoever they can for minimum wage...

Nope, I work as a stevedore. What does that have to do?

But you really don't know. Again, YOU are being the outrage culture here. You don't know the evidence but you already decided who to defend and how the other side should be punished. Get real...

I see identity politics in action, this time, this 0,1% it was aimed at a black guy, instead of a white guy, I am sure how it worked out. The management could resolve this better.

 

[Forthefuture]

Propaganda? You mean "hard statistics"

Which can be used as propaganda. Doesnt change the fact that asshole was inspired by the other asshole, down to the recipient of the lashing. So lets not play semantics. We all know he markets to these assholes. And what he markets.

 

[Petrae]

When a customer engages you in such a manner, you immediately disengage and involve a supervisor. When you make the decision to return verbal fire, you're fucked... and that's on you. This is Customer Service 101, whether you work in retail, in a call center, at a bank, or anywhere else that puts you in a position to deal directly with customers. I've been called every name in the book in my retail past, with customers threatening to beat my ass outside in extreme situations, and you simply DON'T snipe back. You inform a manager. If you're a manager, you inform the next level up. You walk away. You disengage and separate yourself from the situation. In a Home Depot store, there's absolutely ZERO reason for the employee not to seek assistance. Also, making a thinly-veiled threat of retaliatory violence isn't a smart move.

It sucks for the employee here, but he made a bad call and paid the consequences.

 

[BANGS]

I see identity politics in action, this time, this 0,1% it was aimed at a black guy, instead of a white guy, I am sure how it worked out. The management could resolve this better.

None of that first sentence made any sense, followed by a second sentence with nothing to back it up...

You keep saying he "escalated the situation" when not even Home Depot is saying that.

Home depot said he refused to defuse the situation. I also didn't say he for sure escalated it, the very post of mine you quoted said "We don't know exactly how far the employee tried to escalate the situation and exactly what he said."

 

[Spheyr]

I could never work retail or as a police officer, I would be too tempted to smack arrogant fucks for this kind of shit

Work as a bouncer, best of both worlds - and you get to punch a surprising amount of people!

 

[Christopher]

Anything involving customers you know you really can’t say anything to them as sad as that is. It’s actually so disgusting customer service jobs to see just how people act...

 

[Straight Edge]

None of that first sentence made any sense, followed by a second sentence with nothing to back it up...


Home depot said he refused to defuse the situation. I also did say he for sure escalated it, the very post of mine you quoted said "We don't know exactly how far the employee tried to escalate the situation and exactly what he said."

As I stated before, there's nothing to be outraged about if the article is true. They didn't fire him because of outrage culture, they fired him for escalating the situation...

If anything, they are gonna get a ton more shit and backlash from outrage culture because they fired him...

So you're admitting that you made up that he escalated things?

 

[BANGS]

So you're admitting that you made up that he escalated things?

By his own admission by firing back, he escalated the situation...

 

[Spheyr]

Anything involving customers you know you really can’t say anything to them as sad as that is. It’s actually so disgusting customer service jobs to see just how people act...

Work as a bouncer, best of both worlds - and you get to punch a surprising amount of people!

 

[VAL0R]

There is a big sign in the sandwich shop down the street from me that says "If you are rude to our employees you will be asked to leave". No self-respecting human being should work for a company that thinks "The customer is always right, even if they call you a nigger" Even when I was a kid washing dishes in a dinner we didn't think "the customer is always right" That's literally the lowest of the low-end job and a terrible way to run a business.

Of course the customer isn't literally always right, but they are usually given the benefit of every doubt and pampered. I make a pretty good living, far from a "low-end job," and I would be expected to put up with heaps of trash and insults without ever returning an insult, if it came to that. My ego is not worth risking a relationship that represents multi-millions of dollars with one of our customers. That's not to say I couldn't officially complain of ill treatment or whatever, but I would be chastised if I fired back insults of any kind, no matter what names I was called.

It's only pride that makes a man return insult for insult in revenge. There is certainly nothing morally righteous about doing so and therefore a company has every right to expect you to rise above. They are paying you to treat their customers with respect, even if they don't deserve it.

 

[Petrae]

So you're admitting that you made up that he escalated things?

When you decide to fire back at a customer who is already clearly agitated with you-- regardless of how lame the reason may be-- then, yes. He escalated the situation. In customer service, the expectation is not to escalate the situation, but to instead defuse it. That's not what happened here.

 

[Straight Edge]

Of course the customer isn't literally always right, but they are usually given the benefit of every doubt and pampered. I make a pretty good living, far from a "low-end job," and I would be expected to put up with heaps of trash and insults without ever returning an insult, if it came to that. My ego is not worth risking a relationship that represents multi-millions of dollars with one of our customers. That's not to say I couldn't officially complain of ill treatment or whatever, but I would be chastised if I fired back insults of any kind, no matter what names I was called.

It's only pride that makes a man return insult for insult in revenge. There is certainly nothing morally righteous about doing so and therefore a company has every right to expect you to rise above. They are paying you to treat their customers with respect, even if they don't deserve it.

Which he never did. Try again.

 

[VAL0R]

But G gohepcat I totally respect any company that shields their people from insults, like that sandwich shop. Management should be making those calls. And yes, management should be defending their people, while also trying to offend their customers as little as possible, so as not to lose their business. Managers have a responsibility to protect their staff and also to the business owners who have invested capital in them as managers to maximize profits.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Lowes would not have fired that employee. They protect theirs.

But saying that they did want to get rid of the employee generally, they would not have allowed this instance to be the reason why. Be smart companies.

 

[Straight Edge]

Lowes would not have fired that employee. They protect theirs.

The owner of Home Depot is a piece of shit so what do you expect.