Home Depot fires 60 year old black man after man screamed slurs at him

Unfortunately the employee shouldn't have responded the way he did. The response by the employee sounds like a thinly veiled threat.

In customer service positions like these you need to walk on eggshels if you want to keep your job.
 
cryptoadam said:
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/ho...ack-man-trump-supporter-screams-racist-abuse/



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.
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Sucks. I worked with a black girl who was called a an n-word on the phone. Our company's policy was to stay on the phone and try to escalate it. I told her it would have been worth it just to go off on that dude and get fired.
 
Straight Edge said:
Which he never did. Try again.
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I was speaking to @ gohepcat generally of staff responding to insulting customers, not the particular situation in the OP.

The article is too one-sided to even know what really happened, which fits the sites provocative and trashy style from the look of things. Where is the breakdown of the employees behavior from an interview of management, other staff or witnesses? Where is the interview with the customer? It's all coming from the guy who was fired. I want to hear all sides.
 
"Hear all sides" is a fair position to take here,

But typically in retail this undeserved racist driven behavior from customers isn't rewarded. If this story is true as is, I see him getting his job back at a different store.
 
So a guy gets fired because he didn't get a manager to placate and coddle a human shit stain. I'm glad I shop at Lowe's instead of this garbage heap of a company.
 
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diablos991 said:
Unfortunately the employee shouldn't have responded the way he did. The response by the employee sounds like a thinly veiled threat.

In customer service positions like these you need to walk on eggshels if you want to keep your job.
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I also interpreted the employee's response to be a threat. That's a pretty big no-no and could easily be just cause for termination.

It's an understood fact that working in customer service-- especially retail-- means that you're going to receive a decent amount of abuse. Customers will yell at you. They will call you names. They'll swear at you. They'll try to goad you into a more tense confrontation, with threats of physicality. They know they have the upper hand, and they're not afraid to lean on that. It's why I went back to school and got the fuck out of retail, despite being an older man.

If you're going to take a job in that field, you need to understand that it doesn't matter how shitty a customer treats you... if you respond in kind, you're going to get disciplined and possibly even fired. Is it worth it to lose your job over? For some, it's yes. For others, myself included during my time in retail, the answer was an emphatic NO. That job paid my bills and put food on my table. I did what I had to do and endured what I had to endure. If anything, that motivated me find a better working situation, even if it meant a lean few years while I was in class.
 
Before I even clicked on this topic I knew it was going to be another one of those where the OP only posted one side of the story to make a political point.
 
VAL0R 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.
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Spoken like someone who has never worked in customer service. Policy is important, and just because someone doesn't like that policy, that doesn't mean that they're "right" or that they end up getting what they want.

Racist cowards that abuse employees who are not supposed to fight back should be "entitled" to be told get out of the store and don't ever come back. Unless there is another aspect of this that hasn't been mentioned, I'm fully against Home Depot in this choice. I hope the story picks up more traction, and I hope they reverse their stupid decision.

If someone is calling you racial slurs is using race-focused verbal abuse and profanity, you're way past the point of "let me get you a manager so they can give you want you want."
 
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Social media is the worst thing to ever happen to the employee. The public gets to act like asses, but god forbid the employee isn't reading from the company handbook with a smile. It's all about perception, "company stance", and PR. It only gets worse from here.
 
LegendOfKage said:
Spoken like someone who has never worked in customer service. Policy is important, and just because someone doesn't like that policy, that doesn't mean that they're "right" or that they end up getting what they want.

Racist cowards that abuse employees who are not supposed to fight back should be "entitled" to be told get out of the store and don't ever come back. Unless there is another aspect of this that hasn't been mentioned, I'm fully against Home Depot in this choice. I hope the story picks up more traction, and I hope they reverse their stupid decision.

If someone is calling you racial slurs, you're way past the point of "let me get you a manager so they can give you want you want."
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This is how Lowes operates for anything unprovoked. Extreme customers get the boot even if you spend 100k a year at the store. It happens.
 
BANGS said:
That just seems like wishful thinking with nothing to back it up... Employees and management at lowes are just as bad as at Home Depot IMO...
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Lowes basically tells managers not to allow stuff like this to go down. Again, politics can get in the way like anywhere, as it did here.
 
LegendOfKage said:
Spoken like someone who has never worked in customer service. Policy is important, and just because someone doesn't like that policy, that doesn't mean that they're "right" or that they end up getting what they want.

Racists cowards that abuse employees who are not supposed to fight back should be "entitled" to be told get out of this store and don't ever come back. Unless there is another aspect of this that hasn't been mentioned, I'm fully against Home Depot in this choice. I hope the story picks up more traction, and I hope they reverse their stupid decision.

If someone is calling you racial slurs, you're way past the point of "let me get you a manager so they can give you want you want."
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It's not about giving Joe Jackwagon what he wanted. It's about getting backup to deal with the situation. To have support and numbers to de-escalate the situation instead of making it worse by threatening the guy. Managers are, at least in theory, trained to deal with situations like this. It's part of the job description. The customer was never going to get what he wanted-- but disengaging would have opened up a chance for both parties to cool off until backup arrived.

ssolitare said:
Lowes basically tells managers not to allow stuff like this to go down. Again, politics can get in the way like anywhere, as it did here.
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Perhaps an ejection still would've happened, had management been given the chance to intervene before the CSR went off. Once he did, it contaminated the situation, as threats of violence tend to do-- even from a 60 year-old man.
 
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I was told once at a job that if I got physical with a co-worker, even if I was justly defending myself from an attack, we would both be terminated, lol. Businesses who have "at will" employment relationships with you don't want any of your drama. They want you to fall in line, follow protocol and make them money. If you can't handle a douchebag getting in your face and insulting you without disengaging to management, customer service isn't for you.

It's honestly one of the reasons why I avoid customer service heavy jobs. My brother once worked in a ski resort restaurant populated by some rich better-than-you patrons. One of these folks decided to belittle my brother and insult him. So my brother bounced his chicken sandwich off his face while suggesting, "eat this you *#*#*#*#* *#*#*#*#*!" Thankfully he no longer works in customer service.
 
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LegendOfKage said:
Spoken like someone who has never worked in customer service. Policy is important, and just because someone doesn't like that policy, that doesn't mean that they're "right" or that they end up getting what they want.

Racist cowards that abuse employees who are not supposed to fight back should be "entitled" to be told get out of the store and don't ever come back. Unless there is another aspect of this that hasn't been mentioned, I'm fully against Home Depot in this choice. I hope the story picks up more traction, and I hope they reverse their stupid decision.

If someone is calling you racial slurs, you're way past the point of "let me get you a manager so they can give you want you want."
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Were there racial slurs? Not that it changes anything, but I didn't see that.
 
VAL0R said:
Were there racial slurs? Not that it changes anything, but I didn't see that.
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I have noticed a couple folks in this thread state that he was called a "nigger" but I didn't see anything supporting that in the article. Everyone just assumes the worst these days.
 
ssolitare said:
Again, politics can get in the way like anywhere, as it did here.
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That's a wild claim. Home Depot's official statement is that the employee failed to defuse the situation. While there may have been politics behind it, we can't assume that...
 
Again it's the attitude of people that think they can do and say whatever want that causes the problem. That is all I see here.
 
Petrae said:
It's not about giving Joe Jackwagon what he wanted. It's about getting backup to deal with the situation. To have support and numbers to de-escalate the situation instead of making it worse by threatening the guy. Managers are, at least in theory, trained to deal with situations like this. It's part of the job description. The customer was never going to get what he wanted-- but disengaging would have opened up a chance for both parties to cool off until backup arrived.
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"'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,'"
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This isn't a threat. It's an acknowledgement that the racist is a coward who is only saying something like that because he feels able to abuse someone that won't risk their job by responding in kind. And he didn't respond in kind. There was no profanity or racial slur race-focused verbal abuse in response. But he was fired anyway.

I can also see the management not being happy that he didn't involve a manager, but not to the point of firing him over it.
 
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Off Duty Ninja said:
I have noticed a couple folks in this thread state that he was called a "nigger" but I didn't see anything supporting that in the article. Everyone just assumes the worst these days.
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Same, lol. I did not see that word and I read it twice. Some people just assume based off the color of his skin and the title, sad really.
 
So what is the limit that a person working in customer service should take? What if he started to hit the guy? He's suppose to run away and find a manager? What about if he had threatened his life? There HAS to be a reason to "escalate things." Let's create a hypothetical where this Trump supporter pulled a knife and the worker grabs his hand and manages to get the knife away. Employee is gonna get fired for grabbing the guy and not running to get a manager? IMO, the whole retail worker system is fucked and not only do we pay them the lowest wage we can, we expect them to put up with abuse, racial slurs, and really just the worst of the worst in society.
 
Sorry, not buying this story. Why is there no information from the customer's point of view? Why was he not identified? Surely they would want to hear his side of what happened too? How do we know the employee didn't insult him first? If you want me to believe a normal person would just lash out with racial insults for no reason, you better have more evidence backing it up, like video or something.
 
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cryptoadam said:
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.
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If they were concerned about outrage culture they would *not* have fired him. Because the left is far more likely to get outraged about this than the right would have been if he hadn't gotten fired.
 
He was fired because he lost his cool and implied a physical altercation if he was not at work.

That said, the customer was being terrible, and it is unfortunate the employee lost his cool with him. I would have just suspended him without pay for maybe a week or so. Firing him seems a bit overzealous, but I am sure he will have no issue replacing the job with another.

He also should have probably just denied saying it and made it he said - she said.

The correct response is to notify management and have the customer removed when they act this way.
 
LegendOfKage said:
This isn't a threat. It's an acknowledgement that the racist is a coward who is only saying something like that because he feels able to abuse someone that won't risk their job by responding in kind. And he didn't respond in kind. There was no profanity or racial slur in response. But he was fired anyway.

I can also see the management not being happy that he didn't involve a manager, but not to the point of firing him over it.
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I think we run into a case of interpretation here. How you or I interpret the employee's words-- and I do understand where you're coming from, by the by-- may be different than how the company perceived it. It's another one of those shitty situations all around, IMO. A warning-- even a final written warning-- would've probably sufficed. That's what I would advocate for, given the severity of the exchange. That said, I do understand the company's decision to terminate him, and the explanation (at least to me), seems as though what the employee said wasn't really considered.
 
BANGS said:
That's a wild claim. Home Depot's official statement is that the employee failed to defuse the situation. While there may have been politics behind it, we can't assume that...
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That's a textbook response of course, but I wonder what they were thinking. Did they have retirement commitments, would this look bad to their contractor based customers, maybe he was a big spender, so many factors, or maybe it's just simple.
 
Now Gunn, Synder, and Johnson can form a directors no longer welcome in Hollywood panel at next year's Comic Con
 
BANGS said:
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...
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What does the phrase "outlived their usefulness" mean? How do you define a person's usefulness: by their economic productivity?
 
A shame it wasn't The Equalizer
ENTERTAINMENT_140929745_AR_0_AZJBEMTONLFC.jpg
 
Why are people allowed to bring pets in stores to begin with?
Wasn't it
No pets ( unless it's a official service animal )
No shoes
No shirt ( yes they need pants or skirt too)
No service, easy rules for everyone to follow right?
Nope in this day and age every one needs a comfort companion to go every where with them.
People abuse the "service animal" rule and use it as a excuse to bring there pets with them all over the place, I've seen dogs running around everywhere in stores, growling, crapping/peeing on the floor and barking at kids scaring them.
I get it people love there pets and are part of the family but cmon man leave it a home if you have to go shopping .
I'm not saying either party handled it well but it doesn't help when people don't think the rules applies to them.
 
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BANGS said:
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...
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It is almost like you are saying that the OP selectively quoted things to fit a certain agenda. How can that happen? Outrage.
 
Off Duty Ninja said:
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.
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Big surprise coming your way when you enter the workforce as a low level customer facing bot.
 
cryptoadam said:
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.
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This is the other side of the sword in todays outrage culture.
You can not have one without the other. Really sad for the employee to be immediately fired instead of some coaching or help from his manager, but it is what it is.

Though in this case is is justified to fire the guy on the spot.
It doesn't matter what your feels are. If you work with customers you sometimes have to take shit but turn the other cheek and always act professionally. Never escalate and NEVER FUCKING EVER ATTACK OR THREATEN A CUSTOMER.
If that is too hard for you to understand, maybe you should not work in retail to start with.

Home Depot is probably better off without this person on their payroll.
 
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Straight Edge said:
The owner of Home Depot is a piece of shit so what do you expect.
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Home Depot is a publicly traded corporation, there is no "owner"

Edit: Unless of course you mean shareholders, in which case that's a personal attack, and you can fuck right off.
 
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ssolitare said:
"Hear all sides" is a fair position to take here,

But typically in retail this undeserved racist driven behavior from customers isn't rewarded. If this story is true as is, I see him getting his job back at a different store.
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These are near minimum wage jobs.
Why on earth would a different store hire him? A serious question.
There is no shortage of people with so few skills that minimum wage is their only option, even at that age.
Why would a different store hire a 60 years old person that went viral on the internet after a customer interaction in the store?

Not saying right or wrong or that he deserves that harsh punishment but I don't think any store will ever hire him again (unless they do 0% background checks which might be the case for min wage jobs).
You ever end up in the bad side of the stick on the judge-of-social-media and you will be tainted for the rest of your life.
 
Off Duty Ninja said:
I have noticed a couple folks in this thread state that he was called a "nigger" but I didn't see anything supporting that in the article. Everyone just assumes the worst these days.
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Lacking evidence thereof, they made it up in their minds because it would fit their narrative.
 
Phoenix RISING said:


Looks like social media wins again.
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Im happy about this.

Obviously get him some training on de-escalting confrontation (all staff need it really, for their own and others safety) but Im not going to hold it against this guy that he reacted.

A warning and training would have been suffice imo, good to hear he isnt without his job.
 
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