WATCH ABOVE: The customer, confronted by a reporter, says she does not feel bad about anything.
TORONTO – North Carolina-based Lowe’s Home Improvement is treading some hot water after it was revealed that managers of a store in Virginia pulled a black driver off a delivery order when the customer insisted on a white deliveryman.
Marcus Bradley claims to have worked at the Danville, Virginia location for 11 years. But just over a week ago, a customer’s extraordinary demands changed his life forever.
“I got a phone call telling me to bring the delivery back. Saying that I couldn’t do the delivery,” Bradley told WSET. “I asked [the manager] why I couldn’t do it and he said because you’re black and they don’t want you at the house.”
Get daily National news
Co-worker Alex Brooks was in the delivery vehicle at the time Bradley received the message.
“To me, it just ain’t right for a business that we work at to go on with the woman’s wishes,” Brooks explained.
Bradley went on to say that he thought the store would support him – but that simply wasn’t the case at the time.
An ABC-13 reporter eventually confronted the unnamed customer at her home.
“I got a right to have whatever I want and that’s it,” she said before declaring that she didn’t “feel bad about nothing.”
For their part, the corporate side of Lowe’s was quick to take action once Bradley’s story went viral. The individuals involved are ‘no longer with company’ – but it remains unclear whether they resigned or were terminated.
A statement released by Lowe’s cited a violation of the company’s ‘diversity and inclusion core values’ – and a senior vice president travelled to Danville to personally apologize to Bradley.
“We have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind,” Spokesman Steve Salazar said in a statement.
As for Bradley’s feelings towards the customer, he’s taking a positive, diplomatic approach.
“There’s no hard feelings. Nothing like that,” he told WSET. “It’s people out there like that. They’re going to be there. You’ve still got to do what you’ve got to do. You can’t just stop living just because there’s people like that.”
Comments