I went to wal-mart today to pick up my insulin which I do on a regualr basis from this particular wal-mart. After standing in line for 10 minutes and listening to the lady behind the counter tell the pharmacist that she was assisting that one of their co-workers had "no clue as to what she was doing." And "needed to find a different job if she kept screwing up." I finally made it to the front of the line. When I got there, she told me for the 4th time that they were yet again out of insulin. I asked her to call the other wal-marts in the area to see if they had any. This apparently annoyed her. As she huffed and got on the phone she told me to "move out of the way so she could help the person behind me first." Well, I am sorry, but I had to wait in line so she could assist two other people and didn't get attention when one of the ladies in front of me had to go get something off the shelf that she wanted to add to her purchase. Why should the people behind me be treated any different? This was a 30 second phone call.. that was it. Thats all it took... So I tell the woman that I will just wait on her to get done. Her response to this is telling the pharmacist that "some people are so rude." I kindly told her that if she were going to speak badly of customers that she should wait until they are at least out of hearing range. She huffed again, got the information I needed and I said bye. As I am walking off, I stop and think, "this lady is rude to me EVERY time I see her." So I decided to speak to a manager. When the manager gets there he says "Oh my, she did what??" He was truly concerned that his employee had acted so rudely. So then he says "I need to speak to her, which one is she?" Well, he is an african american/black/colored man and so was the lady in questions. Now, I never point people out and say "thats them.. that (BLANK) person right there." I prefer to mention a person in other ways, such as "the lady behind the counter that isn't the pharmacist." OR "The lady thats not in a lab coat." And even "the only person back there besides the pharmacist." I guess that he had no clue how to deduce who is might be back there without a name or better description. 2 people. 1pharmacist + 1 person that is obviously NOT the pharmacist. Its not rocket science here. After the 4th time he asked me who the person was I stated, "the colored lady." Okay.. so forgive me. I felt cornered with the question. I said the first thing that came to mind. I remember thinking, what should a person say in this situation. I chose, and apparently I chose wrong. However, I said I was sorry to him. (And I was.) I didn't mean dissrespect. He quickly filled me in that I should have said "black lady." Well okay. I told him I was sorry and that I didn't know. Perhaps if I had been older I would have known the reasoning behind why it bothered him. However, I am not, so I didn't have a clue. At this point, the man looks down at me, calls me ignorant (which I admit I was, but having never been in that position, would 100% of people known just what to say?) Anyway, he calls me ignorant, and then proceeds to tell me that I need to get the hell out of his store and never come back. Ok, so that shocked me. I said I was sorry. I stayed calm. I never raised my voice. Never said anything to make it seem like I had malicious intent, and yet there I was getting escorted out of the store by a man who had just cursed at me and called me names (while meaning to do so.) When I got home I called the 1800 wal-mart number and asked them to send me a letter stating why exactly I was banned from the store. They asked for my name and number and within 2 hours the SAME man called me to tell me that he "stood by his decision" and that every statement I made was false. I do not think that he should have been given my number. I personally think that he took what should have been a simple complaint and a silly faux pas that was appologised for and turned it into a race war. I was completely shocked.
After I called the number again to ask them why this man was bothering me over the telephone I was told that the complaint would be sent to his manager. I hate complaining. I hate that I even have to. I hate that this man could potentially get in trouble or even fired over this. But what I hate the most is that he acted as if I had done it on purpose. I didn't mean any harm. --And now I am apparently banned from Wal-mart because he got offended. Blah.