Thread: Lowes, a bbq and racism??

This happened to me last weekend and it sorta warmed my heart a little. I went to the local lowes home center to get a deal on an end of season sale on bbq's. Out front they had a bunch chained up already assembled so I picked out one(it was the last one like it and was marked down from $300 to $200) anyway I found a guy and he wrote me up a slip and said take this inside and pay for it while I un-chain it. So, I went inside and paid.
When I returned there were several mexispanics looking at MY bbq with a mexispanic woman who worked there, they were speaking in spanish (I speak spanish but I'm blond and blue eyed so nobody thinks I do) what they were talking about was MY bbq I bought and paid for, so I told the mexispanic lowes lady that I had already bought that bbq...in english. She then told me that the people she was talking to had already purchased it, after a few seconds a mexispanic woman emerged from the store with her reciept, she was in BACK of me in line at the counter so i knew I had bought it first...hehe. I told the lady that fact and the mexispanic woman asked what the time of purchase was on my receipt, I told her it was 3:24 pm she asked to see the ladys reciept and looked at it and told me hers said 3:20. I knew better and asked her if I could see her reciept, she told me it wasn't hers to show me and turned away.
At this point I was getting a bit mad and started to say something but I heard the lowes lady tell the mexispanics with her(in spanish) to ignore me and go ahead and load it into the truck. I was PISSED...but what I didn't know was there was a white man lowes employee(the guy who unchained it for me)standing a few feet away in back of me, he stepped forward and in a voice load enough for them all to hear, he said "excuse me sir, but I would be glad to give you a discount on the floor model w/warranty at $75 BELOW the sales price if I wanted it" the lowes mexispanic told him he could not do that...the young man just looked at her and said "I just did".
So, she started to say something and we both just walked away and I got MY bbq for $125. It just made me feel that I wasn't alone in recognizing racism against whites by mexispanics...it was a good feeling and by the way, that guy was her boss.

P.S. I would like to hear of similar stories like this one.

So where did she get the gall to tell her boss he can't do something?? They're all arrogant, racist and illegal. The guy should have fired her for being the way she was. You can go into any store and if there is a hispanic working there and you need their help, forget it, they'll all tell you they don't speak English. We need to start complaining about them..NOW!!

Glad you got an even better deal & hope you told her boss what you'd heard in case he missed it. You might want to contact the national office and let them know what happened to you. I don't think the folks in N Wilkesboro NC and the stockholders will be very happy to hear about this.

Originally Posted by Rockfish

So where did she get the gall to tell her boss he can't do something?? They're all arrogant, racist and illegal. The guy should have fired her for being the way she was. You can go into any store and if there is a hispanic working there and you need their help, forget it, they'll all tell you they don't speak English. We need to start complaining about them..NOW!!

Hey I understand this guy being mad, I would be too, what the lady did was wrong, she should be fired.

But to go on and say that They're all arrogang, racist, and illegal. And then say that Hispanics won't help, etc. Is also wrong. And it insults me, I am Hispanic, and feel that immigration is a prolem, that lady was dishonest and corrupt. That doesn't make all of them that way. That is unfair to say and the only way to win this is to leave racism aside, and tackle it reasonably. Calling people names is just as bad as you complaining about Hispanics doing what they do. Your coming down to that level or worse.

When eating out in California, I obviously encounter plenty of servers who speak little or no English. In a few instances, I have demanded the attention of a manager and advised him/her that his staff does not speak English. Usually gets attention and some satisfaction. I'd rather see the creeps deported, though.

Originally Posted by Aracely

Originally Posted by Rockfish

So where did she get the gall to tell her boss he can't do something?? They're all arrogant, racist and illegal. The guy should have fired her for being the way she was. You can go into any store and if there is a hispanic working there and you need their help, forget it, they'll all tell you they don't speak English. We need to start complaining about them..NOW!!

Hey I understand this guy being mad, I would be too, what the lady did was wrong, she should be fired.

But to go on and say that They're all arrogang, racist, and illegal. And then say that Hispanics won't help, etc. Is also wrong. And it insults me, I am Hispanic, and feel that immigration is a prolem, that lady was dishonest and corrupt. That doesn't make all of them that way. That is unfair to say and the only way to win this is to leave racism aside, and tackle it reasonably. Calling people names is just as bad as you complaining about Hispanics doing what they do. Your coming down to that level or worse.

AR is right on this one. The problem we are having is that many Hispanic "leaders" like those that run non profits, radio stations, and newspapers that depend on Spanish speaking audiences are quick to make this into a racial issue.

They want this to be a racial issue for several reasons. One, they are being racist and they want more Spanish speakers that depend on them for something and that equals more money and power. Two, such leaders broaden their audience by appealing to everyone on race instead of legal status.

We know that more than half of the legal Hispanics in America support enforcement.

We should all thank our friends that stand with us in the Hispanic community and thank them for pointing it out when something one of us says could be considered offensive to Hispanics.

We all get mad sometimes and we all get tired and we can't always take the time we need to think about how others perceive what we are saying.

I for one appreciate Hispanic participants here that care about our cause and are willing to help us and point out anything that some might find offensive.

I truly believe it will take white, black, and hispanic Americans working together to succeed in this battle.

W

First let me address Aracely. I'm glad you are not like the people most of us non-Hispanic encounter out there, you are one in a million I'm afraid though. It's not to say there are not many good people of Hispanic descent, there are many, but they are spread out so people like us see few. I live in Oregon, and what we have encountered here has been 100% pure unadulterated racism towards us. We live in a 35 unit complex and we are literally the only "white" family. Our kids have been called dirty racist names, the adults attempt to make up lies about our kids (I realize you do not know us, but this is the honest truth) they have tried stealing bikes, a scooter and many Barbie doll items from both of our kids, then their parents try to say it was theirs all along. We have been threatened, our kids threatened, and our daughter just this September was stabbed by a boy about 7 with a pocket knife, given instruction by his 14 year old sister and 12 year old brother. When approached by police, the parents just shrugged their shoulders and smiled. My kids when we first moved here would gladly have made friends with any of these kids, but as soon as things were going well, one of the Hispanic teenagers stepped in or even one of the adults and all of the sudden the kids were nasty and doing name calling towards our kids, for no apparent reason. Our landlord is Romanian (therefore to me a foreigner) and he also has a very lousy attitude towards American citizens and he has perpetuated this with the Mexicans here, thus compounding the racism, we are now having it all investigated by HUD, although up here in liberal Oregon, there is no such thing as a non-white racist, the mentallity is only white people are racist, so I have little hope for justice in our case, I can only hope the Lord will open some hearts and minds here. To be honest Aracely, here in my part of Oregon, this kind of stuff is all too common, and getting worse. BARTH49, glad to hear of your little victory. If it had been me in the mind set I have been in lately, I would have been blowing my top and confronting them. Had the Lowes boss not intervened, police should have been called and the female employee attempting to usurp your purchase should have been arrested for attempted theft, along with the people she was helping. I have learned not to be so nice anymore, do not stand by and let things happen, I did for a while and look where it ended us up at! We tried to play the nice folks for a long time here and wound up being verbally assaulted by not only the Mexican tenants and the landlord, but also having our daughter assaulted. They were given an inch by us and they took a mile, it was a mistake I am never making again. Aracely, thats what people like those at Lowes are doing to us, and people like yourself are being caught in the middle I'm afraid. The way you should look at it is being an American. If you are an American, then thats where your loyalties should lie. I have native ancestry in Canada, French Canadian, English, German,etc.....But I am an American and regardless of my racial heritage, any of my fellow citizens are being attacked, I am behind them. These people are trying to set up their own society, where our laws and the long-standing morals all Americans have held do not apply to them. They want to keep themsleves seperate from the rest of America, while reaping the benefits of being in America, you cannot do that. I do not beleive in being French-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American, etc..its a split allegiance. Just say, I'm American, my ancestors came from......Maybe I get on a soap box about being an American, but it means a great deal to me my ancestors (like many belonging to ALIPAC, I'm sure) came here a long time ago and fought in every major (or minor) war this country has been engaged in. I get almost as snarly about my country, as I do when someone tries to hurt one of my children.

Your experience makes my blood boil but I am so grateful for the American who stood up for you. That dishonest lying conniving woman needs to be FIRED, Lowe's Corporation contacted, and told about this incident.

I'll get the corporation address so you can contact them.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=t ... =contactUs

Here is the contact us page for Lowe's.

AmericanElizabeth,
I am truly sorry for what happened to you and your daughter. It truly angers me to hear that this is happening. When I read your stories I see why so many are angered, and frustrated with the poor efforts of our governemnt. I thank you for understanding how people like me in one way or another are stuck in the middle. I still say I am "Mexican American" becasue I was born in Mexico, and I have not gotten use to the idea of just saying American. I mean usually people assume I am American and just ask where I am from or where my family is from. So really that is not an issue in my everyday life. Here I say it becasue I do want to state my background so you know that you have someone like me somewaht on your side. I mean I have started to defend your ideas to my Mexican American Urban Communites professor. And that doesn't make him to happy. But, his arguments are the same ones I have been hearing all my life.
Once agian it really makes me mad that this happened, but I have to admit that many immigrants are that way. Consider me for the most part won over, in cases like this.

As for W,
Thanks for the support, but its true Hispanics will try to pull the racist card, becasue its a minority, blah blah blah. So if you can manage to leave out all that can lead to that, then you have full facts no bias on race.