Black Light Special

Of the many reasons why I try to do most of my shopping online, this is one. I've never had incidents as extreme as this but I've had plenty of irritating moments induced by ignorant salespersons and service people. But, even that is beside the point as far as the many reasons why I hate Wal-Mart!

'We've apologized to Mr. Pitts and are trying to find out exactly what happened so it does not happen again,' said Sharon Weber, spokeswoman for the chain, based in Bentonville, Ark. 'We do not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling at Wal-Mart.'

GAF has been spending about $50,000 a year on gift cards at the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 11110 Causeway Blvd. in Brandon. For years GAF sent a white, female administrator to buy them without incident. This time, when she was on vacation the day before Thanksgiving, Pitts did the job himself. He phoned in the order for 520 cards, got the accounting department to issue Wal-Mart a $13,600 check and then encountered a royal hassle trying to exchange it for gift cards at the store.

'For a while there I thought I was going to prison,' he said. 'It was a totally humiliating experience.'

For about two hours, store managers stalled on accepting the check for the already-printed gift cards, while Pitts stood waiting by the customer service desk. He had handed over his GAF business card, his driver's license and the toll-free numbers to GAF's bank. His accounting supervisor assured them over the phone that GAF, the nation's biggest roofing systems maker with revenues of $1.6-billion in 2004, was good for the check.
[...]
"We need to talk with you about this forged check that you brought in here," Pitts recalled deputy Bryan Wells saying. Later Wells explained the reason for the firm arm grab: "Well, Wal-Mart called us and reported to us that you committed a felony, and that's the way we approach felons," Pitts recalled.

Within 19 minutes deputies reviewed the evidence, determined there was no grounds for a criminal charge and learned Wal-Mart would not press the issue further. Wells handed the check to Pitts.

"Our deputies didn't even see enough (of a case) to write a report," said Lt. Carmen Rivas, the shift commander. "We responded only because Wal-Mart called in a bad check report."

This is wrong at so many levels that I cannot even begin to comment (I mean, come on! Dude had a corporate check from a company who spends $50K per year there). These fools were so sure they had some thieving nigga that they didn't even bother to adequately to check his "credentials." It's like the manager was so busy trying to smell the kick back she would get for nabbing a thief that she lost any semblance of sense she may have had. This is exactly what blind prejudice is and why it must end. For Wal-mart, not only did they lose a $13,500 sale to Target, they have yet one more blemish on their already shady record of business practices, with any hope, Mr. Pitts may get a great, big, fat settlement for the despicable humiliation he was subjected to for no good reason!