CitizenVectron Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 https://wnyt.com/news/home-depot-employee-says-he-was-fired-after-responding-to-customers-racist-rant-albany/4995436/ Quote The Times-Union reports that Maurice Rucker, 60-year-old black man, was let go from a job he’s held for 10 years—making $13 an hour—because he politely asked a customer to leash his dog in the store. “I said to him, “Sir, when you have your dog in here we prefer that you keep it on a leash,'” according to the Times-Union. He turned around and said, ‘F**k you. You’re an a*****e you’re a piece of s**t,'” Rucker said. He says, ‘If Trump wasn’t president, you wouldn’t even have a job.’ He said, ‘You’re from the ghetto, what do you know?'” Quote After the relentless barrage of insults, Rucker shot back. “‘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,'” Rucker told the Times Union. Home Depot, which had not given Rucker a sizable raise during his decade of service, told the paper that they were sorry their employee was subject to racist abuse, but that he was nevertheless in the wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneticBlueprint Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 I guess I'll be shopping at ACE hardware now. I'm about to remodel a bathroom too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarSolo Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 So he got fired for saying “you’re lucky I’m at work”? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 Updated: Quote According to an email sent to Raw Story Friday afternoon by Matthew Harrigan — Senior Manager of Corporate Communications at The Home Depot — Maurice Rucker has been offered his job back. In the email, Harrigan wrote: ” I’m reaching out from The Home Depot to provide an update regarding Maurice Rucker. We’ve taken another look at this and we are offering Maurice his job back. Would you mind updating your story? That was quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneticBlueprint Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 9 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said: Updated: That was quick! "It's nice to know that you'll stick up for me only after everyone else in the world gets outraged at you." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxFan9 Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 https://www.wsj.com/articles/ken-langone-wants-you-to-know-he-loves-capitalism-1525458885 lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 LOL fuck going back to work for those assholes, I'd be suing for dat sweet settlement money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclumber1 Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 6 minutes ago, Jason said: LOL fuck going back to work for those assholes, I'd be suing for dat sweet settlement money. It'd be risky, but I'd hope he demands at least doubling his pay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxFan9 Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 He should have studied STEM so he could make more than $13/hour 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 23 minutes ago, Jason said: LOL fuck going back to work for those assholes, I'd be suing for dat sweet settlement money. Is NY an "at will" employment state? If so, it will be very difficult for him to get compensation as the company will claim that his original termination was in-line with the company's policies and he was not singled-out for specific discriminatory treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 3 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said: Is NY an "at will" employment state? If so, it will be very difficult for him to get compensation as the company will claim that his original termination was in-line with the company's policies and he was not singled-out for specific discriminatory treatment. Isn't every state "at will"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 3 minutes ago, Jason said: Isn't every state "at will"? That's right - I was confusing it with "right to work". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Good for him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatoneshere Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 1 minute ago, SFLUFAN said: Good for him! Agreed. Refreshing to see someone actually to stick to their principles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 All 3 parties (Home Depot, the employee, and the racist asshole) acted poorly IMO. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatoneshere Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 1 minute ago, Slug said: All 3 parties (Home Depot, the employee, and the racist asshole) acted poorly IMO. Certainly not equally poorly, and provocation certainly needs to be taken into account. Let's not falsely equivocate here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 2 minutes ago, Slug said: All 3 parties (Home Depot, the employee, and the racist asshole) acted poorly IMO. What did the employee do wrong? Stick up for himself while on the clock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Just now, Scott said: What did the employee do wrong? Stick up for himself while on the clock? He dared follow company policy and was abused racially because of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 4 minutes ago, Slug said: All 3 parties (Home Depot, the employee, and the racist asshole) acted poorly IMO. At worst, he needs to be written up or given a verbal warning, but being outright fired is disgusting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 5 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said: Certainly not equally poorly, and provocation certainly needs to be taken into account. Let's not falsely equivocate here. Oh yeah not equally poorly by any stretch. Sorry if I accidentally implied that. Racist asshole, completely no excuse. Employee, broke company policy and made a low key threat, but it was understandable given the situation. Company should've taken the provocation into consideration and been willing to go to bat for their employee, but I can also see why they took the route they did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Just no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 4 minutes ago, Scott said: What did the employee do wrong? Stick up for himself while on the clock? Pretty much, yeah. It was a bad situation and he was understandably angry, but they have policies in place for dealing with abusive customers and he didn't follow them. Home Depot should've given more consideration to the context of the situation and their employee's years of apparently excellent service, but yeah..the employee reacted badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 5 minutes ago, Jose said: At worst, he needs to be written up or given a verbal warning, but being outright fired is disgusting. I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatoneshere Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 5 minutes ago, Slug said: Oh yeah not equally poorly by any stretch. Sorry if I accidentally implied that. Racist asshole, completely no excuse. Employee, broke company policy and made a low key threat, but it was understandable given the situation. Company should've taken the provocation into consideration and been willing to go to bat for their employee, but I can also see why they took the route they did. All good - it's important to get specific because on its face a person could really mean all three were equally bad. See Trump: "good people on both sides". I agree overall. I disagree that it's okay for the corporation to go the route they did - we should demand better from our companies. As for the employee technically breaking company policy, well, sure, maybe he did, but it's, as you said, completely understandable so I wouldn't dock him any points at all. The rest, I agree with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxFan9 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 The employee did nothing wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 My standing rule for my employees is the moment a customer starts using abusive or threatening language, notify a manager and the customer will be asked to leave. Usually I have management level staff around where most customer interactions will happen so it’s pretty easy to handle. Home Depot could have used some discretion here regarding the circumstances surrounding it. I see this completely different from that situation where an employee tried to physically stop a shoplifter by throwing something at him. The potential liability their is soooo high that breaking a rule that is generally drilled into retail employees (don’t try and stop shoplifters) is definitely cause for termination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 On 7/20/2018 at 4:37 PM, CitizenVectron said: ‘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,'” Rucker told the Times Union. Tone is often tough in text, but this could be the only place where the employee went wrong, that we know of. The verbiage could be interpreted as "threatening". But considering the abuse he was taking, even if the employee was yelling these words at the customer I would not see reason to fire him. Other forms of corrective action, like a verbal or write up. But even raising his voice, if this was the worst he said, then the employee still maintained his composure pretty admirably overall. If I was the GM I would have told the customer he needed to leave (which I have before when an employee was being verbally abused by a patron) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Reminds me of when a co-worker reminded a guest who was smoking at the pool that there smoking was not permitted on property and he made a big stink about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 7 hours ago, Jose said: Just no. Slug is standing his ground against the 60 year old black man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 13 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said: Slug is standing his ground against the 60 year old black man. Such reading. :P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewhyteboar Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 "MAGA asshole" is a tautology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Mega MAGA Asshole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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