Bizarre. Lifetime ban (no hardship there) and then a bill for no wrongdoing?
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/...st-gay-couple/
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/...st-gay-couple/
Quote:
| Now, thanks to a pack of lighters, two upset children and a ham-handed response from the store's employees, a Chicago-area gay couple, Joe Paolucci and Thomas Hitchcock, have also been blacklisted. According to a report in the South Bend Tribune, the couple, both of whom are attorneys, were shopping at a Niles, Ill. Walmart with their two adopted sons. Hitchcock shepherded the boys through a checkout line while Paolucci picked up a few last-minute items at a self-service register. Store video surveillance shows that Paolucci scanned all the items in his possession, put them in a grocery bag, paid and left. However, as he met up with Hitchcock and the boys on the way out of the store, the group was stopped by security. The in-store guards asked Paolucci if he had purchased a pack of lighters. Paolucci said yes, handed over the bag, and showed his receipt, the newspaper reported. Unfortunately, things didn't end there. There are conflicting accounts of what happened next. According to the paper, Walmart claims that the two men became "uncooperative," while Paolucci and Hitchcock say that the store's employees were verbally abusive and vulgar. The pair admitted to the newspaper that they fought against being placed in an in-store "security room," because they were worried about what would happen when they were out of sight of the sales floor. They then asked store employees to call the police. When the police arrived, the pair were placed in the backseats of separate squad cars while their sons were placed in the care of Walmart store personnel. After 45 minutes and a review of the store's security tapes, the couple was cleared of any wrongdoing. |
), and wouldn't buy any of that cheap, tacky emo crap, but really? I mean, for a store that prides themselves as being so quirky and ecclectic, it just surprises me. Sure, my pudgy, middle-aged ass gets ignored when I waddle in there to buy gift cards for my skinny and hip niece and nephew (honestly, the employees in there look at me like, "Someone's mom is here to pick them up!"), but it's not exactly the most conservative-seeming store. Oh, well - good, now I have a real reason to not shop there, AND I can tell my very open-minded niece and nephew why they didn't get UO gift-cards this year. They're smart and very informed kids, I'm sure they'll be happy to take their business elsewhere.
