Lowe's Hardware Sorry For Offering Segregated Delivery Service, All Fixed Now

A Lowe's department store in Danville, Virginia, was perhaps just a little too eager to please a customer who demanded that a black delivery driver stay away from her home, as some idiot at the store actually sent the truck back with a white crew so she could get her precious order of whatever the hell it was she bought. Thank goodness racism is over (except for Obama), or this might be an example of it. Look, here's video from WSET in Lynchburg:

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Marcus Bradley hadn't encountered anything like this in his time working for Lowe's as a delivery driver. The following experience will NEVER be written up in Penthouse Forum:

I got a phone call on the phone telling me to bring the delivery back. Saying that I couldn't do the delivery," said Bradley. "I asked him why I couldn't do it and he said because you're black and they don't want you at the house."

Bradley says he was told the customer specifically asked Lowe's not to send a black delivery person.

His partner on the delivery, Alex Brooks, who's white (really, you should click the video just to enjoy this man's accent), was disgusted by the situation; when they returned to the store, the truck was sent back with a different, white crew:

"To me, it just ain't right for a business that we work at to go on with the woman's wishes," said Brooks [...]

"It was one of those things like, 'These guys will get over it. They're tough guys, they're delivery guys and that's kind of where I just had to put my foot down and say I couldn't do it with them," said Brooks.

Just to make sure that they got the story right, the TV station went to the home where Bradley said the delivery had been scheduled and asked the woman -- unnamed in the report but no doubt low locally infamous as the racist old lady on the TV -- if she had indeed requested only white delivery staff. The woman replied simply, "I got a right to have whatever I want and that's it." She also said that she didn't see that she'd done anything wrong: "No, I don't feel bad about nothing." America! And please, Deleted Commenters, be sure to ask why this is any different from having The BET channel on the TV or Black History Month, because of course it's absolutely the same.

After the TV station inquired with Lowe's corporate headquarters, the company did some pretty impressive damage control, sending WSET a statement explaining that they'd taken swift action:

Diversity and inclusion is a core value at Lowe's.

The situation brought to our attention was troubling and an investigation was immediately undertaken.

Under no circumstances should a discriminatory delivery request be honored as it is inconsistent with our diversity and inclusion core values and the request should have been refused.

The investigation has concluded and the individuals involved are no longer with company.

In addition, Lowe's spokesperson Chris Ahearn told the  Washington Post  that a senior executive had traveled to Danville to personally apologize to Bradley.

So, while the overall situation is pretty annoying, we're just optimistic damnfool liberals enough to say that there are some actual grownups involved in the way it played out: not just Lowe's corporate office for fixing the mess instead of trying to justify or downplay it, and Bradley's co-worker, Alex Brooks, who refused to play along in the first place. And here's hoping that Mr. Bradley got a raise, too. Hahaha, we really ARE optimists.

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Now all we're waiting for is for the Sons of Confederate Shitkickers to announce their national boycott of Lowes, to be joined by the National Federation of Entitled Assholes who Insist the Customer is Always Right.

[ KSET-TV via TPM / WaPo ]