# I pit the soon-to-be-named racist lady from Danville, VA (Lowe's delivery story) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 10, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458 "2015-08-10T16:13:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/81 "2015-08-11T17:31:33Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Crazy racist old lady is not an anomaly there, unfortunately. Lots and lots of people there still living in the 1950s, race relations wise. Yeah, I know one woman in her late 70’s who grew up in PA/WV coal country who remarked that when she was young and growing up, there weren’t race problems back then like Ferguson. I remember thinking: “Uhm, you probably only had white people in your town.” > [@chappachula](#): > > So wouldn’t it be legal to send the delivery guy to unload the box from his truck to the sidewalk in front of her house, and if she tells him to get the hell off her property,–just leave the box sitting there? It then becomes the woman’s problem how to carry it into her house. I spent a Xmas break working as a UPS driver’s assistant once, and we were explicitly told we were not allowed to go inside a customer’s home. Because if you do, there’s always some A-hole who’s going to claim something was damaged or stolen. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/82 "2015-08-11T17:39:57Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Slow down there, partner. You cut one sentence out of my post, which I then responded to, and then seem to think I believe it’s worth firing the guy over. Where did you get that idea from??? Hey if YOU don’t think the guy shoulda got fired, your fine with me 🙂 But thats not the prevailing trend in the public and it doesn’t appear to be it here. Sorry if my frustration hit the wrong target. No matter WHAT course of action this manager took, it was a chance at people getting butthurt and a possible train ticket to FIRESVILLE. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/83 "2015-08-11T17:53:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I would love to introduce her to the much older woman whose grass I mowed yesterday. A friend asked if I’d give him a hand doing a widowed neighbor’s yard work. It was a pain in the ass, but I got our lawn tractor onto my utility trailer, drove over, and mowed her largish lot. > > Afterwards she invited me in for horribly sweet lemonade. She thanked me profusely, telling me the church was a lifesaver. I told her I was there _not_ on behalf of her church, but because her neighbor Mike asked me to lend a hand. I told her Mike was a caring neighbor. She asked what church I attended. I told her I didn’t. She told me if she knew I wasn’t a Christian she would have never allowed me on her property. > > I win! I never have to help her out again. You should have told her you actually worship Satan, and then mowed “666” into her lawn. Old bitch. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/84 "2015-08-11T17:56:58Z")
Naw, 668, so she could be “the neighbor of the beast” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/85 "2015-08-11T18:07:10Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > You should have told her you actually worship Satan, and then mowed “666” into her lawn. Old bitch. Funny update. My buddy explained to her that his only access to a riding mower was through me, and that I would not be back. She said that’s just fine, she didn’t want a Jew cutting her grass. That’s right. My buddy was a little peeved at me, thinking that I had told her I was an atheist. Nope, I just said I didn’t attend church. She assumed that meant I was Jewish. Had I told her I actually worship Athe, she would have had a stroke. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/86 "2015-08-11T18:09:29Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > You think that’s worth FIRING the guy over? > > I don’t. Because, hey in hindsight, I know I fuck up every now and then. Other people’s mileage may vary. > > I’m sorry, I’m getting a bit tired of the whole “somebody fucked up and oh noes somebodies feeling were hurt or nothing major bad happened but people got butt hurt anyway and somebody somewhere must be PUNISHED as much as we can punish them” meme of late. > > People fuck up. Bob, now you see why this was wrong? Yes sir. Don’t do it again. Yes sir. End of story. Yes, I think violating a labor practices law is reason enough to fire someone. What part of “criminal act committed by a designated company representative acting on behalf of the company” isn’t clear to you about the situation? > [@billfish678](#): > > No matter WHAT course of action this manager took, it was a chance at people getting butthurt and a possible train ticket to FIRESVILLE. I completely agree with this sentiment; the poor guy was fucked from the get-go, which is why he should have, as a smart guy and good employee, kicked the situation up to _his_ bosses for discussion (since it was obviously a WTF??? kind of request) and let them make the call. That’s why a chain of command exists, after all, is so it can be used. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/87 "2015-08-11T18:10:34Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > You should have told her you actually worship Satan, and then mowed “666” into her lawn. Old bitch. Better yet, use some type of herbicide that will keep grass from growing for a few years. Put it in a spray can and you can write whatever you want. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/88 "2015-08-11T18:13:18Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Yes, I think violating a labor practices law is reason enough to fire someone. What part of “criminal act committed by a designated company representative acting on behalf of the company” isn’t clear to you about the situation? You expect every mid level Lowe’s manager to be an expert in the nuances of labor law? Are you one by any chance? I doubt it. Yeah, he coulda “kicked it upstairs”. Of course the fuckwits upstairs could have told him to do what he did to “keep the customer happy”. Or he could have just gotten in trouble for “not being able to manage things” the last time he “kicked something upstairs” or I don’t know, maybe being to God damn fucking busy and overworked and underpaid to give this shit more than 30 seconds of thought. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/89 "2015-08-11T18:15:06Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > You expect every mid level Lowe’s manager to be an expert in the nuances of labor law? > > Are you one by any chance? > > I doubt it. I don’t know about an expert, but since I just got back from Grace Carol Rocky Mountain Labor School a couple of weeks ago, I’d say that yeah, I know quite a bit about labor law. You wanna know why I know quite a bit about labor law? Because it’s part of what I do for a living and it’s my responsibility to know about it, just like it was that manager’s responsibility to know about it. ETA: I don’t think that knowing you can’t assign jobs based on race is a “nuance” of the law, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/90 "2015-08-11T18:15:08Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > You’ve saved Grotonian the trouble of posting. You’re mean. But I’m glad you agree race doesn’t matter. So we both oppose affirmative action, right? This woman apparently has race-conscious admissions standards, as does Harvard. I’m glad we find that kind of thinking offensive and worthy of firing. Far more racist heads should roll. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/91 "2015-08-11T18:22:45Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I don’t know about an expert, but since I just got back from Grace Carol Rocky Mountain Labor School a couple of weeks ago, I’d say that yeah, I know quite a bit about labor law. > > You wanna know why I know quite a bit about labor law? Because it’s part of what I do for a living and it’s my responsibility to know about it, just like it was that manager’s responsibility to know about it. > > ETA: I don’t think that knowing you can’t assign jobs based on race is a “nuance” of the law, btw. And all that is relevant to random Lowe’s manager? How much training you think he got? When someone comes up with some corporate policy that HE WAS expilicity trained at that says “racist bitch wants white guy to delivery tell the cunt to fuck off despite our “keep the customer happy at all costs” or we WILL fire your ass” then I’ll support the firing. And even then not so much because barring some outrageous shit I think anybody is allowed to fuck up once about one thing. Heck, in this day and age I’d more suspect there was some sorta corporate sexists “woman doesn’t want a man deliver shit so if she asks try to get a woman to deliver her the item” bullcrap out there. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/92 "2015-08-11T18:25:05Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Hey if YOU don’t think the guy shoulda got fired, your fine with me 🙂 > > But thats not the prevailing trend in the public and it doesn’t appear to be it here. > > Sorry if my frustration hit the wrong target. > > No matter WHAT course of action this manager took, it was a chance at people getting butthurt and a possible train ticket to FIRESVILLE. As I said upthread, I’d not cut the manager any slack if he had been trained in non-discrimination practices and he shifted delivery schedules based on the races of the driver and the recipient. That does not mean I’d fire him. It would depend on the specific circumstances. Usually at large corporations you allow someone a chance to correct mistakes unless it is a grievous one that causes the company considerable harm. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/93 "2015-08-11T18:30:00Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > . Usually at large corporations you allow someone a chance to correct mistakes unless it is a grievous one that causes the company considerable harm. That’s the problem. Lowe’s got bad publicity and they threw him under the bus because somebody HAD to pay. Unless the black driver thought his boss was a racist dick I think he should be a bit ashamed about the whole thing for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/94 "2015-08-11T19:07:02Z")
I worked big box retail management in the past and while upper management did put you in Catch 22 situations this wouldn’t be one of them. This is about as cut-n-dry retail management 101 as you can get. Protecting yourself and your employees from physical altercations, sexual harassment, racial harassment, verbal abuse, etc. will trump “make the customer happy” every time. After 10 years of tossing people out of the store for shoving me, swearing at me, using racial slurs about my employees, harassing young cashiers did upper management ever, ever come back to tell me “you shouldn’t have done that”. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/95 "2015-08-11T19:11:25Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > And all that is relevant to random Lowe’s manager? How much training you think he got? No, idea; you asked point blank if I was an expert in labor law, and I was replying to that question. > [@billfish678](#): > > When someone comes up with some corporate policy that HE WAS expilicity trained at that says “racist bitch wants white guy to delivery tell the cunt to fuck off despite our “keep the customer happy at all costs” or we WILL fire your ass” then I’ll support the firing. And even then not so much because barring some outrageous shit I think anybody is allowed to fuck up once about one thing. > > Heck, in this day and age I’d more suspect there was some sorta corporate sexists “woman doesn’t want a man deliver shit so if she asks try to get a woman to deliver her the item” bullcrap out there. What other discrimination laws do you think people should be able to break without repercussions? Or is it just any law that people are ignorant of that you think people should be given a pass on breaking? Also, why do you seem to have so much invested in this manager’s losing his job? Why does it irk you so much that you want to excuse a guy who broke a labor/discrimination law? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/96 "2015-08-11T19:11:56Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Protecting yourself and your employees from physical altercations, sexual harassment, **racial harassment** , verbal abuse, etc. will trump “make the customer happy” every time. Isn’t that what the manager did by accommodating the woman’s request? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/97 "2015-08-11T19:14:04Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > That’s the problem. > > Lowe’s got bad publicity and they threw him under the bus because somebody HAD to pay. > > Unless the black driver thought his boss was a racist dick I think he should be a bit ashamed about the whole thing for that matter. What the fuck? What in the world do you think was Mr. Bradley’s culpability in the matter? Are you saying you think he should feel guilty because he is the guy who had the black skin that would have upset the racist lady, and so it’s his fault that the manager got fired??? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/98 "2015-08-11T19:16:59Z")
Fuck that racist piece of shit customer. Fuck that racist idiot piece of shit manager. Good on Lowe’s for doing the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/99 "2015-08-11T19:23:44Z")
She does look like a miserable biddy. How exhausting it must be, to have to go all day every day trying to avoid The Blacks. Does she ask for different servers when she goes to a restaurant? What about her mail delivery? What happens if she has to take a flight and _gasp_ the pilot is black? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458/100 "2015-08-11T19:27:12Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Also, why do you seem to have so much invested in this manager’s losing his job? Why does it irk you so much that you want to excuse a guy who broke a labor/discrimination law? First, because he probably had a chance of being screwed no matter how he chose. Second, because he probably thought about this for 30 seconds, unlike all the other people jerking off to this who have had hours to think about it. Third, I doubt THIS particular scenario was ever brought up in training explicitly. Fourth. Nobody in this scenario was fucked over. Black driver delivered something else somewhere AND didn’t have to deal with a racists old bitch. Fuck, some black people probably consider that a positive thing. Fifth. People fuck up. Its what people do. EVEN IF you take the position he fucked up, unless this a pattern. Let. It. Fucking. Go. Don’t do that again Bob or else. It’s not like he showed up drunk on his ass and is a surgeon or airline pilot. Sixth. Firing somebody in this day and age is a big fucking deal (unless you are a minimum wage burger flipper and even then its not not a big deal). This could ruin his career, bankrupt him, and for that matter destroy his family. Seventh. Who gets punished? The racist old bitch? No, the poor manager that was caught between corporate, the customer, and the black driver. Who get’s thrown under the bus by the Big Corporation and judged by the world wide web of sanctimonious assholes who have NEVER EVER done anything remotely sexists or ageist or racist or speciest and live perfect little lives that even Jesus would say “fuck you ARE good”. Poor guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-soon-to-be-named-racist-lady-from-danville-va-lowes-delivery-story/727458.md?page=6)