Harassment and Stereotyping..Defamation: For most of my life, I have literally loved art more than anything else. Therefore, I participate in many different areas of art culture and enjoy working with different materials to produce new and exciting projects which I have never tried before. For a long time, the (Lake Grove) Michaels has been one of my favorite stores to both shop and browse in. I have spent countless amounts of money in their store and never given the store anything but the utmost respect.
Due to the fact that I lost my job recently, money has been tight these days. So other than food and rent, extra cash for things like art supplies has become few and far between these days. Nonetheless, loving art as I do, I always find a way to save a little cash in order to acquire what I want over time. Just prior to yesterday, I was in the Lake Grove Michaels and purchased two canvases and a few paint markers. Yesterday (the day in question), I entered the same Michaels at about 2:00 pm with my girlfriend. We then proceeded to browse the store looking at various items as we discussed different art mediums. Although I am experienced in many forms of art, my girlfriend is just learning to appreciate the various depths of art.
After about an hour, we had browsed most of the store and made mental notes on prices for later purchases when one of the last aisles caught my eye and I decided to look at the gel pens before leaving. At this time, one of the store employees--a middle-aged gentleman--passed by and asked us if we had needed any help. We politely said, "No, we're just looking," and didn't think much of it. He then retorted, "Are you sure?" and gave us a look, insinuating perhaps we were stealing.
Seconds later, a female store employee approached us in the same way and again asked if we need any help. After we again said no, she then proceeded to stand on top of us with her arms crossed, grilling us with several different questions such as, "What project are you working on?" "Why are you looking at gel pens?"--making us feel very uncomfortable and unwanted in the store. We decided that we would just leave and continue browsing at another time. As we leave the store and slowly walk to the car, we discussed how wrong it was for them to persecute us when we did absolutely nothing wrong or suspicious in any way. While we are getting in the car backing out of our space, we noticed that both employees and a third were still with us.
At this point, I'm very angry and frustrated by their attitude when they had absolutely no proof of us doing anything suspicious or wrong in nature. As we started to drive away, I saw a man who I assumed was the manager and the other male employee still grilling us and writing down my plate number. I shook my head in disgust, but proceeded to wave politely and told them to have a nice day. As we passed by, I heard the one man say, "You got the number, right?" to the other one. While all this was happening, I noticed the female employee taking a picture of my car as I exited the parking lot.
In conclusion, I am absolutely mortified and disgusted by this. They had no right to treat us in such a manner. They had no proof that we had done anything wrong in their store. In return, I will never again shop at Michaels and I will forever pass this on to anyone whom I hear discuss your store. I have never stolen anything in my life and most definitely have never been treated this way. Sadly, they have lost two very loyal customers and have systematically destroyed the one thing I used to enjoy doing (i.e., browsing Michaels as I thought of various art projects and shopping for new equipment that might be out at the time).
