I have been a small business owner
for six-years in a town with a population of less than 2000. It is also the town I grew up in and have
since raised my family in. Prior to
last
year, I had no knowledge of Mr*** and only know of him from his visits to
my family run store. Prior to receipt of
your letter, I had no knowledge of Mr***’s religious beliefs. Since Mr*** is a white male, as am I, I
find his attack of me as a racist completely unfounded and honestly, extremely offensive
To understand the basis and motive
for Mr***’s complaint, one simply needs to understand the pattern of
behavior Mr*** has continually demonstrated in this community; also, Mr
*** should consider understanding the definition of loitering. Further, a conversation with the City of
*** *** *** will quickly substantiate the fact Mr*** is
unwelcomed in several businesses due to his continued loitering. To my knowledge, Mr*** has never spent
any money in my store but on every occasion, just wonders the aisles claiming
he is “just looking”. On one occasion, I
personally witnessed Mr*** literally “pace” from one side of our store to
the other, a distance of approximately feet, or times in a matter of minute. This behavior was disturbing to customers in
the store as well as to my staff. At
that time, because I did find the behavior a bit odd and even disturbing, I did
kindly approach Mr*** and told him if he didn’t need help finding
anything and wasn’t going to purchase anything, he would need to leave our
store. On a second occasion, as
witnessed by myself and our staff, Mr*** walked around our small store
over a period of over minutes without any real need or intention. I asked him if he needed help finding
anything to which he replied he was “just looking”, so again, I did kindly ask
him to leave our store. As you can
imagine, in a small store with two employees, having a customer wonder and pace
around can cause a distraction and give suspicion of shoplifting.
It should also be noted, and can be
substantiated, that Mr*** demonstrates “confusing” behavior. On one occasion, Mr*** was asked to
leave a pharmacy located next to our store for loitering. He proceeded to go to the *** *** *** and complain that he was asked to leave MY store when in fact, that
wasn’t the case. (He is not even clear
as to which store he was asked to leave?) On that same day, I was approached by the City
of *** *** *** stating that they had met with Mr***,
listened to his complaint, and then proceeded to follow him to another store,
where they themselves witnessed him loitering.
They had a long discussion with him regarding the topic to which he was
very argumentative. I was told at that
time by the Police Department, that if Mr*** was of any disturbance to my
business or I noticed him loitering, I was welcome to ask him to leave my store
and if it continued, to consider banning him from my store
It’s unfortunate that Mr*** has
wasted our time filing this unsubstantiated claim. His
bold claim of “racism” against someone of the same race, is preposterous. His desired settlement of “putting me out of
business” should speak for itself as to his common sense for a rational resolution
or even rational thought.
I would be more than happy to discuss
this matter further with you. It should
be noted, that with the past disturbing behavior of Mr*** in both my
store and around the community combined with this ridiculous claim, I will be
taking the necessary action with the *** *** *** to have him
completely banned from my store. I
consider him a disturbance to good business as well as a risk to the public and
now I even further question his mental stability
Sincerely,
*** ***
Owner, Washburn Hardware
Washburn, WI
I have been a small business owner
for six-years in a town with a population of less than 2000. It is also the town I grew up in and have
since raised my family in. Prior to
last
year, I had no knowledge of Mr*** and only know of him from his visits to
my family run store. Prior to receipt of
your letter, I had no knowledge of Mr***’s religious beliefs. Since Mr*** is a white male, as am I, I
find his attack of me as a racist completely unfounded and honestly, extremely offensive
To understand the basis and motive
for Mr***’s complaint, one simply needs to understand the pattern of
behavior Mr*** has continually demonstrated in this community; also, Mr
*** should consider understanding the definition of loitering. Further, a conversation with the City of
*** *** *** will quickly substantiate the fact Mr*** is
unwelcomed in several businesses due to his continued loitering. To my knowledge, Mr*** has never spent
any money in my store but on every occasion, just wonders the aisles claiming
he is “just looking”. On one occasion, I
personally witnessed Mr*** literally “pace” from one side of our store to
the other, a distance of approximately feet, or times in a matter of minute. This behavior was disturbing to customers in
the store as well as to my staff. At
that time, because I did find the behavior a bit odd and even disturbing, I did
kindly approach Mr*** and told him if he didn’t need help finding
anything and wasn’t going to purchase anything, he would need to leave our
store. On a second occasion, as
witnessed by myself and our staff, Mr*** walked around our small store
over a period of over minutes without any real need or intention. I asked him if he needed help finding
anything to which he replied he was “just looking”, so again, I did kindly ask
him to leave our store. As you can
imagine, in a small store with two employees, having a customer wonder and pace
around can cause a distraction and give suspicion of shoplifting.
It should also be noted, and can be
substantiated, that Mr*** demonstrates “confusing” behavior. On one occasion, Mr*** was asked to
leave a pharmacy located next to our store for loitering. He proceeded to go to the *** *** *** and complain that he was asked to leave MY store when in fact, that
wasn’t the case. (He is not even clear
as to which store he was asked to leave?) On that same day, I was approached by the City
of *** *** *** stating that they had met with Mr***,
listened to his complaint, and then proceeded to follow him to another store,
where they themselves witnessed him loitering.
They had a long discussion with him regarding the topic to which he was
very argumentative. I was told at that
time by the Police Department, that if Mr*** was of any disturbance to my
business or I noticed him loitering, I was welcome to ask him to leave my store
and if it continued, to consider banning him from my store
It’s unfortunate that Mr*** has
wasted our time filing this unsubstantiated claim. His
bold claim of “racism” against someone of the same race, is preposterous. His desired settlement of “putting me out of
business” should speak for itself as to his common sense for a rational resolution
or even rational thought.
I would be more than happy to discuss
this matter further with you. It should
be noted, that with the past disturbing behavior of Mr*** in both my
store and around the community combined with this ridiculous claim, I will be
taking the necessary action with the *** *** *** to have him
completely banned from my store. I
consider him a disturbance to good business as well as a risk to the public and
now I even further question his mental stability
Sincerely,
*** ***
Owner, Washburn Hardware
Washburn, WI