Walmart Forces Marine Out of the Store – the Reason Why Will Make You Sick

Walmart Forces Marine Out of the Store – the Reason Why Will Make You Sick

This is just beyond outrageous. A Walmart in Ohio forced a couple of Marines to stand outside in the cold and wet, because suddenly they said that policy wouldn’t let them stand inside to collect Toys for Tots. That money is for gifts for children to receive on Christmas. How heartless can you get. They should be ashamed and that store manager should be fired immediately. Corporate Walmart says they are looking into it. Uh huh. Right. Meanwhile, the Marines are still outside. People are bringing them coffee, blankets and food to help keep them warm while they collect money for the kids. It makes you want to stay away from Walmart, doesn’t it?

Marine

From 19 WOIO:

MEDINA, OH (WOIO) – It’s become a social media firestorm. For nearly 15 years, former active duty Marine John Harkness said he’s been allowed by the Medina Walmart to stand inside and collect toys and money for Toys for Tots, but this week there was a change.

“They made us stay outside,” said Harkness. “We’re there to collect toys for children that need a Christmas.”

Naturally when shopper Mary Murdock saw him standing in the cold while she was shopping, she was outraged.

“I just said, why can’t they put you inside? This is crap,” said Murdock.

Walmart told us β€œit’s policy.” Of course, it’s their right to have such policies. A spokesperson issued this statement:

“Walmart’s corporate policy across our more than 4500 stores does not allow this type of solicitation inside our stores and we apologize for any confusion about this policy.”

The spokesperson said the current store manager is new this year and that if the Marines were allowed inside in years past, that actually broke the rules. But it doesn’t make Harkness or the many viewers any more satisfied.

“It takes two seconds to do the right thing when it’s cold and rainy and holiday season. You can put them in there,” said Murdock.

Walmart furthered the statement with this:
“If a Marine or anyone was treated with disrespect, that is unacceptable and we are looking into this matter further to get the facts.”

While John Harkness waits for an apology and is hopeful for the change, he is thankful for all the support. Strangers bringing him coffee, sandwiches, or even just offering their support.

“It’s encouraging. It’s fantastic. It’s good to have the general public, Vets and non-vets support you,” said Harkness.

This has now gone viral on social media and is very bad PR for Walmart. Serves them right. They should be apologizing to the Marines and making a hefty donation to Toys for Tots over this. When someone took a picture of one of the veterans and posted it to social media, the post went viral within hours. The post read, “He can bleed and die but not stand inside.” The temperatures were in the low 40’s. “It was so cold that your knees don’t want to bend when you try to walk, and when you get home, even a hot shower doesn’t warm you. It took wrapping up in an electric blanket to try and defrost that night,” said Lynn Harkness, Toys for Tots coordinator. The Walmart manager says the vets were allowed in the store in past years due to a previous manager making that decision. She says she was just following the rules. “The wind was just blasting me and I was freezing like crazy. I was even fortunate, a young lady brought me a blanket which was nice,” said U.S. Navy vet Dan Macik. He also stood outside while collecting for his local VFW. “All we wanted was to come inside and get out of the wind and cold, and our papers were just flying,” said Macik. “The thing that bothered us is that we do so much for the community and it was basically her decision.” As manager, yes it was and once again, she should be fired over this. Let her stand out in the cold and see how it feels.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at NoisyRoom.net. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - trevorloudon.com. She also does research at KeyWiki.org. You can email Terresa here. NoisyRoom can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

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