I Love this mall but wanted to let everyone know of an issue I had at Lids in Valley Fair.
On Saturday evening December 17th between 4:45pm - 5:15pm I was shopping at Westfield - Valley Fair with my wife and kids. During our store visit to Lids I had an unpleasant encounter with store manager Daryl.
After grabbing a hat from high above with a grabber tool placed against the wall I heard a voice saying , ""Hey you can't do that."" I had already placed the grabber back up against the wall when I was loudly approached by Daryl. He said , ""This is a two way conversation , when someone talks to you-it requires a response."" I politely said , ""Oh , you are talking to me?"" He said , ""Of course I am , did you hear me?""
After being talked to this way I just wanted to finish my shopping and get out of the store. Daryl continued by aggressively stepping closer to me , standing taller and raising his voice. I firmly told him , ""There is no need to be disrespectful , I have my wife and kids here and don't appreciate the way you are talking to me."" I asked for his name and he told me , ""It's Daryl , I'm the store manager.""
At that point I decided not to pursue the issue. He boldly said , ""Let's go out of the store and discuss this."" I adamantly agreed. I wanted to understand why he was making a big deal over such a little issue. After exiting the store he started to harass me by saying , ""I ain't no 21 , 22 year old punk. You want to handle this we can do this."" I stated I wasn't there to fight , I was there to buy gifts and to spend time with my family.
The situation was very uncomfortable for both my wife and kids. I decided to not purchase anything from the store. My wife had 5 hats in her hand and both my boys had hats in their hand ready to purchase. I had to apologize to my boys and took the hats back. My 9 year old was devastated. Daryl would not leave it alone. He tried to take the hats from me , I decided I would just place the hats at the registrar to be put back. Sometime during the conversation he said , ""Do I need to call security?"" I said , ""Please do , I will wait for them. I need to write a formal complaint. You threatened and harassed me."" He shrugged and said , ""Whatever.""
He was very rude to not only myself but other guests in the store. I understand we all have bad days and moments but this was completely unprovoked. Nobody deserves to be reaed in this manner.
I gave this a 2 start rating because the remaining staff was very friendly and helpful . Unfortunately 1 bad apples spoils the bunch. Daryl is definetly a bad apple.
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