Woman Says LR Walmart Employees Ridicule Man With Disabilities
By: Josh Berry
Updated: November 9, 2012
Walmart was once famous for its friendly door greeters and promise of kind customer service.
One Little rock woman though says what she saw employees doing at Little Rock's newest Walmart was anything but friendly.
She claims she watched as a group of employees ridicule and mock someone with mental and physical disabilities.
Her initial complaints fell on deaf ears, so she took to Facebook to see something was done about it.
As you fly through the hundreds of comments and posts on Walmart's Facebook page you finally reach one comment from a woman in Little Rock.
"I ran in with my one year old son," Nicole Morphis explained. "We were just going to pick up a few things."
On Morphis' stroll through the store on Bowman in West Little Rock, she came across four employees she says making fun of another customer.
Morhpis said that man obviously had some mental disabilities. It's something she couldn't believe anyone would do.
"[The employees] started mocking him the way he was talking and the noises he was making."
That hit home for her.
"I have some individuals in my immediate family that have disabilities."
She took her concerns to a manager but says from the very beginning it was clear that they weren't very interested in what she had to say.
Morphis called corporate and received nearly the same treatment which led her to post.
"I was just irritated and wanted to voice my opinion to someone other than the assistant manager who didn't care."
It's received quite a bit more attention including eyes behind the screen at Walmart.
It's received 6,638 'Likes' with over 500 comments.
Morphis says Walmart still has not reached out to her, however they did respond to KARK with a statement:
"Thank you for bring[ing] this to our attention. Respect for the individual is one of our core beliefs and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. If the claim you mentioned is true, our associates were wrong and acted against policy. After a complete review of the situation we will take the appropriate disciplinary action."
The company is reviewing surveillance which it wouldn't release to KARK.
Until then however, whether it will send a message or not, Morphis is taking her own action.
"I will definitely not be back here," Morphis said.
One Little rock woman though says what she saw employees doing at Little Rock's newest Walmart was anything but friendly.
She claims she watched as a group of employees ridicule and mock someone with mental and physical disabilities.
Her initial complaints fell on deaf ears, so she took to Facebook to see something was done about it.
As you fly through the hundreds of comments and posts on Walmart's Facebook page you finally reach one comment from a woman in Little Rock.
"I ran in with my one year old son," Nicole Morphis explained. "We were just going to pick up a few things."
On Morphis' stroll through the store on Bowman in West Little Rock, she came across four employees she says making fun of another customer.
Morhpis said that man obviously had some mental disabilities. It's something she couldn't believe anyone would do.
"[The employees] started mocking him the way he was talking and the noises he was making."
That hit home for her.
"I have some individuals in my immediate family that have disabilities."
She took her concerns to a manager but says from the very beginning it was clear that they weren't very interested in what she had to say.
Morphis called corporate and received nearly the same treatment which led her to post.
"I was just irritated and wanted to voice my opinion to someone other than the assistant manager who didn't care."
It's received quite a bit more attention including eyes behind the screen at Walmart.
It's received 6,638 'Likes' with over 500 comments.
Morphis says Walmart still has not reached out to her, however they did respond to KARK with a statement:
"Thank you for bring[ing] this to our attention. Respect for the individual is one of our core beliefs and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. If the claim you mentioned is true, our associates were wrong and acted against policy. After a complete review of the situation we will take the appropriate disciplinary action."
The company is reviewing surveillance which it wouldn't release to KARK.
Until then however, whether it will send a message or not, Morphis is taking her own action.
"I will definitely not be back here," Morphis said.
