Home Depot Homophobia

[sulphur-springs]

(This thread does not reflect the opinions of Home Depot, however, it happened while I was on the clock at Home Depot).

I don't want to bore you guys with talking about my job at Home Depot, so I'll just cut to the chase.

I work with a fellow who is always in a grumpy mood, no matter how nice you try to be with him. He was recently promoted to the supervisor position of Receiving, after being a regular freight associate like me. Big mistake giving him a position with any type of authority, as he regularly abuses it.

The night started off with MY manager being late, so right away he started ordering us to go to different depts. to start working the skids (I work the night shift, btw). My coworker stopped him, and asked him what the fuck he was doing, since every night we have a routine of starting wherever needs to be worked. Despite his attempts at assigning us what to do, we went to the depts. we usually go to.

After about 5 minutes, as I was unpacking a skid, he walked into my aisle, and started going off on me infront of another associate. I explained to him that he is not my manager, and if I am to do something, I'll wait for my manager to arrive. He started making threats like "I'll fucking write you up and send you home," without any real reason.

I feel I did step out of line by responding in the same hostile manner, using vulgarity and reminding him of his own duties. Eventually I just said "Fuck it, if you want to send me home, I'll go, and leave you to deal with all this freight."

He stormed off, and muttered something along the lines of, "Fucking faggot."
So I went after him, and yelled at him to say it to my face (with a dash of vulgarity), and ended up punching out and leaving.

To add to that, last night we all had to fill out a bunch of papers on our ethnic background, our sexual orientation, whether we're trans/etc (all anonymously).
In our discussion about the forms prior to filling them out, he embarassed me infront of all my coworkers by blurting out, "Make sure you at least put you're Bi, Andrew," with laughter.

I quickly changed the subject, as no one at my store knows I'm gay, including him. I'm pretty straight-acting, so I'm assuming he just meant that as an ignorant comment.

(Alright, I'll shut up and get to my question).

Should I report him to HR? According to our policy, comments like those require immediate termination on the first offence. The biggest problem that I face about reporting him is not wanting all of management knowing I'm gay. Pretty cowardly of me, I know.

 

[FabFairy]

Report him it is not his place to tell everyone your"GAY/BI" and it wont get any better over time so go for it.

Your can't say Home Depot Homophobic because of one persons actions unless you know of other incidents.

 

[sulphur-springs]

Your can't say Home Depot Homophobic because of one persons actions unless you know of other incidents.

Which is why I stated that my post does not reflect the views of Home Depot.

 

[jonboy1645]

You do not deserve to be harassed in your workplace for any reason. Gay/bi or not, his calling you that, and making inappropriate comments to you in a derogatory manner is harassment.

Step 1 is to document the times you've been harassed (which you just did above, but if there are more, write them down). Next, report the harassment to your manager and to your HR department.

Most major companies take employee harassment very seriously and their immediate actions will make the harassment stop. You don't really even need to out yourself to your managers - the person is guilty of harassment for acting that way toward you whether true or not.

 

[sulphur-springs]

Report him,and document everything.

Why is Home Depot keeping track of it's employees race and sexual orientation?

That seems a bit strange.

I guess I should have explained that one better.

It's a company that deals with certain benefits that are provided for the employees at Home Depot asking for the forms to be filled out, so that they can either add or change anything within the plans.

Home Depot doesn't actually see anything other than the changes made.

 

[NameTaken]

Report him, he deserves it. The longer you let him abuse his undeserved power without repercussions, the worse it'll get.

 

[just a guy]

Yes you should report him BUT, he got promoted because someone likes him. You’re going to have trouble because you lost your temper with him which he and who ever promoted him will most likely use against you. While you can make the argument that it was justified and he provoked it, it will be your word against his. This incident will be part of your HR record along with your loosing your temper and can and will be used against you in the future.

I suggest that you write down what happened and the names of anyone who was around to over hear what took place. You will need names, dates and time. Additionally, if there were customers around also note that. You will need this information if he decides to use this incident against you.

Don’t do anything about this incident this time because this could be turned against you for loosing your temper but, keep all of the information about it. The next time he does something then report him. Guys like this will keep pushing until they get slapped. Let Home Depot slap him not you. You have to be blameless in any and all ways when you make a charge. Its easer for the management of your store to get rid of you than go through a harassment investigation.

 

[iman]

You have a responsibility to report him. People like this should not be in positions of responsibility. If you are hesitant to report him directly to management you can go through the human resources dept. This persons remarks and attitude are valid EEO complaints.

 

[HenryReardon]

If you believe that, I have a bridge for sale.

What's the law in your state regarding sexual orientation? You may discover your benefits have been cut off.

Here, even asking such things would land the questioner in court, if not jail. WTF does race, never mind orientation, have to do with anything?

Did you miss the part where he said the form was anonymous - no names asked for. Sounds like someone is gathering statistics.

 

[iman]

^He said the questionnaire was anonymous.
Gathering this kind of data may be necessary to determine degree of diversity in hiring.

 

[HenryReardon]

^He said the questionnaire was anonymous.
Gathering this kind of data may be necessary to determine degree of diversity in hiring.

Exactly. By Federal Law an application for employment cannot ask for birth date or race. Or, for that matter, heath questions.

You can ask for birth date and other data after, and only after, you have made a bona-fide job offer. That being said, it is not difficult to infer age, based upon graduation dates from HS etc.

 

[TheTalkingAsshole]

Here, even asking such things would land the questioner in court, if not jail. WTF does race, never mind orientation, have to do with anything?

Christ, I'm glad I don't live in Canada then, sounds pretty authoritarian. Oops, sorry...can we still say Christ?

 

[construct]

I'd start documenting--what was said or done and when as well as who was there to hear or see it. Then after a few incidents, report it to HR.

 

[Kulindahr]

Report it to your manager for starters. I'm sure that a manager who finds his workers being order off on other jobs is going to be happy to cooperate with getting this guy axed.

As a frequent Home Depot customer, I'd want this guy out yesterday.

 

[ProfessorD]

I used to be a freight team associate at Home Depot as well. I worked overnight, too. You are right--the Receiving supervisor certainly isn't your normal boss, though he technically was the "Manager on Duty" (MOD) if your manager wasn't there. I don't know about where you live, but here in Arkansas (you wouldn't think so), but they take this form of discrimination VERY seriously at Home Depot.

This man should most definitely be fired, if not for the discrimination, then for being a general psycho. Report it to your manager and HR ASAP!

When I worked at Home Depot, I actually found that they were very accepting of homosexuals. They offer benefits for same-sex partners as well, which I thought was very cool. They also paid much more than the other "big box" retailers around here.

Unless things have changed or are different in your area, I think that the company will respond in your favor. Best wishes to you!

 

[sulphur-springs]

I used to be a freight team associate at Home Depot as well. I worked overnight, too. You are right--the Receiving supervisor certainly isn't your normal boss, though he technically was the "Manager on Duty" (MOD) if your manager wasn't there. I don't know about where you live, but here in Arkansas (you wouldn't think so), but they take this form of discrimination VERY seriously at Home Depot.

This man should most definitely be fired, if not for the discrimination, then for being a general psycho. Report it to your manager and HR ASAP!

When I worked at Home Depot, I actually found that they were very accepting of homosexuals. They offer benefits for same-sex partners as well, which I thought was very cool. They also paid much more than the other "big box" retailers around here.

Unless things have changed or are different in your area, I think that the company will respond in your favor. Best wishes to you!

Yeah you're right, technically he was the manager on duty. I guess my main issue was that we were already going off to find skinds, and felt that he basically just wanted to hear himself speak by ordering us around. I do appreciate your support though, as well as everyone else's who responded .

For an update,

Tonight when I went into work I was called into the store manager's office, thinking I lost the battle.
Apparently not! Another associate heard him call me a faggot *shudders,* and reported him during the day (there were still day associates in the building at the time). After documenting what happened, he was suspended! (Well technically we don't actually know if he was suspended.. he may have been fired as my manager told us that he may or may not be back on Monday - and that's all he could say). On top of that, my manager appreciated the fact that I did include the part about me losing my temper, while the offender didn't, and said there is no reason whatsoever to right me up!

I still do feel a little bad if he was in fact fired, but really he suspended/fired himself.

Once again, thank you guys for all your input.

 

[Kulindahr]

I still do feel a little bad if he was in fact fired, but really he suspended/fired himself.

Once again, thank you guys for all your input.

As a frequent Home Depot customer (not uncommonly by the truckload), I have this to say:

Don't feel bad; feel proud!

You helped rid your employer of some trash, and a liability.

I may not shop at your store, but I say "thanks!" all the same.