Menards has big problem. I have been a pretty big supporter of Menards, but As of January 03, 2020 5:47 pm I wish I could return everything I had ever purchased there. As My wife and I passed through the cashier and spent $157.43 we were suddenly blocked at the doors by three men. They were not courteous and the older man pointed at my wifes pocket and accused her of pocketing a Dremel item and demanded the item. My wife stated the item he was suggesting was paid for & quickly dumped the Menards bag it was in, as well as handed the receipt to the accuser to show the item had been paid for. The man then questioned sternly, "What are you gonna do when the item isn't on the receipt?" He barely started looking at the receipt after the statement and kept eyeing my wife, the other men stood there like a group of thugs. This intimidation made things feel hostile and the accusing continued. We do not steal! At this point we had had enough and they were embarrassing us and creating a hostile feeling situation. This is the point when we decided to return everything we just bought and not spend any of our money here, and they continued to follow and harass us as we made haste to the return counter. The item that was in questioned had already been shuffled out of a Menard's shopping bag and not my wife's pocket and now tossed onto the return counter and the man continued harassing. He then re-questioned where that item was and the other two men kept surrounding us. He continued to state over and over again, "What are you gonna do when the item is not on the receipt?" As they continued to poke comments at my wife I made a statement on how they are treating my wife and I and I being a United States Army Veteran. This is when one of them scurried to get into my face and stated he was a Marine Veteran of Desert Storm and got chest to chest with me and aggressed in a very hostile manner, as if he were going to strike me. I restrained myself. This situation could have gotten out of control; I am not the kind of person who backs down from a bully nor should anyone have to. His action was unwarranted. Next I headed to get closer to my wife because she appeared overwhelmed & attacked by the Menards staff. She had even emptied her pockets in front of this store & this Menards team. As I moved to my wife for support & keep her safe from this aggressive & thug like action, one of the men attempted to block me from my wife and I had to brush his arm and his weight aside with my left arm. More comments from the Marine Veteran (and I have nothing against Marines or any other service member). Then as I spoke out against this bullying and hostile situation one of the men tried to silence me with a shoosh noise and finger over his mouth. No way was a bully going to take away my freedom of speech and defend my spouse. Finally one of the employees said, "It's on the receipt" and quietly said sorry about that. The other men just stood there looking angry and aggressive. My wife didn't hear the barely stated apology and stated, "What, no apology?" The man restated the apology, but not so other shoppers nearby could hear but so that only my wife and I as well as the other thugs could. My wife then says what no apology from the other two while pointing at the original accuser and they refused to apologize. My wife doesn't feel safe at Menards anymore; this upsets me enough to never shop at a Menards ever again. I will return unused items if I come across them because I will not be taken hostage and made a fool of. Sure was easy for Menards to make us look like thieves but didn't even have the decency to work towards correcting their mistake or even apologize properly. I had heard stories passed down by people of Menards extorting people whom look like they were stealing by saying something along the line of give them $100 or we will call the police. I did not take these stories to serious because it's hard to believe any store's loss prevention team would extort customers but now, the way this hostile and aggressive action towards us, I have to reconsider these rumors. This kind of disrespect of paying customers is unacceptable and loss prevention had no right to state that he saw my wife stick an item into her pocket when that was obviously not the case. In order to accuse someone of such an act then an individual should have to actually see this crime. Profiling and embarrassing your customers is unacceptable. I doubt my wife will ever trust or feel safe in Menards again. Menards didn't seem to have a problem rushing to bully us, belittle us, aggress towards us, being hostile, harass, make us appear guilty, or attempt to embarrass and scare us. This situation is the kind that last a lifetime in memory and will be told time and time again over our lifetime. People don't shop where they aren't welcomed and appreciated. read more