I thought Tom's was a family oriented business. I was very wrong! My husband and I took our three children to buy boots while I'm 8 months pregnant. And an elderly employee stood in the boot area watching us as if we were going to steal, not offering help just watching us. My 3 yr old stacked boot boxes which I rearranged as they were previously. And he knocked a boot over. Normal 3 year old behaviors, which I handled by putting things back where they belonged. When a second employee came in to ask the other employee if everything was ok. To which she replied "she needs to spank her sons ass so he can behave." Which then prompted me to confront her egregious comment by saying "I don't appreciate you talking shit about my child." She denied making any comment and said that my child should be better behaved then and asked if I would like her to get the store owner to handle my problem. I was happy to talk to a store owner as the whole situation was quite shocking for a trip to buy boots. The owner then backed the employee saying no one could prove she said that even though the other employee could, but chose to stay quiet with the owner, yet apologized to me. I'm assuming this was the response because it is a family owned business and no one is trying to step on toes among family members or long time standing employees. The employee who stayed quiet was also younger than the employee causing issues; and we know how hierarchy works.
We were also told by the owner that they can't sell damaged items. Nothing was damaged, most definitely not from a boot being knocked over. Which the employee then lied to the owner saying my son stepped on the boot. Which again we had to confront the lie and egregious behavior from the employee. The owner also informed me that they expect children to be on their best behavior and have good manners in their store. My 3 year old was not causing a scene, or hurting anyone, or anything. In fact he had very normal behavior for a 3 year old! My husband proceeded to defend our family with choice words that were warranted considering the treatment my family had received from employee and now owner as well. I proceeded to leave the store with my children. My husband was then forcefully asked to leave for using curse words. All because my 3 year old touched boots. And the owner apologized to another family for our behavior; yet that family couldn't find their children in the store just moments before.
It's a shame that they profiled us as if we didn't belong buying from their store. We are a local family that has shopped there on other occasions. One judgmental employee and an owner who didn't have the shoppers best interest in mind just lost local support. And I will openly share our experience with as many as I can, as I am in disbelief of how poorly we were treated in a family owned local store! read more
