ACME Markets review: Racist employee refused to provide me service at "customer service" desk

Hello.

I am writing to report a likely racially motivated incident at the East Norriton, Pennsylvania, store that occurred Saturday, March 28, at about 3:30 p.m.

I filled out forms on Acme's website and called twice in filing complaints, but Acme leadership cannot find it in themselves to comment on this situation. So I've decided to share this publicly to embarrass the store.

First, your customer service employees never man the desk. About a year ago, I started going to Acme for money orders bought with cash bonuses received at my job because a Giant supermarket near me lost their license to sell them. On this day, it took 10 minutes until someone showed up. Ten minutes! Today, sensing the same problems, I asked an employee stocking shelves to help bring someone to the desk.

A young woman showed up and began expressing doubt right away that she could help me with $6,000 worth of money orders and insisting that I'd need two forms of identification. Absurd! Who brings his or her passport or Social Security card to a supermarket to get money orders? Giant never required two forms of ID, and I successfullly converted as much as $4,000 to $5,000 in cash to money orders on single visits.

This woman called over a woman named Royce, and Royce immediately began interrogating me as if she were a police officer and I was some bank robber or drug dealer. "Where is this money from?" "Where do you work?"

Let me tell you so it's perfectly clear: Your employees have no right to ask these questions of me or any other person seeking money orders.

Wanting to get out of this abhorrent store as quickly as possible, I told her that this money is a cash bonus for my marketing job, which is 100 percent the truth. Royce never deserved this answer.

Royce started to walk away, shaking her head and saying that $6,000 was too much. I asked her what the store daily limit is--if one even exists--on money order transactions in a day. She didn't answer.

Royce left for 5 minutes and came back, saying she couldn't help me. I asked whether she could convert any of my $6,000 into money orders, and she said no.

Royce is an African American woman, and I am a Caucasian man. Given that she offered no other explanation for denying my request, I am making the claim that her obscene, uncalled-for actions were discriminatory.

If I don't take action, this alarming behavior will only continue.