Lowe's Workers stay late to Fix legless Vet's Busted Wheelchair (After VA Wouldn't)

[Liberal_in_LA]

Lowe's Workers Fix Vet's Busted Wheelchair (After VA Wouldn't)
It broke down in store, and 3 employees stayed late to repair






A public thank-you by a Vietnam vet to three workers at Lowe's is providing yet more ammo for critics of the VA. As he explains in a letter to the Staten Island Advance, Michael Sulsona lost both his legs to a landmine during the war. He'd been trying to get a new wheelchair from the VA for the last two years without success, and it finally broke down on him during a trip to the hardware store. Three employees came to his assistance, remaining after the store closed to make sure his chair got fixed. "I kept thanking them and all they could say was, 'It was our honor," writes Sulsona.

"They didn't ask any questions, didn't feel the need to fill out any forms or make phone calls," he adds. "Someone needed help and they felt privileged to be given the opportunity." After the story got picked up by BuzzFeed and others, the VA got wind of it, and, voila, delivered a brand-new wheelchair to Sulsona's house. Referring to the VA, Sulsona tells the Advance, "I'd hate to cheapen what these guys did, but isn't that their job? I should have had the chair I was entitled to, but because of red tape, I never got a chair until now."

http://www.newser.com/story/191032/lowes-workers-fix-vets-busted-wheelchair-after-va-wouldnt.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_lifestyle

[Uncle Joe]

1. Lowes should give those 3 employees a raise, kudos to them.

Thanks for the thread, Liberal_in_LA.

[yeoman6987]

6. Now this is what I call a blurry scream story

I am so touched. I will shop at Loew's from now on. I really like Home Depot and they are supporters of the military big time, but this story touched me.

[merrily]

32. Supporting the military used to be a lot more typical of the RW than of Democrats.

At least in lip service. That was odd, in way, because, before Desert Storm, Democrats were CIC when wars started. However, when it came to voting for veterans' benefits, the RW went AWOL.

[Uncle Joe]

52. The RW never supported veterans or even active duty military members so much

as the military industrial complex; the weapons and armaments makers.

[merrily]

53. Yep. They supported starting wars, even though a Dem was CIC.

Still do, apparently.

Once someone got hurt or killed, though, and once the troops came home, all they had were flag pins, slogans, jingoism and voting "no."

When Imus was still on MSNBC--you know, before MSNBC finally had to start paying attention to the racism on his show--Imus was shouting at Schumer about the scandalous conditions at Walter Reed. Schumer tried, (quietly, for some odd reason) to point out that he and other Democrats had voted for the money to repair Walter Reed, but the Republican majority had voted against it. Imus continued pretending that Schumer should have seen that the hospital got repaired. And, for some reason, Schumer just shrugged and let it go.

I guess Schumer thought whatever he was on Imus to talk about was too important to risk angering Imus? Funny though, I don't remember what that topic was.

[Uncle Joe]

56. And then there is this

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/07/25/us-military-supposed-protect-countrys-citizens-and-soldiers-not-poison-them-259103.html

As I was finishing this article, one of the Camp Lejeune activists I’d been speaking to sent me a short, sad email. “So much for our environment,” the brief note said, linking to a Supreme Court ruling that was published that morning, June 9. The case, CTS Corporation v. Waldburger, called into question how long defendants in North Carolina had to sue industry for sickness or death caused by pollution. By ruling for CTS, the polluter, the Supremes indirectly but incontrovertibly complicated the efforts of those seeking compensation at Camp Lejeune. The fight, always hard, suddenly got harder.

(snip0

The Superfund law, passed in 1980, did not apply to federal facilities until 1986. Once it was exposed to litigation, the Department of Defense could no longer dismiss the environmental movement as a mere leftist nuisance. The EPA did better under self-described “environmental president” George H.W. Bush than it had under Ronald Reagan. The Clinton presidency appeared to embolden the regulators, even as the centrist Democrat allowed the Superfund tax on industry to expire in 1995. The presidency of George W. Bush, however, proved a long-sought reprieve for polluters, as the wannabe Texan quickly stocked the EPA with friends of industry.

The attacks of 9/11 proved an especially ripe opportunity for the Pentagon to push back against the oversight implemented in 1986. With the EPA already weakened by the White House and the wounded country in a bellicose mood, the Pentagon asked, in 2003, for a pass on pollution. The Department of Defense figured that Americans were far more afraid of terrorists than polluters. “The manner in which certain environmental laws are being applied is seriously hampering our military training opportunities,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote in an April 2003 letter to EPA head Christine Todd Whitman.

Military officials did not anticipate the resistance they would encounter on Capitol Hill. Perhaps the most vociferous critic of the exemptions was Dingell. “Nowhere has a single set of legislative proposals had so much audacity and so little merit,” thundered the aging legislator during one hearing. “I would note that the Defense Department is supposed to defend the nation, not to defile it.”

There is much more on the link on how bad it is.

[merrily]

57. Gotta love Dingell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_Act

Respective versions of the legislation were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001.

During debate in the House of Representatives, Rep. John Dingell (Democrat of Michigan) argued that the bill would result in banks becoming "too big to fail." Dingell further argued that this would necessarily result in a bailout by the Federal Government.[7]

Had people listened to him, the near global economic collapse of 2008 might well have been avoided, along with all those mortgage foreclosures.

Damned banksters and damned politicians who enable them.

Dingell also fought for universal health care and re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dingell

How can you not love him?

I don't believe in politics as a family business, but he did his daddy proud.

[packman]

2. I like Lowe's

But I hope that some exec/manager doesn't do what is often done in these good Samaritan scenarios and fire the workers for keeping the store open, doing unauthorized work, using store supplies or some other BS.

Bravo to them - good people.

[gvstn]

21. This story has been around for a couple of days.

Lowes immediately realized it was great PR and backed/praised their "team" members from the get-go.

I read a couple hundred comments on their Facebook page and all were positive. Several from other employees that make it sound like this is the type of help they strive to give their customers. And someone from Lowes replied to every single post. I tend to believe that they must have some team spirit amongst their employees. Couple of posts from the top: https://www.facebook.com/lowes

[shireen]

23. Loews has outstanding customer service

Always friendly and very helpful. Glad to see those employees being publicly acknowledged.

[gvstn]

24. I'm glad to hear it.

When Lowes first came to my area (20 years ago), I thought they were a lot friendlier than Home Depot. Then about 8 years later they seemed to hit a rough patch with less help and less stock on hand--I noticed because Lowes is closer to me than HD and I always went their first. The last five years they have been very good. I still go to my local hardware store whenever possible because they are so helpful for advice on small jobs and will do little things like match up a replacement screw/bolt like it really matters to them. I like to pay them back when I need something that I know they will have--I would be very sorry to lose them.

The fact that Lowes immediately embraced their workers helping this guy out (and I really think they did), and the fact that I saw many comments from workers that said this is not something they would be afraid to do--says to me that Lowes is a good employer that realizes that customers/workers are people not just concepts. I will reward Lowes by always making them my first choice when I have to go to a big box hardware store.

[RockaFowler]

40. Lowe's is always the best

Yes I'm biased (my husband works there), but seriously they are a one-of-a-kind place to work.

Personal note here . . . my husband was out of work for 2 years. The first place to hire him was Lowe's. They saw that he had great management experience and heck even construction experience. 2 years later he made full time there. Faster than anyone could have imagined. I will always have a soft place in my heart for that company. They helped us get back on our feet because they gave my husband a chance!! Love it!!

And I love this story . . .

[OKNancy]

42. my daughter works there part-time and just had her hours cut

She is a college grad working their while she gets even more education.
Smartest paint mixer around! LOL

[imthevicar]

3. Sirs

Well Done, Well Done!

[MindPilot]

4. I like Lowes. They give a 10% discount to vets.

And these guys helping out, proves that not all humans are complete asshats.


But then I saw this comment at the link:

"watch out for landmines bro; then none of us would have to read this shite."


SMH

[awoke_in_2003]

12. It is shit like that...

that makes me avoid comment section. For christ's sake, this guy could have lost his legs due to complications from diabetes. Some people just need a 2X4 to the head.

[MindPilot]

34. And the fact that he is a vet just makes it a better story

But the guys who stayed to help out would have done the same without regard to the person's circumstances. I doubt if they based their decision to fix his chair on the cause of his missing limbs.

[DirkGently]

5. Nice. N/t

[liberal from boston]

7. Lowe

K&R!!! I prefer Lowe's over Home Depot!!!

[840high]

16. Most certainly agree 100%

[RedSpartan]

41. Same here.

[ffr]

8. Home Depot gives to Reps campaigns. I now shop Lowes.

Great story from the perspective of people helping people or people helping vets.

[ReRe]

9. That...

... was a beautiful act of kindness. If his wheelchair had fallen apart in front of my son, he would have done the same thing. He's a mechanical genius, also with a big heart. So glad the Vet got his new wheelchair. Now he's got a spare.

[niyad]

10. and THIS is one of the reasons I tell everyone to shop lowe's, rather than the puke-supporting home

depot.

[zentrum]

11. My Progressive friends

....told me to always shop at Lowe's over Home Depot because they treat their workers better.

But I don't know if that's true. Ever hear this about Lowe's?

[merrily]

31. "My progressive friends?"

[MindPilot]

35. Pssst...some may even be black.

Yeah, that was a questionable choice of words.

[zentrum]

49. You're kidding.

My father was black listed. A Union leader. Have been left of progressive since the cradle. All I meant was people I trust told me about Lowes and I wondered if it was true. You can exhale now.

[MindPilot]

59. Yes, I was kidding.

that was a riff on the classic "some of my best friends are..."

[zentrum]

51. And PS

....interesting how you assume I'm not Black.

[zentrum]

50. See reply below.

You got it wrong.

[jeff47]

43. It's true.

I can't say Home Depot treats its workers like shit.

Because Home Depot treats shit better than its workers.

[BrotherIvan]

13. This is great advertising for Lowe's

But it is a MUCH better advertisement for PEOPLE who care. That's why employees should ALWAYS be treated well.

I'm so glad Mr. Sulsona got the new wheelchair he deserved.

[Ron Green]

14. I read this story on FB, complete with anti-government and anti-Obama

replies, while I was sitting in the VA hospital this afternoon waiting to see a doctor. Although kudos to the Lowe's employees, the story opened up a huge can of bullshit about the private vs. public sector regarding healthcare, along with all the usual right-wing talking points. My care at the VA today was stellar, as it always is. I wonder if Lowe's is ready to fund or deliver any part of it.

[merrily]

30. We seem to be almost on the same page. I posted my Reply 29 before reading the thread.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. K&R for people acting human...

in a time when we seem to be losing our humanity.

[GarColga]

17. I wonder if this guy

has ever heard of the DAV. He needs to join up. I believe there's a DAV office in every VA Hospital, and the reason they are there is to go to bat for guys just like him.

[brewens]

18. Atta way guys! Ya know one thing about those power chairs they market to seniors? The ads

claim Medicair covers them 100% so it's free. I wonder how much damage that does? Someone gets the free chair and never really walks again when weight loss and physical therapy might have given them many more years.

I had a buddy that got one for his dad. Partly to burn off some money so he'd qualify to get in our local veterans home. We knew his dad wouldn't probably live much longer. After he passed away, my buddy tried to sell the chair and couldn't get squat for an offer. Used, they are practically worthless because anyone that wants one, can get new one for free. At least that's the way I sized it up.

Anyway, at the veterans home, my buddy had met an old guy that was miserable. He is actually a fairly well known man in my town and had been a newspaper reporter here for years. He was in there with no family or friend visiting, almost never left his room with his walker, was difficult to deal with and really, everyone hated him.

My buddy knew who he was and had known him to be a pretty cool guy back in the day though. He gave him the powerchair! That changed his life, at least the last few years! He became hell on wheels! He was a totally different guy. He even took off on it one day and made it to a local bar! He was gone for hours until some guys pulled up and dropped him back off! Good guy my buddy.

[gvstn]

19. They changed the requirements 3-5 years ago on mobility chairs.

I'm not bothering to look it up but I think now you rent one for 1 year and if you still need it at the end of that year they give it to you. If you notice you don't hear those commercials much anymore. Too many scammers were getting their parents a chair and then turning around and selling them on ebay. Now, used scooters aren't really cheap anymore on ebay or anywhere else. Although, another benefit of the change is that new scooters have come down in price since more people are buying them out of pocket and they needed to lower the price to make them more affordable.

[brewens]

20. That's good to hear and now that you mention it, I guess I don't see those all the time now.

This deal with my buddy would have been about eight or ten years ago.

[gvstn]

28. My mom has been using a scooter for about 20 years.

They really are liberating. When she could walk enough to get from the driver seat of her car to the power lift on the back of her car to get into the scooter she really felt free. It was a life changing experience. She could still get into stores and do things for herself thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act which made sidewalks and stores more accessible. She can't drive anymore but her scooter is still invaluable for being able to get around when she is driven to a shopping center with stores she wants to visit or anywhere else for that matter. She is older and weak and a manual wheelchair is just beyond her abilities as far as upper-body strength.

Your buddy did a great thing. There are tons of people with disabilities that just can't afford to buy a scooter or even a wheelchair. Think about this poor guy who has no legs and is at the mercy of some bureaucracy. Every time they tell him to come down to some office to do paperwork--how exactly is he supposed to get there if his wheelchair is broken? The Lowes' guys did a great thing. And your buddy did a great thing.

My mother and I have met a few people over the years who told similar stories. They were in their fifties and had some medical problems that left them unsure about walking about and had someone donate/give them a mobility scooter when they didn't have the money to buy it themselves and it made a huge difference in their lives. I applaud your friend for doing a wonderful thing that gave someone hope and/or freedom.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

22. Let's hear it for the 3 good guys!

And if they know how to fix a broken wheelchair, they should be making at least $35 an hour!

[Historic NY]

25. Home Depot doesn't honor Veterans Discount Cards either....

my brother & niece have them. Lowes does and its good for a Vet family member also.

[X_Digger]

33. Yet home depot rebuilds vets' houses

As a sometime habitat for humanity volunteer, I'm damned happy to see those orange t-shirts. Their associates helped us build new houses for vets, and I helped them re-do a couple of vets houses from top to bottom (literally.)

http://www.voa.org/Media-Center/Our-Photos/Home-Depot-Foundation

http://www.voa.org/Get-Help/National-Network-of-Services/Veterans/The-Home-Depot-Foundation

Lowe's? Their 'community service' usually amounts to sponsoring some employee's kids' little league team.

Both companies pay their employees crap wages and hire as much part time help as possible to avoid real benefits like heath insurance, but community support (especially vets)? HD has it in spades.

And having googled to find the above links, looks like their vet discount policies are almost identical:
http://guardianofvalor.com/lowes-and-home-depot-military-and-veteran-discounts-explained/

[MindPilot]

36. Yes, they do...at least in my area.

One thing HD has the Lowes does not is the hourly truck rental. So if I need lumber, I go to HD. Pretty much everything else I go to Lowes.

But HD gives the same 10% as Lowes when I flash my VA card.

[frylock]

44. I try to get all my stuff at the local Tru Value..

unfortunately, the store is small, and I often need to resort to the big box. Lowe's is always my preference over HD.

[Historic NY]

46. Our County Veterans Board Discount Programs issues the cards.

[pecwae]

58. Both HD and Lowes

honor VA issued IDs with a 10% discount. I shop one or the other every month and always get the discount.

[lonestarnot]

26. This is one of the best store stories I've ever seen!

[lonestarnot]

27. Why in the hell didn't VA give this man a wheel chair when he asked two years ago?

[cali]

39. that's what's troubling to me as well. Yes, I realize that this will be used by the right wing

but there is little doubt that the VA delivers very uneven services. In some locations it's great and in others it sucks. This man should not have to fight like this to get a new chair.

[merrily]

29. Hmm. As people advocate for privatizing the VA, we get this story from Newser.

Don't get me wrong. If the story is true, I am thrilled for the vet and commend the Lowe's employees highly.

I am saying only exercise caution when reading stories like this, while privatization of the VA is drumbeat in the background.

As for the source, Wolff's newser, always exercise caution:

Criticism

In its review of Wolff's book Burn Rate, Brill's Content criticized Wolff for "apparent factual errors" and said that more than a dozen of the subjects he mentioned complained that Wolff had "invented or changed quotes" that he attributed to them. [20]

In a 2004 cover story for The New Republic, Michelle Cottle wrote that Wolff was "uninterested in the working press," preferring to focus on "the power players—the moguls" and was "fixated on culture, style, buzz, and money, money, money." She also noted that "the scenes in his columns aren’t recreated so much as created—springing from Wolff’s imagination rather than from actual knowledge of events." Calling his writing "a whirlwind of flourishes and tangents and asides that often stray so far from the central point that you begin to wonder whether there is a central point", she quoted one daily New York columnist as saying "I find it nearly impossible to read his columns. They’re flabby. I don’t know what the fuck he’s trying to say." One journalist who knew Wolff told Cottle, "He can't write. He doesn't report."[21] Cottle subsequently called Wolff "possibly the bitchiest media big foot writing today."[22]

The Columbia Journalism Review criticized Wolff in 2010 when he suggested that The New York Times was aggressively covering the breaking News International phone hacking scandal as a way of attacking News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch. CJR called Wolff's analysis "pathetic", "disgusting", "twisted", and based on "zero evidence".[23]

In 2013, Gawker.com cited Wolff as a major example of "trolling", whereby media run stories designed solely for the purpose of outraging their consumers and thereby provoking public reaction. Gawker wrote, "Wolff is intelligent enough to be an actual, serious media critic; he's also canny enough to know that few people give a shit about serious media criticism, so he can get a lot more readers by tossing off ridiculous white wines [sic] about restaurant reservations and incendiary mansplanations; and, he's both needy and amoral enough to just, you know, insult people for attention."[24]

New York Magazine has called him an "angry man for pay" and a "media provocateur". [25]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Wolff_%28journalist%29

[gvstn]

37. The story is true and was reported locally.

The guy wrote a letter to the editor thanking the Lowes guys and taking a shot at the VA (understandably) probably because of recent bad press for the VA. I don't blame him, you have to take your window of opportunity.

The VA needs proper funding. We can always come up with "supplementals" for a new war but we never seem to be able to come up with money for our vets--they really are treated disgracefully considering we like to "talk the talk" about how much we value them.

Staten Island News article with the VA's poor response: http://www.silive.com/westshore/index.ssf/2014/07/veterans_association_statement.html

[merrily]

54. Glad it's true. I am saying only "be cautious because there's a privatization agenda

in progress--and newser has proven unreliable in the past."

That this particular story is true doesn't change my advice.

The game is not new either: Refuse to fund a public entity, or otherwise burden it, then claim it requires privatization because it's doing a poor job. And then get the public to absorb losses and subsidize profits.

[GoCubsGo]

45. His site, Newser, is the Wikpedia of news sites.

Anyone can post there. I"m always skeptical when I see it as a link. Not saying the story is untrue, either. But, I also share your suspicions regarding the VA-bashing.

[merrily]

55. Despite wikipedia's "crowd-sourcing", I find it useful.

What gets covered by any "news" medium is also a choice.

Would this story have been covered if the VA had already been privatized? Would it have been covered six years ago? Or is this so important today because Obama is President, obamacare is law, there is a veterans' health care scandal and privatization is the outcry?

[Erose999]

38. If it was a problem with fasteners or something on the chair I could see why the VA wouldn't be able

to do anything right away except order the guy a new chair. A healthcare provider wouldn't keep nuts and bolts in stock the way a hardware store does, its cheaper for them to replace stuff than fix it.

That level of "red tape" would have happened in a private institution too.

[pansypoo53219]

47. georgee + dickie + TIME has made the VA kinda busy right now. and in truculent GOP congresscritters.

its a perfect storm. add in a useless puter system. we used to get shit done on paper......oh yeah. tax cuts..

[Spitfire of ATJ]

48. REPUBLICANS made the VA the nightmare it is today...

They had total contempt for the Vietnam Vets who they considered to be a bunch of ex-hippie drugged out LOSERS looking for a free ride for the rest of their lives after only serving for one year.

Republicans would go to VFW meetings full of WWII vets and talk about how there wasn't enough money for THEIR benefits because of these freeloaders. Then they would present themselves as the HEROES who would eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse".

Suddenly you had a ton of forms to fill out containing language about penalties for giving false information . VA case workers were rewarded for denying claims. Funding was cut on staff to encourage turnover.

Republicans sabotage a program and then claim it's failure is because government can't do anything right.

No other country tolerates this shit.