A video uploaded to Facebook shows a disabled Washington man crawling out of a store after an employee reportedly didn’t allow him to use an electric cart.
Shane Zahn claimed in a Facebook post that the incident occurred at Mills Fleet Farm on Monday. Zahn, who is missing a foot, wrote that after he finished shopping he was told that he couldn’t use the store-provided electric cart to get to his car. From there, he said that he returned all the items and walked out of the market on his hands and knees.
Zahn told KIMT that he typically takes his manual wheelchair with him unless he knows a store—like Mills Fleet Farm—has an electric one. On the day in question, he said he was dropped off in front of the store and an employee met him with a cart. The man said he had his son record his departure to have “proof of what happened.”
Since Monday, the video has been viewed more than 6.7 million times and shared almost 88,000 times.
“Just trying to make people aware of how Fleet Farm treats handicapped customers,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, Mills Fleet Farm took to Facebook to apologize for the incident. The market claimed while they don’t allow the carts on the terrain because it poses a hazard, their employee made the wrong call in this case. They said they plan to “make things right” with Zahn.
The statement read in part:
Here, we did not live up to the values or the service our customers have come to expect from us. We should have gone the extra mile and helped the customer use the cart to return to his vehicle after shopping. Our goal is to speak with the customer and make things right for him. What occurred is in no way reflective of our values, and we will use the incident to learn and to improve our services.
Despite the public apology from Mills Fleet Farm, not everyone on social media is supporting Zahn. Some people accused Zahn of being overdramatic—pointing out that his son, who is believed to have been present at the time, could have assisted him.
Nevertheless, Zahn told KIMT that he hopes the ordeal encourages the company to change their policies.
He told the station: “We can’t help [that] we’ve had problems in our lives.”
[Featured Image: Facebook]