Hmmmm....maybe I should tell him about Mr. Happy Fun Face at the local store who grudgingly sold me a bath tub, enclosure, and incorrectly sized sliding glass door. (One size fits all, right?) Oh, darn, I have to sell in stock merchandise? That's hard, I have to stand up and use a computer.

I might call him up and thank him for putting a brand new Lowes less than three miles from the house, cutting my home improvement commute by two thirds. Good times!

I just dropped him a line. I prefer Lowes.

Hi Mr. Niblock,
I worked for Lowes #1738 in St. Charles for 13 months in the Kitchen dept. and for no good reason was let go along with John Gronberg who worked there for over 6 years and is also over 60 years old.We were both replaced by 2 younger people fpr less wages. I did file a claim with the EEOC Commission for Age discrimination.
I really did enjoy working at Lowes and did my best to increase sales in this down turn economy, at year end 2008 I was told to call anyone who was on the fence about making a purchase that we would consider any offers and then I was told that we lost margin. I tried my best.
Thanks for listing,
Ross Gerami
Sales Specialist 630-674-0530
Store #1738

Chip Church and Mic Hillman, I feel like I have tried all with in my power to deal with this matter in a fair and dignified way. Since Hillman refuses to accept responsibility for its own actions and still has not learned anything from its mistakes, I am forced to find someone that will. Hillman just as any other company has to conduct business in a justified manner. Hillman has caused me pain, grief, and disrespect. Hillman has not treated me with the dignity that is my God given right. Did Hillman hold the people who treated me with this disrespect accountable for their mistakes what so ever? If I made comments such as the ones made to me in a Lowes store I would have been fired no questions asked. But as the head of Human Resources says “straight people should not make straight comments in front of mixed company” maybe I could of told that to the hr person at Lowes. When I had my store managers calling me to find out if I was ok and when I was coming back to work maybe I should have told them the way I was treated to see if it was ok to do such a thing. I worked for Hillman four years giving my all working many hours I did not get paid for in hope of a promotion that so called was done away with I was belittled by your management staff. (Not just one but several) I have every pay check stub and call report I have done for Hillman. I am more than sure someone can look at the travel times and work times and see they do not add up and the hurricane route boy those 16 hour days were hard, No hwy infrastructure, taking all the back roads and twice the work load. Working Chicago stores for months I think if your drive time policy is correct which I have a copy of I am still owed a ton of over time. But as my last boss said “you have to do the job first when working for Hillman before getting the promotion you know how Hillman operates”. Funny enough the same boss Kevin Frederking also told me after I got hit once in the company car and going through company procedure that he did not want me to report the second time I got hit the same week because he did not want the extra paper work. He is a church going man lets see if he answers that one with honestly. The New Orleans DM telling me he does not pay overtime you do what you need to do. I believe that Hillman thinks they are above the law and can conduct business not following the rules of the fsla not to mention have its management follow the discrimination guide lines. I am sure that any judge and jury will see the sadness of this situation. Seven months ago when I asked for severance package after telling Mic Hillman I could not go back to work by doctors orders because of the bad working environment his only answer was it’s a bad time to be unemployed. It’s hard working for a company after you have been called out when you know what most of the people working for the same company feel about so called outsiders. I was pushed aside by Hillman hopping I would go away just like their customers do when they need a problem fixed not treated in a respectful manner. I have seen the dirty business ethics of Hillman. I have seen the way you treat your employees that just go with the flow because it's the best job they can find. I have seen you force people to price shop your own customers in order to make money on the other end. February of 2008 when you price shopped Menards and home depot's fasteners in order to bring Lowes back the prices to better price their items was against your own code of ethics not to mention that in itself was braking the law and unknowingly making all your employese brake the law by doing what you told them to do. When people being told to do this asked why Hillman would take a risk of loosing these accounts we were told that a 12 million dollar account t is not much to loose if it made more money for lowers their larger account. When I brought this to Mic Hillmans attention he said that he stands by the operations of Hillman. Lowes can price shop their competitor but Hillman cannot price shop their own customers. This is the kind of business Hillman does. You are not above the law. You are not operating some 3 million dollar a year company you are operating a half a billion dollar a year company like it’s a mom and pop operation. I was in the military six years and they taught us the importance of integrity and loyalty. You would hurt the accounts that made your company in order to make money for your larger account. It's sad that Lowes does not understand that you would do the same to them. It's like cheating if you do it once you will do it again. My final thought on all this is that Hillman is held responsible for this but many other vendor companies in Lowes treat their employees the same and some ever worse to adhere to what Lowes wants and to keep their profit margin the same. In the past Lowes has had the same problem with their own managers trying to meet their required budged labor dollars. I am taking some of my time to talk to them. Maybe you can hide behind your nuts and bolts and it does not hurt your business. Hillman is not a name everyone knows but Lowes is. Many people that shop Lowes are people like myself gays and the others woman. I myself spent around 30 grand there on a corporate account last month remodeling some property and a lot more over the years not to mention many other business men I know. I can’t hurt Hillman but I be dammed if I will spend my money at Lowes if Hillman does not own up to their responsibilities and Lowes still buys and carries Hillman products. If you think for a second that you are dealing with someone who will not pursue you in everyway possible way, you are so wrong. I will do everything I need to in a moral way still treating you with dignity and honesty only using the truth. I do not have to tell lies to make Hillman liable for its mistakes. If I ran someone over with a car I would have to pay for what I did. If I was not following fire code and someone got hurt in one of my properties I would be held liable even if I paid someone else to do the work because in the end it’s still my responsibility. As Mic says he cannot control all that goes on in his sells and service team because of its size this does not make Hillman any less liable. As I said before I will not allow attorneys to bend or reach for the truth but I will find some that will explain the fsla law to me and do the research to see if it’s correct. I would never allow it to be like the rest of the slash throat class actions going around. I will not let anyone treat me like dirt and take it lying down. I have never fought a battle and lost, I will keep trying till there is no breath in my body. This is not a game this is my life. If Hillman wants a fight a fight it shall have. You take away a year of my life and think you can make me go away for four weeks of severance pay after I had to hire my own attorney just to get you to offer me any type of compensation. If you have an attorney that is charging you by the hour he will beat you as well. If I loose I am sure to loose a lot of money but so do you its called attorney’s fees. If my pears see what I do than we wasted our time. If they don’t at least I know that I wasted your time and money not to mention put your reputation on the line. Your severance package would not even cover my attorney’s fees I have spent to date. You think I am weak I was a soldier and not a very bad business man and I did not do any of this giving up or with anyone’s intimidation. But when I know I am in the wrong I always take credit for my actions I do not try to squirm my way out like a snake.

This letter will in fact be forwarded to Lowes, Home depot, and John Menard. (I am sure John Menard will love this letter)The thing is I was not going to do this because I know John Menard would pull your contract in a minute being the kind of business man he is. You have to respect the man he is cut throat. But he does treat his employees with dignity. I never said anything because I did not want Hillman’s employees to be out of work I am thinking that it would not be such a bad thing and by the way you are growing your Lowes accounts I am sure you could use more service reps to help out. Maybe if you keep going in this direction you can get all the other hardware components hinges, door stoppers etc. You may need it.

To all those who need information on the price shop I have emails to back that up and know other people that were in on that conference call. I am pretty sure you may have a case.

Any Hillman Employees who would like to continue the class action case I dropped to save your jobs you are more than welcome to.

Thanks for your time Mic and chip

James Cristina

Lowes I would watch my back if I where you once a ball rolls it always rolls down to shit.

Thanks for your time I would get this over to your leagal department next off I am forwarding this to the media.

I would like to say how impressed I am that Mr. Niblock makes himself accessible to his employees and his customers by letting you call and email with a concern. I already love Lowe's, but now I really do. He must really care which is rare these days for a CEO of a company as we have seen in the past few months with the stimulis deals that were made.

Good store,but I am writting because I want you to keep supporting the Fox news network!! The boycott is mainly people lacking a informed knowledge of this world,and you know those people dont have much money to spend anyway! Ex; if you listen to C-Span the ones that called in to support B ush's every move or to condemn Becks every word, don't speak well and can't make a comment that makes sense! Our country is inthis bad situation because crooks have counted on people not being informed or well educated enough to catch on to what is really going on. How sad that most of this is by supporters of illegals(dont get me wrong,come here legally,any nationality,fine)but illegals take out but dont put in. What they dont realize is,it will destroy this country and then their won't be one for anyone!!!!!!