November 28, 2016

A father in Highlands Ranch, Colorado said that a store manager called him a homophobic slur in front of his 4-year-old son.

James Shawlin told KUSA that he stopped by the Floor and Decor store on Friday to exchange defective materials he had purchased to build a stone fireplace.

“The stones were broken and they were basically gluing them back together and putting them in the box and selling them,” he explained.

Shawlin said that a store manager spotted him going through boxes to check the stones and "was not too happy."

“I was a little firm with him, and I just told him, ‘Hey, you know, my husband and I spend a lot of money here. We’ve been using you guys for ten years. We have $3,000 worth of stone.’” Shawlin recalled telling manager. “And [the manager] goes, 'oh, that explains it now. The faggot that voted for Hillary.'”

Another customer expressed support for Donald Trump after overhearing the conversation, Shawlin said.

The father broke down in tears remembering how the customer later followed him and his son into the parking lot.

“He basically said, ‘What are these faggots going to do to this child?’” Shawlin recalled.

"I’m 44, I’ve been out for a while, I grew up in rural Wisconsin, I’ve heard it all,” Shawlin observed. “But when you have a child that’s so young that doesn’t understand, it’s pretty traumatizing.”

After returning home, Shawlin left a review on Yelp about his "horrific" experience at the store.

"What is this world coming to?" he wrote. "I am shocked, hurt and very upset. You see this on the news but to actually be on the other side of it is crazy. I am in shock and in disbelief. I think that what hurts the most is how they mentioned to 'what the faggots were going to do to this child.'"

According to Floor and Decor spokesperson Mickey O’Sullivan, the Atlanta-based company is conducted an investigation of the complaint. O’Sullivan told KUSA that he had never heard an employee use bigoted language in his 10 years working at the company.

UPDATE: Store Manager now fired.

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