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Afraid to shop at Menard's
Hello Advicenators: I shop and spend a lot of Money at Menard's. It is a big box home improvement store. It is or was my favorite store. They have more of my monthly income than a food store. I try to keep busy and have many projects to keep my mind busy, so to speak. I am on Social Security Disability. I am 58 years old and on a fixed income. About a month ago (since that is the day I last visited) I was at Menard's at 6:30 when they opened. The floor scrubber guy was following me around and came within inches of hitting me. I have a psychiatric condition due to my disability. I have not been back to Menard's since for fear. I contacted the manager. He sent me two dog toys and apologized. I just feel terrible. This store really has me scared. Do I have any legal recourse here for some sort of compensation? Respectfully, Dzadzy
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Want to answer more questions in the Health & Fitness category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Mental health?
No. The store owes you nothing financially. I'm not a legal expert but I'm sure a lawyer would tell you that this would never fly.
Why would you want to sue them when the management upon hearing of your condition tried to make things better? Yes they sent dog toys but it's something to indicate concern.
You need to sit down with your psychiatrist and go over why you are anxious to enter that particular store and go over the irrational fears in your head and learn strategies so you can go back in and see that the store is of no threat to you. You're not at that point yet but can be. You simply have to go back inside or this will have defeated you. If it's not this store now it may be somewhere else if not dealt with.
Another thing may be to meet store staff if possible and relate that you like shopping there but as someone with X,Y,Z that there's something about their store in particular that sets off anxiety in you. Perhaps, if you talk to the management maybe they'll see other people can be affected and work at making it easier to shop there.
Mention the floor scrubber. The other thing is go to Menards later in the day when people aren't likely to crowd the place. You went at 6:30 a.m. Wait a few hours the floor crew won't be present. You could also visit a different location. But yes, your psychiatrist ought to know about this.
As far as a fixed income goes this may be an opportunity to research other stores and how much things cost at Wal-Mart, Targer etc. etc. and shop at different places and how to stretch what you have better so Menards isn't the only place you're going to.
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I'm sorry you had a bad experience at what was your favorite store. You should not let something like this keep you from enjoying your hobbies. As the saying goes if you fall of a horse you must get right back on or you never will.
As for legal recourse you do not have any. You can of course check with an attorney. People have sued for less and been compensated mostly for what is considered nuisance amounts any were from $1,000 to $10,000 dollars depending on what the insurance company feels it will cost them to take the suit to court.
In general though the only person that gets rich is the attorney as these types of actions are not the ones they take on where they take a portion of what they win for you; depending on state law that can be as much as 40% to 50%. Instead they bill you by the hour and you pay for every minute of their time. You can tell how good they feel the case you have based on what terms they will take the case on under.
My advice is it will cost you more than you can win to sue them. Talk to your therapist about what happened and go back to the store later in the day when they will not be cleaning the floors.
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No. You have no legal recourse. You were not physically harmed, and although you found this stressful and upsetting, what you've described here isn't actionable.
I'd recommend you try and go back, maybe with someone you trust, at a different time of day. Or, if you are seeing anyone you can talk to about your mental health challenges, discuss this with them. It would be very sad to loose something you value so much as trips to this store.
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