The Broken Christmas Gift
From James Donahue’s Journal
We still celebrated Christmas when living in the little house on Deckerville Road. Because it was such a compact place, and because Doris loved to cook, I chose a special gift that I thought was made to order for our compact space. It was a multi-task kitchen appliance that mixed, chopped, blended and performed many tasks with attachments to one power unit. It seemed like a good idea and Doris thought she was going to really like the appliance until she plugged it in. It was defective. The motor did not work.
I returned the whole package to the Caro store where it had been purchased, expecting to get an exchange. Instead of that, the woman that ran the store said she would send the defective motor into the company that manufactured it and try to get it repaired. That was disappointing enough, but the part didn’t come back for months. It was spring when Aaron and I finally gave the store an ultimatum. I asked for a new unit or my money refunded. I had paid over $100 for the gift and so far, we had nothing for my investment. The store refused either. They said they would call the manufacturer and find out what the hold-up was. I was so angry, we walked down the street to the local hardware, bought paint and some poster board, then went home and made signs. Then we picketed the store. Our signs said things like “Don’t Buy Here, Won’t Back Up Their Products” and “Store Cheats Customers”
Shortly after we began picketing the store the police arrived. A Caro squad car pulled up and the officer got out. He was laughing. Instead of giving us trouble, the officer advised us how to picket legally without breaking any laws. He said we had to keep moving and not block the entrance to the store. That was it. We would be allowed to picket all day and for as many days as we wished.
It was a nice warm spring day and we picketed for one entire day. We noticed that the Tuscola County Advertiser, the local weekly newspaper located in the building next door, didn’t bother coming out to cover this event. The store must have been a regular advertiser so they didn’t wish to offend that customer. But we had a lot of support from the public. Cars honked as they went by. People stopped to ask what our complaint was about. We were given encouragement and told that the owner of the store had a reputation of not backing up the things they sold. Other people had similar horror stories to tell us.
We picketed all that day and then returned to continue for a second day. But this day the people in the store were waiting for us. We could tell by their actions that they had something bad planned for us. Aaron suggested that it was time for us to leave, which we did.
A few days later the store called us to say the motor was in and we could pick up our appliance. We told them to go to hell and keep the damned thing. Christmas was over six months ago. And that was it. Or it was almost it.
We learned later that the store had been in financial trouble, was up for sale, and a potential buyer came to Caro to look at the store on the very day Aaron and I chose to picket the place. Our actions helped chase the buyer off. The store went out of business a few months later.
Later the woman that ran the store and caused all of our trouble put her name up as a candidate for Tuscola County Treasurer. We got busy and worked hard to make sure she was defeated. Voters did not give her the job.
We discovered that when done correctly, picketing can be a very effective tool for bringing about desired change
From James Donahue’s Journal
We still celebrated Christmas when living in the little house on Deckerville Road. Because it was such a compact place, and because Doris loved to cook, I chose a special gift that I thought was made to order for our compact space. It was a multi-task kitchen appliance that mixed, chopped, blended and performed many tasks with attachments to one power unit. It seemed like a good idea and Doris thought she was going to really like the appliance until she plugged it in. It was defective. The motor did not work.
I returned the whole package to the Caro store where it had been purchased, expecting to get an exchange. Instead of that, the woman that ran the store said she would send the defective motor into the company that manufactured it and try to get it repaired. That was disappointing enough, but the part didn’t come back for months. It was spring when Aaron and I finally gave the store an ultimatum. I asked for a new unit or my money refunded. I had paid over $100 for the gift and so far, we had nothing for my investment. The store refused either. They said they would call the manufacturer and find out what the hold-up was. I was so angry, we walked down the street to the local hardware, bought paint and some poster board, then went home and made signs. Then we picketed the store. Our signs said things like “Don’t Buy Here, Won’t Back Up Their Products” and “Store Cheats Customers”
Shortly after we began picketing the store the police arrived. A Caro squad car pulled up and the officer got out. He was laughing. Instead of giving us trouble, the officer advised us how to picket legally without breaking any laws. He said we had to keep moving and not block the entrance to the store. That was it. We would be allowed to picket all day and for as many days as we wished.
It was a nice warm spring day and we picketed for one entire day. We noticed that the Tuscola County Advertiser, the local weekly newspaper located in the building next door, didn’t bother coming out to cover this event. The store must have been a regular advertiser so they didn’t wish to offend that customer. But we had a lot of support from the public. Cars honked as they went by. People stopped to ask what our complaint was about. We were given encouragement and told that the owner of the store had a reputation of not backing up the things they sold. Other people had similar horror stories to tell us.
We picketed all that day and then returned to continue for a second day. But this day the people in the store were waiting for us. We could tell by their actions that they had something bad planned for us. Aaron suggested that it was time for us to leave, which we did.
A few days later the store called us to say the motor was in and we could pick up our appliance. We told them to go to hell and keep the damned thing. Christmas was over six months ago. And that was it. Or it was almost it.
We learned later that the store had been in financial trouble, was up for sale, and a potential buyer came to Caro to look at the store on the very day Aaron and I chose to picket the place. Our actions helped chase the buyer off. The store went out of business a few months later.
Later the woman that ran the store and caused all of our trouble put her name up as a candidate for Tuscola County Treasurer. We got busy and worked hard to make sure she was defeated. Voters did not give her the job.
We discovered that when done correctly, picketing can be a very effective tool for bringing about desired change