Woman Collects $123,000 (Stupidly)

RyiSHisa Morris has done the virtually impossible. It was reported this week that this African-American/Native American mix had won a settlement against the company Piercing Pagoda. However, I believe that this should NEVER EVER have happened!

Apparently Ms. Morris experienced what she calls harassment after trying to return a piece of jewelry she had purchased the day before. The kiosk apparently had a different employee working on these two days therefore when Ms. Morris tried to return the item. When the employee who she dealt with on the second day told her that she could not return the item, Ms. Morris got angry and wouldn’t leave. This is when the employee stated, "I've had enough with your kind," along with some profanity and that is when things got very heated. When Ms. Morris would not leave, she called mall security. At the same time, Ms. Morris was calling the Piercing Pagoda customer service number. When the mall security arrived, the security along with the customer service person told the employee to give Ms. Morris a store credit. This seems that this should have been the end of this situation, but it wasn’t. Apparently Ms. Morris was recommended by a friend to get a lawyer and sue the company.

Since this event happened in March 2010, Ms. Morris filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) shortly thereafter. In September 2011, the commission decided to award Ms. Morris a total of $123,347 ($100,000 to Ms. Morris and the remaining in legal fees and interest charges). This is the highest amount allowed under Maine law.

Ms. Morris lawyer, Kelly Hoffman of the firm Norman, Hanson & DeTroy, wrote in a statement:

"Those who discriminate need to learn the impact their actions have on victims and society, not only for the sake of justice, but also because doing so will result in more tolerance in the future." She continued on by stating "I'm so impressed by individuals like Ms. Morris who find the courage to speak up when subjected to this type of behavior." 

Oh, please! This is all about a woman who is a whiner and a scammer! Now here’s why:

When I first heard this story it was on WGME 13 television station. Ironically, the station neglected to say that Ms. Morris was making a return and not just being a casual customer. Whether or nor this was purposeful to mislead viewers is unknown, but certainly made Ms. Morris’ story much more effective. However, I thought that there must have been much more to this story.

So I did a Google search on this woman. What I uncovered initially surprised me. Apparently Ms. Morris had previously had a case against Regis Corporation back in 2006 for employment discrimination for guess what? She had proclaimed racial discrimination then as well. However, the law office she used in that case was the same one I started using when I had my case against Staples. They failed with her and they failed with me. Unfortunately they went as far as doing a representing of her, whereas they dropped me before it went before the MHRC.

So Ms. Morris tried again in 2010 with a different lawyer and a different type of case by suing for discrimination from Piercing Pagoda. I believe that this scheme was something that was cooked up by Ms. Morris and her lawyer to seek revenge against her previously lost case. Unfortunately, Zales (the parent company of Piercing Pagoda) didn’t show up at the MHRC hearing, which to me meant that they were dissatisfied with the result of the MHRC investigator’s report. If they did the type of “investigating” against Piercing Pagoda as they did against me, nobody with Zales or Piercing Pagoda would have been contacted, therefore the case became a one-sided story with all the other side ignored. Sadly, this is ABSOLUTELY THE WRONG WAY to do any type or case, but this is how they do EVERY CASE! So realistically Ms. Morris deserved NOTHING and I am hoping that Piercing Pagoda will appeal this payoff even though the money has already been given out.

Honestly, in over 20 years in the retail industry, I believe that every employee have had customers who they do not want to deal with or like Ms. Morris plays games to try to beat the system. Many times I have heard the old story that “another employee” said it was ok to return a product when realistically they never said that in the first place. Customers like Ms. Morris like to create their own stories to make it seem easier to do returns. Unfortunately, a smart employee can see through their schemes and refuse to “help” the customer as which was the basis of Ms. Morris complaint. There was many times over the years that I had refused to help a customer on their fraudulent return and sometimes was reprimanded for it, but I usually just brushed it off because I knew that I was right and the manager on duty was completely in the wrong. Whether or not either of the employees at Piercing Pagoda had a managerial title is unknown, but the level of disrespect given to Ms. Morris would be justified if she continued to be an aggressive customer who interfered with normal business of other customers. Having called upon mall security for their assistance is a joke, as they have no authority to do much of anything even regarding shoplifters. (I will have more to say about mall security in future posts).

Given Ms. Morris’ past, it is apparent to me that she was only out for the money and used the race card in order to win her case. Unfortunately, it is lawyers like Ms. Hoffman who are money hungry and blame others for discrimination when none really exists. Its fools like the commissioners and investigators of the MHRC that continue to fuel the pot by approving huge financial windfalls as in this case. Certainly discrimination will never end, but it is the smart one who walks away and brushes it off, the scammer will try to seek financial gains as Ms. Morris tried twice to do.

On another note, what makes this case so different from another story reported on WGME of the Santa Claus, who was fired at the Maine Mall for being grumpy and rude to customers? What stops the parents whose children were traumatized from seeking a monetary settlement against the mall for a type discrimination as well for not being allowed to visit Santa unless the parents were willing to pony up for the picture package to get their picture taken with the jolly old guy? Ironically, this story got as much top story billing as Ms. Morris’ did and brings up the whole idea that they too should sue to get money as well. Sadly, Ms. Morris’ case has brought bad precedence to all kinds of discrimination and has opened the door for even more stupid frivolous lawsuits in the future. My advice to all the parents whose kids were traumatized: Get a lawyer, sue the Maine Mall, file a complaint with the MHRC, then wait till your case comes up than claim your case is just as stupid as Ms. Morris’ was and sit back and collect your $100,000 payday as well. And on that Merry Christmas to all (except Ms. Morris and her money hungry lawyer, of course).