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YOU ASK. WE INVESTIGATE. Man with disability kicked out of store

Posted at 5:18 PM, Jun 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-01 21:18:38-04
A valley man with a disability says he was kicked out a local store after doing business there, when he asked if he could stay inside and wait for his bus.
 
He said it was 105 degrees outside that day, but the answer was NO.
 
An apology is all James Perine wants for how he says he was treated at the T-Mobile store at Jones and Tropicana. He said he went to the store earlier this month to get the screen on his phone repaired.
 
After finishing up, he asked one simple question:
 
"I thanked him and I asked him then if it would be ok for me to stand over here by the window and wait for my bus," Perine explained. "He said to be very politely, 'I would say yes, but I think my manager will say no.' And the manager comes over and he says, 'sir you'll have to leave,' and I said, 'but why?' He said, 'once your business is complete, it is the store's policy that you leave the store.'"
 
Perine told him he came there to do business but said the manager still insisted he leave.
 
"He said, 'Sir I don't want to lose my job," said Perine, recalling their interaction.
 
Perine said he left T-Mobile and went two doors down to the GameStop, where they had no problem giving him a cool place to wait for his RTC Paratransit bus to pick him up.
 
Action News went to T-Mobile to talk to them ourselves. The General Manager said he had not heard of this interaction. After we talked to him, the General Manager called James Perine and personally apologized.
 
He said the employee who asked Perine to leave will also call and apologize.
 
"I understand the law, I'm not trying to tell them how to do business, all I am trying to help them do is to treat me better and in the future, treat other people in my happenstance better," said Perine.
 
Still, he said he would not be doing business with T-Mobile again.