OfficeMax — Local services in Worth Township

Earlier yesterday, my mother was at Office Max Crestwood. She needed to copy pages from a yearbook. Several pages. The border however was on the page so she thought she could get it done with ease at Office Max. She asked for help and the younger staff told her, "M'aam it would be the same thing as your doing, if we did it." My mother, 68, breathing, heart and joint issues, stood there for 3hrs and paid $10 more than what it would have cost had they done it. In addition, it could have been picked up for Sunday or Monday.

I call up there and ask to speak with the Manager. I was told there was no Manager tonight. I said ok, who is in charge of the staff tonight, who is closing. The "young" woman, emphasis on young, said someone is the lead tonight and she brought a gentlemen to the phone. I asked what his name was and he said John. I asked John if I wanted to copy pages, several pages from a book, could I do that there? Do you guys do that for me and I can come pick it up? He said "well that's Bria in printing, but yea we can do that for you. He then said, while laughing, that's so funny a woman was in here earlier and she wanted something similar you know the borders of the book, they kept turning black. So Jon and other staff not only watched my mother struggle, charged her for what they could have done, younger, used to the job of standing and printing, but also knew they could have helped her and didnt. The worst part of all of this is that he spoke on and laughed about another customer to me without knowing that the customer he was laughing at was MY MOTHER. Now, frustrated and highly worried about my mother and what type of evening this now may be or the recovery for the weekend may be, I proceed to say, I'd like to understand why my 68yr old mother with illness didnt get help from the staff? He then said I must treat him with respect or he needs to walk away. I then said, no sir, in fact, MY MOTHER should have been treated with respect. Please let me include, after he said I should respect him, he said, I talked with your mother earlier, she was nice we had talked. So, my mother was nice, patient and kind with you and your staff, even though you all weren't and didnt do your job, and you still didnt help this lady you said you had no issue with earlier? There is now an issue with the staff, store and her daughter. Jon proceeded to get loud, yell, and hung up the phone but not before saying "see how it feels". See how what feels, what exactly does that mean? This behavior was rude and offensive. Office max at the end of the day I dont have to care about anyone's feelings but my Mothers. Regardless of me being a god fearing woman, working in a career field based in helping people for 10+yrs, I care and help random persons, the elderly, whoever I'm simply existing with in the same moment and able to discern when someone need help. I was raised to be a helper and not watch people suffer and certainty not watch someone need help and I not give them assistance wether I work somewhere or dont. But today, I do not have to adhere to anyone's feelings at the expense of my mothers. I have been living around and going to this office max for decades, including my entire family. We are helping host a Class Reunion, and needed to print as we do every few years. It's a blessing we get to do this. The difference is we're counting the blessings even more now, as this could be the last one for many. So, today didn't have to be made difficult for my mother. So as we deal with the aftermath, Jon is still at work going about his day having treated and watched a customer be treated in the way my mother was today! If this was Jons mother or any officemax employees mother, I'm sure they would want the best assistance possible as to make things easier for a customer as apart of one's job. Even if they couldn't get this project done, it would have been okay, but you all chose to not help her and I have to say, OfficeMax this needs to be rectified. The customer service is self serving and...

If I could give 0 I would. Terrible experience and I hope no one goes through this. I flew into town for business. I visited this store Saturday afternoon to make a copy of my out-of-state DRIVERS LICENSE & insurance card for my daughter who lives in state. The next morning I flew back home but while in the airport I realized I left my things in the 1st self-serve photo copy machine. Luckily I had my ID with me but I need my REAL ID/DRIVERS LICENSE also. As soon as my flight landed I called the store explaining to Tamika who keeps cutting me off while I’m trying to explain to her I left my items. She goes to the photo copy machine and states “wow, they’re still laying here on the glass”. She proceeds to say I have to bring in identification to get my items but if she wasn’t so rude and cutting me off she’d heard I just landed back home as too my information she had was out of state. She states “Well I can’t ship it to you, we don’t do that”. I never asked her to. I told her my daughter will come pick it up. She says that she can’t release to my daughter and that she has to send an email to Loss Prevention because this now because an HR situation. And she also tells me by it being Sunday she don’t know how soon they’ll respond. So basically if they don’t then what? I was trying to ask her in between of being cut off every second what do I need to prove identity? She didn’t know. I said I can send my Birth Certificate to my daughter. She’s taking my information and says “So you only have a birth certificate?” . Is this Tameka lady serious???? I told her my daughter has the paper copy I did there of my License, can we use that? She said it might work. MIGHT???? At this point just drop it in a mailbox because she was acting like she holding MY information hostage. I called the 800 number and even the guy Bruce said that we could use FaceTime or anything. Tameka made it more difficult for no reason. He called the store and told him she was only waiting on a OK but send me through hot water. I wish I would’ve just sent my daughter in the store to go to the copy machine and pick it up. Calling the store was the wrong...

I recently visited the Office Max in Crestwood, IL, with my 2-year-old son and a small backpack that doubled as his diaper bag. As I prepared to buy moving boxes, an employee named Tameka informed me that I needed to leave my bag at the front of the store. I explained it was for my son’s necessities, yet she insisted this was a "security policy" and that I couldn’t shop with my bag on. She even offered assistance but, by this point, I felt uncomfortable and decided to leave. This rule felt arbitrary, especially as no signs indicated a restriction on bags, and the store wasn’t crowded.

The experience was upsetting for several reasons. First, it felt racially motivated. As a Black man, I am aware of how people can be unfairly perceived, and this was an instance where I felt judged as a potential thief for no reason other than the color of my skin. The assumption that a father with a child would be a threat simply because of his backpack is deeply unsettling and discriminatory.

Additionally, this policy seemed biased. I have yet to see a mother asked to leave her purse or diaper bag at the front of a store. I’m a father of four and have shopped countless times with similar items without issue. This treatment felt rooted in outdated assumptions about who shops with children and who can be trusted in a store.

I urge Office Max to consider how policies like this can be applied unevenly and how they might reinforce harmful biases. Discrimination, whether intentional or not, should have no place in retail spaces. I hope this review prompts a re-evaluation of these practices so that other customers don’t have to experience this same...