LOCKHART, Texas — Many in the small city of Lockhart, a tight-knit community 33 miles south of Austin, are rallying behind 34-year-old Chad Gaddis after he lost his job last week.
He said he was fired on Monday, May 18, after he accidentally dented a parked car with a shopping cart at Walmart.
"Part of it hit part of car," Chad said.
Before that, for the past 10 years, he loved wearing his neon-yellow vest when he was part of the cart crew.
"I like it so much. And I do good at it," Chad said.
Chad said Walmart fired him on Tuesday. The 34-year-old was heartbroken. He said he felt, "really down, really down."
Working with the cart crew at the city's only Walmart wasn't just a job for Chad. He loved everything about it.
"Help the older people, they need help," Chad said.
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When Kerry Gaddis met with Walmart's management to try to get answers about his son's firing last week, it was not what he expected. He said the managers questioned Chad's mental abilities and had safety concerns for Chad and their customers. Kerry said it is something they have never brought up before now.
Chad was born with cerebral palsy, congenital nystagmus and a speech impediment.
"I went in it thinking, 'OK, he was terminated and that's part of life and those are the things that happen.' But at the end of the day, it wasn't because of the things that happened. It was because of his disability. And that made me angry," Kerry said.
When family friend Bethany Castaneda found out, she was angry too.
"It just hit me to the core," Castaneda said.
She immediately took action and spread the word about what happened on social media.
"And it just started getting shared hundreds of times. I also put it on our local Caldwell County discussion page, which thousands are on. And so from that moment on, I mean, people started stepping forward and talking and maybe talking about their situations or just saying how much, like ... truly everybody goes to Walmart and looks for Chad," said Castaneda.
Castaneda started a petition to get Chad's job back on Change.org. It got thousands of signatures.
She's also organizing a car parade by Chad's house Wednesday night, supporting a family friend in need.
A spokesperson for Walmart sent us this statement.
“Chad’s employment was terminated for failing to follow safety protocols. After further review of this situation, store management plans to meet with Chad and his father [on Tuesday] about returning to his job at Walmart. Walmart is proud to employ many associates with disabilities, and we hope Chad will be among them. Our score of 100% on the Disability Equality Index is a step toward achieving our vision of ‘everyone included,’ and we continue to strive to improve upon our commitment to be the employer and retailer of choice for people with disabilities and their families.”
Chad's mother, Suzanne Gaddis, said that she and Chad met with Walmart's regional manager on Tuesday evening and Walmart officially offered Chad his job back. The Gaddis family has not made a decision about whether or not to take the job offer.
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