For years, my father worked as the warehouse manager for Ethan Allen furniture. I don’t recall how long he worked for them, but I believe it was 10 or 15 years. Whatever it was, it was a fairly long time, and he had put in a lot of hard work for them.
One day in 2002, my father started to feel dizzy and disoriented at work. He felt as if he had the flu and had a hard time with balance, so he went to the doctor. His condition started to rapidly decline and he ended up being admitted to the hospital. The medical staff surmised that he was dealing with the repercussions of a brain infection and the swelling was causing the symptoms. They gave him a CT scan to confirm the diagnosis and ended up finding three very large, but fortunately benign, brain tumors… one of which was the size of an orange. These, coupled with an unknown infection (results came in later that he was also suffering from the West Nile virus), were causing his symptoms.
It was a hard diagnosis and my father needed to have brain surgery to remove as much of the tumors as possible. It was only moderately successful. They removed the one larger tumor, but there was too much bleeding and too high of a risk to remove the other two.
While in the hospital recovering from this surgery, head shaved with staples holding his skull together, my dad received a letter from Ethan Allen, his long term employer. This letter stated that they were eliminating my father’s position and that they would no longer need his services. Not only did this leave my father in a panic, but it also left him with no job, no money, no health insurance, and no possible recourse from the intensive care unit. Ethan Allen fired my father, for no cause, while he was devastatingly ill, after a decade of undeniably devoted service.
I hope you’ve found this page while searching for Ethan Allen furniture. I hope you read this story. I hope you decide to avoid giving Ethan Allen any of your money. Try Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, or Room and Board. They all have better furniture anyway. Send the message that character counts.