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Kid asked to leave a store because she's too fat

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Smallpotatoes, Sep 4, 2013.

  1. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teen-kicked-store-big-clothes-article-1.1444229

    Last time I checked, a dollar from a fat person wasn't worth any less than a dollar from a thin person so what legitimate reason could the store clerk have for asking the girl to leave?
    How could her mere presence in the store be bad for business?
    It's not as if other people seeing her in the store would stay away.
     
  2. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Who hand writes a letter anymore?
     
  3. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    Ambercrombie and Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries is wondering what the big deal is.

    However, this response from Rue 21 to criticism over the incident is pretty outrageous.

    "We have been unable to corroborate that the incident actually happened," the statement read

    Really? it goes this far with witnesses and you cannot corroborate it?

    The appropriate response is to fire the employee, eat as much shit as you have to and go graveling to your former customer asking for forgiveness or how, if at all possible, it can be made right.
     
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I think you are being a little hard. What if they HAVEN'T been able to corroborate it? You'd fire employees in your retail store every time a customer points and finger and makes an allegation?

    What if this girl made up a story to try to get someone she already knew and didn't like fired? Or what if the real story is that she was being an obnoxious teenager in a store and the clerk asked her to leave, saying nothing about her size, and the kid made up a story? What if the clerk is privately telling them a different story -- something they obviously can't blast all over their facebook page and go to local TV outlets with, the way the girl did, because they have no idea what the truth is?

    All that story had was the girl making an allegation and being very vocal with the allegation.

    Her allegation is probably true. But how do they know that for sure? It would be bad policy to fire an employee every time a customer alleges they made a racial slur or called them fat or says whatever it is someone can make up to try to get an employee fired.

    The store responded to her facebook post saying that is "completely unacceptable" and asked her to PM them with a phone number so they could discuss privately. In speaking with a local TV station, a regional manager said the company doesn't tolerate discrimination, and said the company is reviewing store video footage before making a decision about the fate of the employee.

    It's how I would handle something like that. Say that that kind of thing isn't acceptable, it isn't store policy and try to figure out if it really happened -- before doing something kneejerk and possibly finding out it isn't true and garnering even worse PR than the allegation itself has already gotten the company.
     
  5. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    Somehow I missed the TV spot, just did the old reading thing. The print story didn't say anything about them looking at security footage -- though that's what was running through my mind as the absolute first thing that I would have done and they have had four days to look at that footage from the time of the incident to when the story went online yesterday.

    Instead of going on the defensive in a written statement and saying "We have been unable to corroborate that the incident actually happened" a more appropriate response would have been "The investigation is ongoing, if the incident is corroborated, appropriate action will be taken. We have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind . . ."
     
  6. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    That handwritten letter had no spaces and filled the entire page. Ragu just outed herself.
     
  7. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Earlier in the Daily News story, it said a spokesman was sorry to hear about it and the treatment was "completely unacceptable" on the company's Facebook page. Sounds like the company knows it happened.
     
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    That was from the facebook page -- you could have just clicked on the link in the Daily News story and seen what they wrote in response to what she posted.

    "Hi Shelby. We are really sorry to hear this and this is completely unacceptable. Can you please private message us with your phone number so we can discuss?"

    That is likely someone at the company who was worried it MIGHT have happened, but didn't have any facts other than her allegation on a facebook page.
     
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Not me. I just go to the Big & Tall store where I belong.
     
  10. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    "You're not a shoplifter. You're just a fat kid."
     
  11. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    And her mother has to be named Marge.
     
  12. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    Maybe the paper should actually practice journalism, and not just Facebook sleuthing, before it goes to print with something.
     
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