Imagine you’re 14, you’re at the mall with your mom and your friend, it’s your birthday, and you’re super psyched (do kids still say “psyched”?) to do some shopping. So you head into rue21, and that’s when a store employee tells you you’re too fat to be shopping there, and you should leave.
Sound ridiculous? Well, that’s apparently what happened to a 14-year-old girl in Eugene, Oregon, last weekend. The company has promised to investigate, to review security footage, and talk to witnesses who were in the store at the time of the incident. They posted this on their official Facebook page:
At rue21 we value diversity and welcome all customers in our stores. We intensely train our associates on our anti-discrimination policies, and we offer a variety of apparel trends and sizes, as well as accessories, footwear, and fragrances in our 966 stores nationwide. We are currently investigating the claims of Ms. Buster, including conducting interviews with store associates and other witnesses who were present at the time of alleged incident. The alleged behavior, if true, would be absolutely unacceptable and contrary to company policy. We deeply regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred.
You know what the most ridiculous part of that statement is (well, besides the fact that telling someone they’re too fat to be there is a “misunderstanding”)? “We intensely train our associates on our anti-discrimination policies.” Okay, good for you, but honestly, you have to “intensely” teach your employees that they shouldn’t be jerks to customers? Give me a break.
Now, some people question if this really happened to this girl. I tend to believe her. Just because you’ve never experienced or witnessed discrimination like this, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened – and won’t happen again.
A bunch of years ago, when I was thinner than I am now, I was at the mall with my mom. We stepped into the Gap to look at sweaters. At the time, I was actually wearing a Gap cardigan that I’d picked up at the outlet mall, and was hoping to find a few more in different colors (I’m a sucker for a good cardigan). I asked a woman who was working on the sales floor if they carried the sweater I was wearing, or if they were only available at the outlet. She told me that they didn’t carry my size.
Let’s break this down:
- The woman was not thin herself, and probably would wear an XL from this store.
- I was wearing an XL.
- I was wearing a sweater from this store already, and had told her that.
- She still felt the need to tell me that I was too big for the stuff in the store.
My mom and I were both too shocked to reply, so we just walked out. If this happened to me now, I would demand to see the manager. At the time, though, I hadn’t found my BFD backbone. Oh that I had!
So, whether or not this girl was actually treated this way by the rue21 employee, the fact is, fat people are treated badly in the retail clothing environment all the time. I guess the store is right in that we do need to “intensely” train people to not be rude and discriminatory. It’s astonishing to me that for many people, it’s completely okay to be terrible to fat people – and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who think it’s their duty to be this way, because then we’ll realize the error of our bodily ways and start getting skinny straight away. Thanks, helpful bigots!
Have you ever experienced discrimination like this? Hit the comments to share your stories about your time at the Crazy Town Mall!
