However, if you are famous and just full-figured...
Posted on 04/11/2005 9:13:41 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Obese Shoppers Say Clerks Not Helpful
By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press Writer
April 11, 2005, 8:11 AM EDT
HOUSTON -- Even though she's been a model, an author and small-business owner, Catherine Schuller said some sales clerks still only see her as an overweight woman who is out of place in their stores.
"I was once in a store and asked for the plus-size section. The clerk said, 'Why would I know that?' It's like I was insulting her," said Schuller, who runs CurveStyle: Reshaping Fashion, a New York consulting firm. "I tend not to want any help from sales associates."
A small Rice University study details some of the unpleasant experiences of women like Schuller and other overweight shoppers. The study suggests sales clerks subtly discriminate against obese shoppers unless they think the customer is trying to lose weight.
But the world's largest retail trade association said the study proves only that some sales clerks are rude.
The research, conducted over five years, was done in three phases and focused on a large Houston mall. The shoppers visited smaller stores; no department stores or restaurants were included.
In the first phase, 10 white women played the role of a customer in four scenarios: casually and professionally dressed average-weight shoppers, and casually and professionally dressed obese shoppers. Those posing as obese participants wore a prosthetic that made them appear to be a size 22.
The obese shoppers reported greater levels of interpersonal discrimination, with the ones casually dressed facing the most rejection. The subtle forms of discrimination included less eye contact, more rudeness, hostility and unfriendliness, said Eden King, one of the study leaders.
"That kind of subtle discrimination is more challenging and potentially more harmful," said King, a Rice graduate student in psychology.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Fried okra is fine but I never could get boiled off the plate and past my eyes.
Your comment brought to mind the Al Bundy character from Married w/ Children.
Interesting.
This needs an "obvious" alert.
Lets face it, the prettier and thinner a woman is, the better attention she gets. All of us have seen it a million times in a million ways. I used to have a friend who looked like a model. Everytime we needed to consult a clerk or such, especially male ones, she would do the asking. She just got better results.
It was always amazing to me how men would drop everyone else, to the point of rudeness, to wait on her. I once saw a salesman hold up a line of traffic in a parking lot to talk to her. He would stood there for 10 minutes, horns honking, if she hadn't terminated the conversation.
Sometimes it's good to not have "help" from sales people.
There they go again, those insensitive size-ists.
As most here know, I'm a retired nurse. When I wanted something to do, I hired on at an upscale specialty bread store that serves sandwiches and gourmet coffee as a hostess.
I go around and make sure customers have gotten their order correctly, are enjoying it, make sure the environment is clean and welcoming, I thank people, I learn the regulars' names and use them, I do a hundred things, everything I can so that they will be glad they spent discretionary dollars with the store. I even give away samples. When a military customer comes in, in uniform, I give a free dessert, and I say, "On behalf of me and [my employer], thank you for your service to our country." One young woman soldier hugged me and said, "It is my honor, ma'am," and I got a little misty-eyed.
Every people skill I learned as a nurse, I use at the store. Very pleasant environment, and the customer feedback to my manager is invariably excellent. Sometimes I wish I could teach a course to retail sales people--after all, we can spend our money anywhere, why not where we are welcomed?
Anyway, it's good for business...
who cares?
However, if you are famous and just full-figured...
And just what the heck is up with all of the ugly neon colored clothes in all the stores lately? YUCK! They could at least provide some variety...
This sounds like an advertisement posing as a news article.
Twice a week is too burdensome? Or discriminatory? I guarantee you there are near-zero fat people who actually work out regularly. The small handful that do should get their thyroid checked.
$400 will get you a nice road bike AND a track-stand on eBay. That's all anyone needs to stay in minimal fitness in under 1 hour per week.
Exactly. They needed to recruit obese women and average-sized women and ask them to report on their experience without advance knowledge of the purpose of the experiment. Or they needed an independent, third-party observer to score the interaction. The use of self report in non-blinded participants makes for a fatally flawed experiment.
"One customer at the Gap was enraged to find that the store only offered electric carts for oversized patrons who find walking difficult instead of the more accomodating electric sofas."
I wish you could, too. I wouldn't mind having you as a nurse either. It sounds like you're great at both jobs.
Whenever I would go to Germany for work, I noticed that the people there aren't obese.
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