Posts
Shortly, after I posted my last entry, a friend wrote to me describing her experience at Zara. I was shocked at the blatant racism and classism that was directed towards her by Zara's manager. Although I've had similar experiences (although not to the same extent), I was appalled by the vulgarity and unprofessionalism shown by this particular person at Zara. Judging people based on skin colour and their appearance is a dated ideology that should not be tolerated whatsoever. Zara needs to be exposed. It doesn't stop at individuals but the people behind that individual who give them the right to act in demeaning ways. I've posted the story below as written by Samantha Peters herself. If you are on facebook, please join the facebook group and let us mobilize around this issue. We will not be silent any longer!
By Samantha Peters
"I was at Zara (in the Eaton Centre). I usually dress presentable, but it was a cold winter day, so I was dressed too "scruffy" for that store. I had bought (just the day before) a dress because it was the last one in my size. When I went home, my mom said that I should return it because it didn't look good on me. So I went to Zara to return it.
The cashier was about to ring it in and had to get his manager to sign the return. She looked me up and down and said "I can't return this, you wore it!". Mind you, I never wore the dress. I was like no, I bought this yesterday (and explained her the situation). I then said, why would I wear something and return it?, that's tacky! She continued by stating, "well, it looks like something YOU would do".
She then wrote all over my receipt so that I couldn't return it elsewhere, took a bag from the garbage and put my dress back into. I broke down and tears, and no one said anything. The store was packed!! It was a couple of days before Christmas."
4 comments:
Perhaps a forum where we talk about our own overtly racist, sexist, etc experiences would be in order. Here's my latest: http://www.alstonadams.net/blog/2009/05/did-i-hear-that-right.html
This is unfair!
I think we have to give support to anyone who needs it, no matter if it is black or not. If anyone needs to get viagra online , that person can get it with no troubles
My brother had bought a coat from the Highcross store in Leicester and discovered when he got home that it was actually tight and therefore one size too small when he tried to sit down with it on. A few days later I returned to the store with him to exchange it for a bigger size. The store didn't have the size we wanted and so we asked for a refund. The store denied us a refund as the coat allegedly 'smelt'. We were referred to the store manager of the men's department who said to us the coat 'smells of an Indian curry' without even assesssing the coat for himself. This was obviously direct racial discrimination by referring to the colour of our skin.
The reality was that the coat never smelt of anything as it had never been worn out. The reason they didn't want to give the refund was that the coat had become part of end of line stock and so for them the return would have meant an overall loss for the store.
Never shop at this store is my advice or even better avoid ZARA altogether, they are not worth it for the overpriced items they sell or their disgraceful customer service. We've come across other similar incidents at this store since so its obviously part of their agenda to target certain vulnerable customers.
Hi, I wanted to follow-up on this post about Zara. What was the outcome of your 2009 action? In 2014, Zara clothing store owned by Inditex Group at the Eaton Centre is using racial profiling as a tactic to discriminate against its racialized clients. You can send me a message at info@tomeesojourner.com
Post a Comment