Discrimination Against Women - Retail Style

My cousin, who is in her early seventies, was browsing in a golf pro shop in Clearwater Beach, Florida, with the intent to make a purchase.  Three or four men came in after her and were waited on while she was completely ignored.  (I found out later that this isn't the only time it had happened to her in this store...just the last)  I asked my cousin if she complained to anyone about this rude treatment.  She said, "no need to, I'll never go there again!"  She also said that she would mention this experience to her friends.  No big deal, right?  This kind of stuff happens all the time.  After all, how many folks could a seventy-something year old lady know?  Well, in this case, more than you could imagine.  My cousin however, is not the evangelistic-militant type.  Good thing for this golf shop, because she is Internet savvy and is extremely connected and I am relatively sure that the folks she is connected to have younger sons, daughters and friends.

I am of the opinion that one should never take anyone shopping in their place of business for granted.  And although the damage to this store's reputation that will take place will be akin to a slow, steady drip of cyanide, I wish there was a way to measure its loss of business.

Comments

[Rich G.]

Once upon a time I went to an automotive store with a lady friend of mine who needed a starter for her car. SHE was going to put it in. I was only along because, well, her car wouldn't start and mine would, so I drove.

The salesman would NOT talk to her. He asked ME what I needed and she said a starter and he asked ME for what kind of car and she answered, and he then asked ME if I needed something else, a solenoid I believe it was, and she said no.

SHE paid for it all, so far completely ignored by the salesman and we went outside and I asked her why she got it there that I was mad and I wasn't even the one being ignored and she said it was normal, something she was used to... getting mad only made her mad, but didn't change him.

As a white male I'm not usually the target of discrimination so I get blind sided sometimes when I see that it's still going on out there. It's 2007 for crying out loud!

[dave]

IMHO that behavior Rich should be punished by never doing business with that establishment again. Or, if I had the time, I might want to mention to the owner-manager just why I'd never come back and see what they're reaction was.

[Rich G.]

I agree about the not going back thing... I'm HUGE at remembering bad behavior and avoiding it and calling all the way up the chain as far as I can to tell whomever will listen about an employees GOOD behavior, complete with employee name and time of day.

I'm probably the reverse of usual, I just vanish as a response to bad behavior and tell anybody who will listen, but I'm noisy with my compliments when something is above average. I want them to get rewarded and do it more often and their peers to do it too... better service is well... better, esp when I'm the one on the receiving end!

[dave]

It is soooo much more rewarding talking about the good things people do, isn't it Rich?

A funny note - We had an electrician out to repair some things covered under warranty. This guy was informative and thoroughly explained things to me. He then proceeded to tell me what a passion he had for helping folks in his trade. As this sort of behavior is near and dear to my heart - much like the work of Sister Theresa, he had every ounce of my attention. I didn't mention to him what I did for a living, but kept the conversation alive with questions.

When he left I had no recourse but to sing praises about him to his boss. This electrical contractor is very large with branches throughout Florida. I discovered that his shop was minutes from my office. So I stopped in and asked for his boss. The look on this guy's face was, "oh no, not another customer with a problem." I noticed that he had a very sharp edge about him, so I purposely held off, as long as I could, that I was there to praise his associate. Of course this guy's attitude did an about face when he realized my intention.

The bottom line is this guy wasn't used to hearing good things about his people and really, I found it hard to believe more people were not praising this one electrician.