Reader Brandon is writing in to ask if we think he has a legitimate complaint. .
Yesterday I was shopping at JCPenny in Cary, North Carolina. Was browsing through some of the racks, picking up some new outfits for work, when an employee approached me to ask if I needed any help. I told him no thanks, and then he said to me “Well, the Big and Tall section is over there” and points me to a different part of the store…
I immediately turn red and look around at the stunned faces of other customers who were in the area. One woman mouthed to me “How are you big and tall?” I shrugged and laughed it off, but inside I was feeling like shit. I am 5’11 and 210 lbs… I wear a large and a 38 waist so I am considered neither big, nor tall… do I have any right to complain to JCPenny or should I just shrug it off? Thank you.
We don’t think you should, like, picket the store or anything, but yeah. You could drop JC Penney a note to let them know that you think a member of their sales staff was rude and that he embarrassed you.
What do you think, should Brandon complain?
(Photo:bullywhippit)
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A similiar thing happend to a friend of mine. We went to applebee’s and while we were getting seated, the waitress asked my friend if he had seen the new Weight Watchers Menu.
You should have just said, “And where is the ‘I’m going to stab you in the fucking eye’ section?”
I once worked for Macys doing visual effects. One day while I was hanging a sign a lady came up to me and asked if they had any additional swimsuits. I admit I was largely ignorant of the layout of the store at this point, and suggested she look upstairs in Macy WOMAN. She just stopped for a second, and with a puzzled look on her face said ,’Isn’t that for larger sizes?’
I had never really noticed this before, but the ‘Woman’ moniker suddenly made sense. I immediately recognized that I had said something stupid, and could no longer recover from that. I stammered something out like ‘I don’t know’, and then took off.
@backbroken: Haha, the “Super Terrific Clothing Section” reminds me of a store I went into that had their section for larger teens labeled “Extra Cool Juniors” or some similar nonsense. How absurd.
@Chase: “I find it flattering, as not many men have the ability to be hit on by both genders.”
Clearly, you aren’t visiting the right bars.
@maztec: But if that idiot kids never realizes he offended someone, and keeps offering unsolicitited advice and no one ever says anything…he may eventually become a manager. He thought he was being helpful, and from the sound of it wasn’t snarky or rude, so why wouldn’t he eventually get promoted? If you don’t speak up, nothing will change.
Anyone wanna bet the guys pulling atypical pro athletes out as an example of how off the BMI is (and yeah it is, IF you’re in great shape, as they themselves note) are flabby guys with stomachs leaking past their mid-thigh?
It’s a ballpark estimate, guys, meaning most (but not all) people fit.
If you’re 220lbs w/ a body fat index under 5%, fine. But I’ll bet a double-deep-fried Snickers bar that you’re not. So stop the whining – geezus, it’s unmanly.
@B: To answer your question – no one should really care what a JC Penny’s employee thinks. BUT – a JC Penny’s manager should care about an employee voicing a rude thought to a customer.
@NardoNardo123: You probably aren’t a Big & Tall customer, but FYI, at JCP, Big & Tall starts at size 46 waist… Yes, Size 42 waist is considered normal clothes. So this is really ridiculous.
I meant to say Size 44 is considered a normal wait, 40 used to be the normal limit, then 42… and now it is 44.
Normal of course as in what section you look in. You won’t find size 44 pants in JCP’s Big & Tall section.
This JUST happened to me at Pac Sun on Monday. I went shopping to see about bathing suits and I tried on a bikini. I had a gay man assist me and he said “Oh are you going somewhere or is this just wishful thinking?” It didn’t even register to me what he said until I was in the changing room – I did not buy the bikini since it was ugly and now I’m doing 100 sits ups a day because of him.
Thanks Pac Sun!
@BugMeNot2: Is that a ‘big and tall’ large, or a real large?
5’11″ & 210lbs… you may not be ‘big’, but you’re overweight. You should be in the 175-180lb range. I’m guilty like a majority of Americans of being overweight, but I’m doing something about it. Minus 20+ lbs and counting. Sometimes it takes comments like that to give you a swift kick in your fat butt to do something about it.
It doesn’t sound like the salesperson was necessarily being insulting. It sounds to me more like the customer is really sensitive about his weight. The salesperson may have considered the customer TALL, since the section was big and tall, not Fatties.
In retail, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut any never assume anything. Offer help and answer what’s been asked. This way you don’t piss off the person who is about to give you money that pays your salary. Absolutley turn the asshole in.
Well, it was rude, and if it bothers the op, then yes, he should say something. But, maybe the problem is that the seller could have said it with more tact. For example, “Just to let you know, we also have another section over there that might suit your needs,” or whatever.
I have never had someone suggest I go to petite, and I wouldn’t be insulted if they did (less of a stigma there anyway), but because I am in my twenties and small, I still shop in Juniors and constantly get mistaken for a teenager. I find it irritating, but I understand it’s a reasonable mistake.
“Oh yeah, BTW Mr. Sales Dude, the “Dumb and Crass” section is over there.”
Oh just shrug it off. Jeez. The store employee was a jerk, yes, but grow a thick skin. I’m 6’2 and 200 lbs. and I wouldn’t have been offended, I would have just thought the employee was an a$$hole.
Thick skins, people!
Sounds to me like the employee was just trying to be helpful – in a weird sort of way. I honestly believe the employee legitimately thought he was being helpful. Obviously this person nor the persons around him thought the same.
@alexiso: I think that was just a comment about the weather and whether or not you are taking a vacation, or just wishing you were somewhere warm enough to wear a bikini.
I dunno, I’ve seen some “Big” sections start around size 38…sounds like he would have been in the right area. I’m 5’10″ and 200 lbs, and I know I am getting on the pudgy side.
Sounds to me the salesperson was on the right track.
Why not retaliate? Who else but a giant homo would say something like that to a customer? I should know, I’m a giant homo.
I think the greater issue is not that the employee was implying that the guy was overweight, but that the employee was implying that the guy was a complete moron.
Ooooohhhh…. so THAT’s why none of this fits me! Thank you SO much. I’d be walking around NAKED if it weren’t for kind strangers like you.
Seriously. Reverse the roles. A slenter woman is shopping in the plus-size area. A clerk offers help. The woman declines. The clerk points out where the misses clothing is. Yeah, thanks. I’m not an idiot. My mom is a 24W, not that it’s any of your business, bitch. Let me repeat again that I don’t need help.
@witeowl: *slender
@210 lbs. and 5’11 is not necessarily obese. I am 6′ and 250# (before breakfast), and I am by no means obese. I have 3% body fat. Mike Tyson stands 5’11″, and weighed 215 3/4 when he weighed in for his fight against Larry Holmes in 1988. He might be a joke today, but then he was certainly not thought of as pudgey. Obesity has a direct relationship with your body type (genetics) and lifestyle (tv veiwing habits).
Well, how short and skinny was the guy that directed him to big and tall?
I say yes go ahead and complain. The associate was aboviously an ass. They did not know who you were shopping for, and really should not care since you did not ask for his/her help. I am glad i was not in your shoes because I would have had a few choice words for them and none of them would have been very nice.
5’11 and 210 is borderline big/tall depending on what brand of clothing, what store etc. Many different clothing makers use different standards for sizes and cut can also affect what will fit comnfortably and what won’t (though this is more of an issue for the ladies then the guys)
That said, it’s not always easy to accurately judge weight and if you see a tall person (sorry but 5’11 is tall to me) I could see where they genuinely thought they were being helpful. Again, the poster is borderline in that catagory.
All that said, it’s generally a bad idea to make assumptions about a persons weight or size because you’re probably wrong. So I don’t think I’d go on an email bomb but a politely worded letter is probably a reasonable idea.
Where you would wanna go ballistic is if, on Mother’s day, the waitress says to your pleasantly plump wife “congratulations!” and pats her belly. Hell, I think slugging the waitress might even be legal in some states.