Urban Outfitters Employee Likes Being Flashed, Will Force You To Play Along
Miriam got a rude surprise at Urban Outfitters yesterday when she was trying on some clothes. Loud music doesn't cover up the nipples, people; keep the changing room doors shut, or at least don't laugh about it after exposing a customer.
She writes:
Today I visited the Garden State Plaza Urban Outfitters on a whim, and decided to try on some clothes. The attendant set me up in a room, and then about ten minutes later knocked on my door, ostensibly to find out whether the room was occupied. I announced my presence, and he knocked again. I announced my presence again, and he swung the door wide open, revealing me topless to the changing area.
He stood there for a period of time that necessitated my grabbing some item of clothing to cover myself, then he apologized and closed the door. I would have chalked it up to an honest, albeit creepy mistake, but he began laughing with his coworker about how he "does that all the time."
Miriam, understandably disturbed by the experience, quickly left the store. When she had calmed down a little and called her husband for moral support, she returned to make a formal complaint.
An employee with a walkie talkie instructed me to chase said manager to the back of the store, back to where the surrounding people had seen me half naked. I chose to go home and find out how to do an EECB to let the company know that perhaps they should use some sort of marker on the door to denote an occupant, and instruct the attendants that it's not their personal Last Night's Party back there.
I'm asking you guys, who would be the best person to contact about this?
Despite this completely inappropriate employee, we were pleasantly surprised to see that Urban Outfitters actually publicly lists the email addresses of its officers and board of directors. Go here, Miriam, for all the contact info you should need.
For EECB help, click here.
(Photo: InfoMofo)
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Comments:
wow. if she overheard him say that 'he does it all the time', she is an idiot for not reporting this to a manager right on the spot, followed by a sexual harassment suit. just imagine how many people this guys has victimized.
If someone had done this to my wife, he would be explaining it to me in person. I'm know she would cover my bail.
what's there to sort out. if she overheard him say that 'he does it all the time'
she should have complained to a manager, and threatened a sexual harassment suit. imagine how many people this guy has victimized...
being lazy or passive about something like this is WRONG. do the right thing. speak up.
@Emtihn Jcah: I don't know that its sexual harassment, because its not an employment situation where the typical quid pro quo or hostile workplace can happen. I'm not sure what it is. She's in public, so peeping tom laws wouldn't apply. Aside from this person being a huge D-bag, I don't know that he can be charged with anything. Disturbing the peace, something to do with voyeurism? Anyone?
Urban Outfitters merged with American Apparel? When did this happen?
@Emtihn Jcah: I don't think she's being lazy. I think she felt uncomfortable pressing the issue on that employee's territory, so to speak, so she left to deal with it on her terms.
Hopefully Urban Outfitter execs will see this post if nothing else and investigate. It's pretty outrageous behavior, accidental or not. (Almost certainly not, I'm guessing.)
It's a matter for the police. The act was overt and intentional. The actor should be arrested for attempted sexual assault and whatever the local statute is called for "peeping tom" offenses.
This is disgusting and not to be taken lightly.
Miriam, please follow up on this! Keep up the good fight against sexual harrassment, and get this guy fired asap.
Sexual assault? WTF? He assaulted her with his eyes?
If this wasn't an accident there should be repercussions but lets not get stupid about it. You might as well shriek he should be charged with rape.
So rather than confront the manager or the actual employee she passive-aggressively runs to people way too far up the ladder to really know what had happened because" they'd seen me naked"? You make us consumers look bad.
Definitely file a police complaint, they can decide the term for the offense.
@David Mays: That was my thought also. I would have gone to the police along with writing to corporate.
Straight to the police with this matter. They'll ask you to point out the perp and take both sides of the story. If anything, this creep will be deterred. If I was the husband, I'd probably be arrested for assault by now.
i worked at a busy Aeropostale store for a year and this happened to me only once. there isn't a reason for the employee to screw up that much.
i dont think this was sexual assault, it was just a stupid guy who cant handle a minimum wage job. and because of that he doesn't deserve his job, not because he was endangering the woman.
The question I have to ask is, if there is no problem with women breastfeeding in public places because it's inherently non-sexual, why is this any different? No parts were exposed that aren't exposed in that situation...
@Russell Miller: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!??!
If a woman is breast feeding in public, she's exposing herself on purpose...
This guy swung the door open of purpose to see her naked, against her will...
I announced my presence, and he knocked again. I announced my presence again, and he swung the door wide open, revealing me topless to the changing area.
I'm not convinced from the OPs account that it was simple incompetence. She announced her presence, and he opened the door anyway. Sounds like a sexual predator to me.
@lostsynapse: erm, they didn't?
iirc, both are publicly traded... American Apparel on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) under the ticker APP, and Urban Outfitters is traded on NASDAQ as URBN
It's all about choice I guess. A woman has the right to show her boobs to you in public if she's nursing but you don't have the right to choose to have her show her boobs to you. errr. Or something like that.
@bobert: That's what I was thinking. There would be a bleeding Urban Outfitters employee crying on the floor.
@humphrmi: They blast the music in there, I'm betting he wasn't paying attention. Also, I've noticed stores like Urban Outfitters and American Apparel hire really out there hipsters. They just work there to look pretty, but there's nobody at the wheel.
@se7a7n7:
I'm just not quite sure, going by that sort of reasoning, why flashing is a crime. You'd think guys could go around showing their tiddywink to people in public too.
@ARP: I don't think changing rooms are considered exempt from peeping tom laws. Legally there's an expectation of privacy, so technically you're "not in public" if you're in a department store changing room.
let's not forget this guy was laughing and talking to a co-worker about how he does it all the time. you're a fu**** idiot if you're having a hard time understanding why what he did was wrong.
her right to privacy was invaded, when they associate decided to take a peep. don't know about you, but i consider that sexually violating. my body, my choice.
I sent an email to the first person on the list explaining how I felt about the story I read on here. If a lot of people send an email that will help to. Make them realize its an issue, although this store is known for sexual material in its advertising in store. Wonder if they will view it as an issue, or brush it off?
Some things are wrong (like this if it was intentional) but it's a far cry from rape. Sometimes shit happens.
I wonder, was there a lock on the door? If there was, and she didn't lock the door, that's like someone complaining someone saw them changing if they leave their window shades wide open.
File a police report against this employee and Urban Outfitters. No one should have to be subjected to that behavior.
Is it possible that this would be considered Unlawful Sexual Contact? It is worth it to find out.
I think we all want to know...Miriam, are you hot?
So correct me if I am wrong, but "sexual harassment" is not a criminal charge. It is a civil suit brought on by workers against companies or co-workers. For example, if I were so inclined, I could tell my Starbucks Barista that she had a nice rack. Not sexual harassment, since it's not really a crime. If I tell my colleague that at work, I get fired, but still, it's not a crime.
Now, with that being said, what happened to the OP was not "sexual harassment", it was sexual assault, lewd acts or something else.
don't most dressing rooms have locks on the inside?
OP here. I sent out an EECB just now, thanks for all your help and support.
Just FYI, these were the types of dressing rooms that have locks on the outside, and there were no locks on the inside. Seriously though, every other place I've ever tried clothes on had some sort of marker they put on the door to denote "occupied."
All the kids who work at that Urban Outfitters are so annoying. I've never had anything like that happen there, but I've been in a situation where I asked for help and they completely ignored me and actually were trying to organize a "dance-off" between the other employees. Nice!
They do blast the music in there, but he did have the option of bending down to see feet under the foot-and-a-half high gap under the door, or to look at the floor for shadows. I worked in clothing retail for a while and that's what I'd do because I respect people's privacy.
i understand why she was upset about this, but don't get the moral outrage.
personally,i wouldn't put upon if someone accidently saw more than they should in that setting. its just something that sometimes happens in changing rooms.
evidence suggests that the music was too loud and it was an accident.
Lauging about it - the guy is either desensitized to the shock of walking in on someone after it happening a lot, or, like many people, is blowing off steam after an uncomfortable moment by making a joke.
That said, while TO ME naked = who cares, if I worked there it'd be my job to worry about how the customer feels, and act accordingly. so, the guy is a dumba$$ and it was inappropriate behavior.
@Mary:
No, in fact I've seen dressing rooms in "trendier" stores that have just large, thick curtains.
@ageekymom: I'm not really trying to get anyone charged with a crime, although what happened was definitely a violation. I would really like the upshot of this would be better management of fitting rooms (i.e. locks on the inside, less loud music, and one could hope, someone who gives at least half a shit working there.)
Yeah, except it's more like as if someone left the shades facing their fenced in back yard open and someone else was purposely going through the yard to get a peek.
Because feeding an infant is, for the typical mentally sound person, inherently non sexual, but purposely invading a woman's privacy to get a peek at her tits is, for the typical creep, inherently sexual?
Ok here's how to fix this kind of problem:
1) Take some kickboxing classes. It's fun and aerobic.
2) Go into the store with a V-neck and walk past the offending guy and smile.
3) When he opens the door, kick him as hard as you can in the soft, southerly nether regions. Step over his corpse as you nonchalantly exit the store.
When he said that he "does it all the time," is it implying that he purposefully does it all the time or accidentally loses track of what rooms are occupied? Honest question; it's hard to tell from the context.
Neither is the sign of a particularly competent employee, though. Hope Miriam is able to get this all sorted out.