Age bias at Hollister, if I had known they were Abercrombie & Fitch

[DainBramaged]

I wouldn't let my daughter be shopping there.

My daughter likes their clothes. We gave her some gift cards for Giftmas. Went today to get her another one for her birthday. Go up to counter, music blaring so loud in the store my ears hurt. I'm standing there with a robot at the register, a female robot folding clothes behind him and another robot further down yakking with a girl. I stand there. And stand there, and stand there.Then this 20 something comes up with some clothes and robot #1 takes care of him. When he's done taking his money and bagging his rags, he walks away.

SO i call out "am I invisible here, or is my money no good?" Female robot #2 asks "can I help you?" to which my response was "why the fuck didn't you ask me that when you saw me standing at the counter 5 minutes ago?" So robot #3 now says "oh, he'll be right back he's probably checking someone in the fitting room".

At that point I asked to no one in particular "just because I'm old doesn't mean my money's no fucking good".

Robot #1 came back, asked me what I wanted. I payed for the gift card. I then just turned around , stepped away, and gave them all the double third finger.

I came home and called their headquarters. Not that they'll do anything, but since they don't wear name tags, no one is responsible.

Fuck Hollister/Abercrombie. Next time I'll check buyblue.org first.

[Left Is Write]

1. Hollister...

The music is too loud, the store is too dark and crowded, and I hate going in there.

BUT...my favorite pair of jeans came from there. They even sold them to an old hag like me. ;)

My 18-year-old daughter LOVES Hollister, but won't go into A&F anymore.

[DainBramaged]

3. I have a REAL AF vest from 10 years ago I still wear

can't kill, pockets everywhere, warm as toast. Their new clothes are RAGS, absolute rags. Holister seems better quality, but the employees are just robots.

WE give the kids the money, and the sooner they get it, the better off they are going to be.

But they aren't getting any more of my money. None. My kid can find somewhere else to spend my money on clothes. There are lots of trendy names out there.

[purr]

2. What is the big whoop about Hollister anyway?

My neighbors daughter is OBSESSED with them.. They cant pay their bills but somehow their daughter gets these clothes which are INSANELY overpriced and they cant afford it. She HAS to wear them and will NOT go anywhere else. She just had them fork over $160 for 2 shirts and a pair of pants. Give me $160 and I can come out with a ton of clothes.

[DainBramaged]

4. You tell me, I can't figure it out. It's A&F for older kids. A&F sucks now

[Left Is Write]

5. They're not as expensive as A&F.

I bought jeans at Hollister for $38.

How A&F gets people to pay $50 for a tank top is beyond me.

[purr]

7. I cant imagine paying that.

I have other things to pay for than a $50 shirt. I dont know.. maybe I wasnt raised to be materialistic like some people are raising their kids today. I bet she feels victim of her friends living in the $500,000 homes, wearing the designer clothes, and her parents driving $60k cars whereas her parents cant do that. It sucks. I hope my kids dont turn like that cuz I cant afford it :(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. It's just a job.

Do you remember when the salespeople at the clothing stores and the grocery checkout clerks all made a living doing those jobs?
They worked full time hours, and many received overtime during the holidays. And speaking of holidays, they could earn vacation time and they had sick leave as well. They knew where to locate the products they sold; and they could tell without looking whether they carried an item or not.

The stores they worked for weren't huge; but many of them carried quality goods. And those that sold junk didn't last long, because nobody wanted to buy junk. And they employed college and high school kids to bag groceries...at minimum wage.

I don't know what the employment turnover rate is for todays retail stores. It seems like most of the people that work there are either trying to supplement their social security or earn extra cash for school. Or in some cases, it's a job that will have to do until something better comes along.

[Kathleen04]

8. Turnover..

is pretty high. I worked part-time at a dept store for about six months..and the majority of the people there now are people who started after I did.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. If it's that high, management probably

expects their employees to have instinctive customer service ability. But I think that's a rare quality, especially for someone who hasn't worked retail before.

I always have to laugh when there's suddenly a new "customer service initiative" in place in a local grocery, and someone walks up to see if I need help while I'm deciding which pickles to buy. The same people are nowhere to be found when I'm looking for a product they used to sell but suddenly stopped carrying; and if I ask them about it, they have no idea what I'm talking about.

[DainBramaged]

9. So it's OK with you they ignore customers outside their demographic

or much older than they are? In NJ, the wages in the mall are around $9 an hour. They hire teen agers ONLY. Old people like me don't get hired by A&F, Hollister, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Bananna Republic, Benetton, American Eagle, or AEROPOSTALE.

There is no excuse for ignoring someone who isn't a 20 something (or less) at your sales counter because they are grey and old.

What should they be paid NOT to ignore older customers?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Whoa! I didn't say that!

I'm just giving you an answer why. By the way, I'm 47, and it happens to me all the time! :hi:
They don't care about their job. They have no real pride in the work they do. So no, they don't really care about you or anybody else who walks into the store...20-something or 50-something.

The only thing I can suggest with regard to the age discrimination is that they aren't accustomed to relating to people who aren't in their own age group, thus tend to ignore them...not unlike many people of our age group who ignore or speak condescendingly to them. I'm not excusing it, I'm just saying it's a human nature problem that exists in many of us...we all could stand to work on it.

I'm sorry you had such a frustrating experience... :hug:

[Shine]

12. Haha, at first I thought you were talking about Hollister in CA

since I live relatively close to there. :eyes:

I've never heard of Hollister clothing store. Maybe I'm out of it. Must be a back east thing.

In any case, I can totally sympathise with your frustration. Sounds totally rude. Boo on them.
:thumbsdown:

[Misunderestimator]

13. You actually said "fucking" like that without even asking for assistance?

Wow. I feel sorry for the salespeople.

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Stupid fucking clothing, anyway.

But, as I found out from a few people in my thread a few days ago about shitty service, we apparently have no right to expect low-paid people to do their job with efficiency, a smile, courteousness, or anything approaching a sense of shared human commonality. You are obviously an elitist who feels that the poor are here to serve you, and you alone.

:puke:

Fuckers should all be fired, in my opinion. And if they worked for me, they would be.

[Misunderestimator]

15. Right, and we have the right to yell at people getting paid shit.

Without even asking for assistance first. Then to describe them all as robots, even the ones not waiting on us. Fuck it. Whatever. :)

[DainBramaged]

16. You sir are the elitist not me.

I simply hoped for a modicum of service and to PAY for those services. I'm sorry you expect people to not have to perform even a meager job like taking one's money (at above minimum wage in a pleasant work environment) without being considered an oppressor.

And by the way, the thread was about being ignored because I wasn't in their age radar, something I will do to you in the future.

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. No, that's not me - that was the people I was against

I'm on your side on this one.

[DainBramaged]

18. Humor and sourchasm doesn't always translate well in pixels

And neither does sour cream or sour puss. I see the point. All to often, people think that minimum wage means minimum service. But a smile, a thank you, or a few moments of help, knowledgeable or otherwise, may start to replace the dour attitudes prevalent in retail today.

I never thought our lives would be reduced to determining how much we pay to gain complete service in the retail experience. My first retail job paid $1.25 an hour. And if I had treated me the way I was treated in Hollister, I'd have been physically thrown out on the street. When you have no talent or experience in the 16-25 job market, and your first job choice is clothing stores or fast food, the response should always be he same. Thanks for the opportunity, you have to start somewhere.

And if someone here at DU doesn't think that $8.75 an hour (Hollister minimum wage in this part of NJ) for a first job is enough to warrant that person to pay attention to ALL of their customers, not just the pretty girls and cute guys, try going to a BMW or the Fendi store. They don't get paid any better, but since you've come there for the goods and not the service, you can expect to be trashed.