Abercrombie & Fitch fined for refusing to let teen help autistic sister

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by grassisgreener

And common sense would tell you that if someone explains their disability and their needs to a store employee, they could show a little empathy and make an exception rather than repeating a company policy they can't even find.

That's a slippery slope.

The employee was following company policy. As MC stated, the problem seems to lie more with corporate. The employee tried to be accomodating (I didn't initially see the part about being able to try the clothes on at home -- I've never heard someone in retail give that as an option).

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

That's a slippery slope.

The employee was following company policy. As MC stated, the problem seems to lie more with corporate. The employee tried to be accomodating (I didn't initially see the part about being able to try the clothes on at home -- I've never heard someone in retail give that as an option).

I worked a retail job where we had a very liberal return policy, so this was an option. However we were HUGE on customer service and I would have let a family member assist another in a fitting room, though we were a store where we enforced one to a fitting room. Some of it was for theft reasons, but it was also because people would get freaky/intimate and I'd have to break up the party. I would have gotten in more trouble for not allowing a family member to help if there was a complaint (and subsequent bad press) than the chance of offending someone, or having a loss of a few hundred dollars. Employees stole more than customers anyway, but bad press is much harder to justify.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I worked a retail job where we had a very liberal return policy, so this was an option. However we were HUGE on customer service and I would have let a family member assist another in a fitting room, though we were a store where we enforced one to a fitting room. Some of it was for theft reasons, but it was also because people would get freaky/intimate and I'd have to break up the party. I would have gotten in more trouble for not allowing a family member to help if there was a complaint (and subsequent bad press) than the chance of offending someone, or having a loss of a few hundred dollars. Employees stole more than customers anyway, but bad press is much harder to justify.

Interesting. I've never heard of it, especially with teenagers.

When I worked in retail (Blockbuster), we had a decent return policy that was set by corporate. We had very little leeway, though, when it came to trying to accomodate each and every customer. I would hope that no one thought my refusal to bend the rules constituted discrimination.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Interesting. I've never heard of it, especially with teenagers.

When I worked in retail (Blockbuster), we had a decent return policy that was set by corporate. We had very little leeway, though, when it came to trying to accomodate each and every customer. I would hope that no one thought my refusal to bend the rules constituted discrimination.

It wasn't and isn't my place to determine someone's documented disability but to be as reasonable with accommodating them while providing a positive and pleasant shopping experience. Sure there is an off chance someone was BSing me, but better to not offend someone and get bad press than to make an exception. Granted I worked this job in college and was familiar with Autism and Aspbergers, so I am a bit more in tune, but offending the customers was something to be avoided. I worked for a company that competes with Walmart so the prices may be a bit higher but people chose the store for our policies and procedures, and a lot of that was the customer service.

I also filled in as a supervisor when there wasn't a manager on duty, and from the cart catcher to the regional manager the first part of training was always to make the customer happy and to get them to return. They were aware of the impact of one person bad mouthing the company and the ripple effect, so we tried to avoid those situations. it was always bad when an entry level employee would follow policy and a manager would undermine them. I like that I can make choices to help a customer, and that I could say "This is the policy I am supposed to follow, but I am happy to call a manager as I do not have the authority to deviate from it, just one moment and they will come help you." It kept my morale and self esteem intact, the customer would still respect me, and I would not get in trouble as the manager made the next move and would have to answer to corporate.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

It wasn't and isn't my place to determine someone's documented disability but to be as reasonable with accommodating them while providing a positive and pleasant shopping experience. Sure there is an off chance someone was BSing me, but better to not offend someone and get bad press than to make an exception. Granted I worked this job in college and was familiar with Autism and Aspbergers, so I am a bit more in tune, but offending the customers was something to be avoided. I worked for a company that competes with Walmart so the prices may be a bit higher but people chose the store for our policies and procedures, and a lot of that was the customer service.

I also filled in as a supervisor when there wasn't a manager on duty, and from the cart catcher to the regional manager the first part of training was always to make the customer happy and to get them to return. They were aware of the impact of one person bad mouthing the company and the ripple effect, so we tried to avoid those situations. it was always bad when an entry level employee would follow policy and a manager would undermine them. I like that I can make choices to help a customer, and that I could say "This is the policy I am supposed to follow, but I am happy to call a manager as I do not have the authority to deviate from it, just one moment and they will come help you." It kept my morale and self esteem intact, the customer would still respect me, and I would not get in trouble as the manager made the next move and would have to answer to corporate.

I may be a bit jaded, as the majority of my customers at BBV set out to BS me.

On paper, it makes sense to try to be as accomodating as possible. But that can lead to more problems ("Well, you just let those two girls in together! Why can't WE go in? Fine, then I have autism, too!").

And as much as I wanted to maintain the company image, I was more concerned about keeping my job.