The store recently opened in Georgetown DC, near Sugarlab and Subway which I pass by to get lunch…read morepretty often.
They have a person at the door with cut-up soap for marketing purposes, which is fine.
What's not fine is a strange man grabbing a woman by her wrist, and dragging her into the store to "market" the products. That's a violation of personal space. Right inside the door, they keep their nail polishing block and the man (I think he's the manager) started polishing my nails vigorously. (Keep in mind, this is happening in mere seconds, so I was trying to wrap my head around what was going on).
When I finally came to my senses after a minute, I politely took my hands back and told him, no I'm not interested in buying and perhaps I'll come back after. I exited the store slightly annoyed but it was whatever.
Now, if this was the first and the last offense, I wouldn't even write about it.
The second time, I already knew what the whole scheme was so I wanted to just pass by without a fuss. The same man was there standing by the door. And he tried to get my attention by loudly saying, "hey! HEY! I'm talking to you! Hey!" When I did not give him my attention, he then started cursing and using racial slurs at me. Like seriously?
And I'm not even done yet. The third time, I strategically timed my passing the store following right behind two middle-aged white women, acting like I was "on my phone". I had hoped he'd talk to them and I could just pass by.
Nope. He ignores the two women, and targets me. Again, yelling for attention. I do not respond, wanting desperately to be left alone. He again, curses me out using racial slurs behind my back.
(Some of ya'll are probably thinking why I'd let it go to the third time, why I didn't say something, etc. but hear me out. If possible, I'd rather not create conflict as I am a petite person and who knows what a person without a sense of personal boundary could do?)
Anyways, I have resorted to crossing the street rather than walking by the store. When I told my husband, he was livid. As a former bodybuilder with a bit of a temper, I did not see good things happening there.
I tried asking for the owner (thankfully they had a female worker handing out soaps, who was very kind, unobtrusive, and gentle) but she didn't know who the owner was.
So this review is for the poor behavior of the male employee and not of the products themselves.
At this day and age, please teach your employees to be mindful of personal spaces, and to treat customers with respect. Cursing, using derogatory terms, trying to demean other cultural identities should NOT be tolerated.
