This past Thursday I walked into this Lululemon only to be blatantly discriminated against by the staff from start to finish. I entered right after a group of women who were all greeted. When I walked in, I wasn't even acknowledged. The moment I stepped to the back of the store all eyes were on me. Employees steadily walked behind and in front of me with side eye glances, still not offering any help. One employee even cut me off, almost knocking into me to help a white customer while I was walking around, not even bothering to say sorry. Two of the same employees kept standing in the corner next to me in every section of the store, being obnoxiously loud with a fake conversation to make it clear they were keeping tabs on me.
When I went to try on items, one short-haired employee was happily greeting customers as they walked in. But when I approached, she suddenly "took a phone call," swung open a fitting room door, and turned her back on me without offering any help. I tried on my items and left the fitting room no one else was there. When I returned to the main floor, all of the employees were conveniently gathered at the front of the store, staring at me again. Two employees even moved in front of the entrance door, practically blocking anyone from entering or leaving, only moving aside when other customers walked out.
I still tried to give them the benefit of the doubt until I reached the clearance aisle. Once again, the same two women (including the one from the fitting room) positioned themselves at the end of the rack with their fake loud conversation. Another male employee started "fixing" clothes at the other end of the rack, clearly positioned to catch me if I so much as touched something. Then I looked up to see another male employee leaning against the pants in the men's section just watching me, making stern eye contact. At this point I felt unsafe and like my well-being was compromised.
I immediately asked a woman (who I later learned was lying) if I could speak to a manager. Conveniently, that same woman who had been following me turned out to be the manager. I calmly asked her why she and several other employees were following me, keeping watch, and surrounding me within only 30 minutes of being in the store. I explained each of the events in detail. She only started making excuses and tried to gaslight me into believing it "wasn't like that at all" and that employees were "just floating around doing their jobs." I directly asked her if it was store policy for three employees to block a customer in an aisle, another to stand watch in front of them, and not one person to offer help. She had no answer.
What was even more telling is that the minute I confronted her, all the employees suddenly began "working" and paying us no mind. The two blocking the entrance moved away instantly. She gave me a weak "apology" for my experience and claimed she knows her staff would never do such a thing. I called her out on this it is impossible to believe when I made direct eye contact with at least eight employees, including herself, and not one offered me help while they helped every other customer. There were exactly five other people in the store at the time, including an Asian couple, and still I was the only one singled out.
She tried to excuse the blocked entrance as "part of their job to stand at the door and greet." I told her yes, greet customers not block the entire entrance once I entered. Clearly, they don't even have the greeting point down, since I was never greeted at all. I told her I would call the police for false imprisonment, file a complaint with Lululemon directly, and with the Better Business Bureau. I handed the clothes back to her and said I would take my money elsewhere.
The cherry on top: the same male employee who had been folding clothes next to me earlier looked me in the eye and sarcastically told me to "have a nice day" as I left. How rich.
To the tall blonde manager: shame on you. You are far too young in this generation to be encouraging and enabling that kind of behavior from your staff. And to the one Black employee who stood by and participated: double shame on you. Do not think for one second they won't one day turn around and check your bag after work the same way they profiled me.
For reference, I was walking around with a Tiffany bag during this entire experience. For a store in a luxury mall, you would think they'd have common sense. I have never felt so embarrassed and degraded. Even my local Lululemon in one of the "reddest" towns in Suffolk County would never treat someone like this.
If this experience and these details don't speak volumes, I don't know what will. If you are a minority and do well for yourself, do yourself a favor and take your business elsewhere. read more