Wow. Where to start:
A coworker and I were in the Mosaic district this past Sunday afternoon, grabbing some lunch and relaxing after getting of work at a fitness studio VERY close to this Timothy Paul location. I consider Mosaic to be my neighborhood, as I live a stone's throw away and spend a great deal of time working/eating/shopping here. While waiting on another coworker of ours next door, we decided to pop into Timothy Paul and check it out. I had previously been to this store's location in the District of Columbia, because it is also ironically, very close to our DC fitness studio location. I have noticed in the past there are beautiful succulents towards the front of the store and was excited that we would be able to go in and take a look. We walked in around 2:30pm and there were at most, 3 customers inside. We were immediately greeted by a pleasant woman who appeared to be responsible for tending to the plants & flowers - it also appeared as though the two businesses are run independently of one another but share the same retail space. I asked her a few questions about the succulents because I had never seen any so large and beautiful. She answered my questions and let me know if I needed any assistance, she would be happy to provide it.
Upon walking further back into the store, we noticed a woman behind the register who upon acknowledging us, looked as though she thought we may be lost.....off-putting, but not a deal breaker. I realize people are human beings and everyone is entitled to have a crappy day. We took a few moments apart to look at things that interested us and a couple minutes later met towards the middle of the store. There was a really beautiful song playing through the speakers and neither one of us had brought our phones over to be able to Shazam it. Again, I am a fitness instructor....my eyes and ears are always on the lookout for new music that I can incorporate into my classes. My coworker and I decided to sit down on one of the many chairs/couches they have out on the floor, so that I could listen to the lyrics for a moment and maybe memorize a few lines to look the song up when I got home. We had been sitting down for no more than 30 seconds when I noticed the dark haired woman behind the register looking at us as if we could not sit down.....on a couch....in a store that sells furniture. At no point did either of us notice any signs that requested patrons not sit on the furniture. Another 30 seconds or so goes by and the woman comes from behind the counter towards us and says "Um can I help you with something?". I replied that we were just taking a look around and waiting on a friend next door. The tone of her voice and look on her face of pure annoyance and superiority, left me befuddled. The woman had literally just rolled her eyes as she stood there. We had done absolutely nothing wrong.
I am in constant interaction with patrons of Mosaic and clients at our fitness studio on a DAILY basis. The coworker with me at the time, is a blogger; writing for a respected magazine in the northern Virginia area. So, at nearly 28 years old, I truly do not think I have ever encountered someone working in retail that was so careless with their prejudice. Regardless of anyone's assumptions (based on my appearance i presume?), I work very hard to afford myself the freedom to purchase great quality items at a place such as Timothy Paul. My coworker and I turned to look at one another in almost disbelief and I said to her "Should we just leave?", to which she agreed as we made our way to the exit. Correct me if I am wrong, but as an employee working in retail, is it not your job to treat each and every patron with common courtesy respect? Completely unacceptable behavior and quite disappointing that ANY business would allow a person with such a lack of couth to represent them. read more