Horrible experiences 3 TIMES at CHinook mall Urban Outfitters!!!
I shop here all the time, and the workers are always amazingly nice to me except for one and she happens to be the manager.
My first encounter I was picking up a camera case. I have a medical exemption so I can not wear a face mask. She came around as I was speaking with the person at the front desk, with a mask box and asked if I needed a mask, and I just told her I have an exemption and she told me that this was the last time I was allowed in the store without a mask. I just said "okay that's fine." And she just hurriedly walked past me. She then took over for the person who was helping me because they were having trouble finding my item. She was very short tempered with me but I let it slide because I thought maybe she just wasn't having a good day so I complimented her shirt and she said "thanks." so I just smiled and left it. I got my case said thank you, and she just walked away, so I and just left and left.
My second encounter was pretty bad. I went in there with my sister, and the same lady that helped me the first time, asked us to wear masks and we simply replied that we have medical exemptions, we assured her we used hand sanitizer and we would be keeping our distance so she left and came back with a mask container and told us we had to wear masks in the store, we told her again we are exempt and we can't but she proceeded to tell us either wear a mask or get out. We put her masks on but kept them below our noses because we can not wear masks at all, our doctor has told us not to. We have our exemption card and everything, but we legally don't have to show it. I did show her the first time she asked. She proceeded to follow us through the store and told us twice to keep them above our noses. She came to us a third time and I told my sister lets just leave because she wasn't leaving us alone.
The third time was yesterday, December 16, 2020. My sister and I were waiting in line to come in the store and she (the same girl as the first and second time) looked at us from in the store and very bluntly said, "you have to wear a mask to come in, thanks." and walked away before we could reply. My sister and I immediately noticed it was the same girl as last time. Around three minutes later, she came back and said, "seems as though you guys don't have your own masks, so I'll give you one." and we again, told her we have exemptions, my sister and I proceeded to walk into the store, and told her, "you are never nice to us." and the MANAGER (the girl is the manager!), said to us, "because you guys told me I'm not nice, I will have to ask you guys to leave the store." NO MANAGER should ever ask a customer to leave the store, because we told her she wasn't being nice, you should ALWAYS have amazing customer service towards your customer!! How old is she to tell us we have to leave because we simply told her she is not nice?? That is something my four-year-old niece would say! My sister then asked to speak to the manager, I kid you not, the girl looked at my sister, clapped her hands together, cocked her head to the side, and said, "I am the manager." So my sister said, "I want to speak to whoever is above you." Then I proceeded to say, "It's just because.." and she started walking away. She was walking extremely fast and aggressive next to my sister, in the same direction as her and I honestly thought she was gonna grab her shoulder but she walked passed her and started talking to a male co-worker of hers. Turns out she called security on us!!! Security came down and told us very kindly, basically that he understood we have medical exemptions, but she asked us to leave, so we should leave. I was appalled and called the city to ask what the precautions for that situation would be, regarding being forced to wear a mask with a medical exemption in store.
I have called the city three times to ask them this exact question, and every single time, they have told me that it is against the law to force someone to wear a mask and refuse business. The city also told me, three times, whether or not the business is privately owned, they are not allowed to refuse service to customers. Some businesses will have signs, and if one of the signs is from the Government of Alberta, it will have exceptions including medical exemptions.
Again, the staff is always so kind. The last time this happened, I was speaking to a co-worker of hers that was standing at the front. She was being very kind and assuring us that we could make a formal complaint online.
This service was disgusting from the MANAGER!! We filed a complaint to their headquarters and to the city of Calgary. read more