"I'm not fat. I have PCOS!"

[Polly]

Seriously, other women, especially sales women, are the reason I hate shopping in stores. (I do most of my shopping online, with my tape measure in hand.)

I get attitude in places like Express, where I went in to help my friend, Kristen, get some new clothes. The sales lady noticed me looking at a stack of T's while waiting for Kristen and informed that Express doesn't carry my size! "Maybe you should try Lane Bryant.." "Right, thanks. I keep forgetting that only THIN people shop here. My mistake." (Yes, I was mouthy. I shouldn't have said that.) However, it apparently prompted the sales girl to quietly complain to the other sales girl that "if I eat all that stuff" (gesturing to the goldfish crackers in the stroller, I would be able to lose the weight! (At this point, I realized the sales girl was not only mean, but stupid. Hello! Stoller+goldfish crackers=child eating crackers. Not the mommy. And I was there in my exercise clothes because she had just seen my Stroller Strides class finish right outside her store's door.) So, I went over to hear and said, "I'm overweight due to PCOS." "Huh?" After a brief explanation about what PCOS is and how it affects weight, sales girl said something like, "Oh, well at least you have a good reason for being overweight!"

ARGHH! Does anyone else get this attitude? Seriously, should I be wearing a sign stating my reason for not being a size 8? Right.....because everyone else out there is just fat and "lazy." Humpf! Still doesn't help me squeeze my butt into jeans that fit my legs but not my tummy-unless I don't mind the "muffin top."

To the retail world, I'm fat with an alibi!

[Erika]

LOL I know exactly how you feel. Ok, well I'm also fat because I enjoy food and chocolate :Paranoid. BUT....the PCOS makes it extremely difficult to lose the weight once I put it on. It has nothing to do with being lazy and I hate that attitude. It isn't always verbalised but you can see it in some peoples faces.

[Jo]

Polly-You really should call her manager. However stupid they are on the inside, it is absolutely not supposed to come out of their mouths to customers or ever ever in earshot of them.

[Mary]

Yeah, there's no excuse for that. I generally try to give retail people the benefit of the doubt after having worked with the public for years and years but there is NO excuse for that and she should be fired. Please call the manager. They would probably thank you, as she could be driving off business acting that way. For all she knows you could've been shopping for a gift for someone.

[Lori]

ITA with Jo and Mary. The job of a salesperson is to sell stuff, not to judge who they think should or shouldn't be in their store. Shockingly, fat people actually sometimes know people who aren't fat, and may even purchase items for them. If a clerk is driving people out of the store with her attitude, who might be there to spend their money, the manager should know, because they aren't doing their job.

[Kristen]

:eek That was really uncalled for. I can't believe she hasn't been fired already!

[faithkemp]

I think you had full reason to get mouthy........I wouldn't have even waited to call the manager I would have had the manager come up and talk to me right infront of her and all the customers in the store.