Big Fat Mistakes
Last weekend I went to Macy’s with a friend of mine. As there are pictures of me on the site, its no secret I went down the woman’s aisle but I’ll add she found the petite aisle. I happyily found a great pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans with fabulous hand beading down the sides. I immediately fell in love with them and bought them for far too much money. I know I’ll probably loose some sleep wondering if a child in a 4th world country went blind making them. I was only in Macy’s because I had a refund to use, for merchandise only, from something my husband returned for Christmas. So much of what they usually have is well crafted fabric boxes, overlaid with another layer of a long jacket in a bright color. Yeah, that will make me look fashionable and thin! I’ll shop Torrid, over Macy’s any day.
So, I happily joined my friend in “thin-land”. She had performed the miracle I have seen many times over, buying something in ultra-tiny for a miniscule amount. In this case, a lovely evening dress marked down to $20.00. Back at the fat-land isle, the sale evening dresses started at a mere $99.00. Come on, there isn’t that much more material in them. So as gracious thin one was checking out, the clerk urged her to spend another ten dollars so she could get a large free Tommy Hilfiger tote. But it had to be more Tommy Hilfiger. She declined. But..
I whipped out my receipt and pointed to the rack of totes…”Hey, I qualify”, and the clerk tried to get me a free tote. So she can’t ring it up, so she calls her manager, another of the thin. Her manager looks at me and goes, “Well, you have to spend over $3o.oo” at her co-worker. Her co-worker assures her I did. The manager then peers over her glasses and says in a condenscending voice “It has to be Tommy Hilfiger” and looks at me doubtfully. At this point I was tempted to point out her attitude. The other clerk, a nice well rounded women, assured her that it was. So she peered over her thick glasses again and I got my tote.
However, this offer was not made to me over at “fat-land” counter. This is a clear example of both economic and social bias driven by the images that we are taught by advertisers to be “cool” and “acceptable”. I protest. I now have another big fat reason to stay out of Macy’s.