Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Teenage girl upset after shop assistant said she shouldn’t be buying men’s shoes for herself

A teenage girl said she was left feeling “upset” and “uncomfortable” by a shop assistant. Lucy Holliday, from Ampleforth, was shopping in York on Sunday when she went into Sports Direct to buy shoes.

Lucy, who is a lesbian and celebrated her 19th birthday on Monday, said: “I tend to buy male shoes because I have larger feet than a lot of girls and they are more comfortable. I haven’t had any problems with it before and went to the check-out, waited in line. When he saw me he asked if they were for me and then went on to say I shouldn’t be buying men’s shoes because I’m a girl, there was a girl’s section for a reason, and he made me feel really uncomfortable for buying something that I liked.”



Lucy was so shocked by the attitude of the sales assistant that she burst into tears once she got outside. She said: “I don’t really think that’s how sales assistants are supposed to be with customers. I just left so upset and I don’t want to go back again.” Lucy’s mother, Emma, said: “She shouldn’t be made to feel bad because she likes them and they fit her better, but he made her feel small, stupid and very, very bad, and I have never had my daughter come out of a store in tears before.

“I phoned them for 20 minutes and I got no reply and I’m furious about this. My daughter is a lesbian and buys mens’ shoes because they suit her style.” A spokesman for the store, said: “I have not been made aware of any complaint but it may have been a light-hearted comment that has been taken the wrong way. If I was made aware of a member of staff upsetting a customer, the matter would be dealt with internally.”

5 comments:

Brixter said...

It could be with good intentions. Some people could use the advice of which are men's or ladies' shoes.

Annemarie said...

Ha
I bought a pair of sandals from clarks and the assistant asked me if I knew they were mens .
Yep, thats why I bought them, the womens ones seem to be all about fashion of which I care not a jot.
Had these for 4 yrs now, doubt the womens ones would have lasted so long

Anonymous said...

As a man, I sympathise: I frequently have similar issues in Debenhams lingerie department!

BoS said...

FFS, GROW UP!

Insolitus said...

Commenting, and especially criticizing, the purchases of a customer is incredibly stupid, no matter how lighthearted or good-intentioned it is. Since you don't know the customer and what might offend him or her, your comment runs the risk of losing a customer forever, and to what gain?

I'm a rather small statured man, and while that itself doesn't bother me at all, I still find it a little embarrassing to have to buy my socks and gloves from the ladies' department. If the shop assistant was to comment or joke about it, I'm thin skinned and petty enough that I would probably never shop in that particular establishment again.