Here's a message to the 2 employees of Costco that made fun of a person of size in front of me. Newsflash: More than two-thirds of adults - 190 million people - are overweight or obese, which means chances are your mom, sister, granny, pop, your favorite Uncle Frank, are one of those 190 million. Think about one of them being on the receiving end of your nastiness. My day... as I was leaving Costco I walked by a couple of 20-something male employees, one tapped the other on the arm and pointed toward a checkout line where a male customer of size stood and said, "Duuuude want a belly like that guy (made a hand gesture over his stomach) quit working out." They both laughed.
Oh no you didn't just 1.) make fun of a customer 2.) make fun of one of my peeps (I actually think he might have been a weight loss surgery post-op, a few tell-tale signs made me think this... excess arm skin (aka batwings) and about a stage 4 panniculus drop)
The crowd behind me propelled me toward the door and as I walked I could feel my blood pressure rising... I was getting hot, my eyes started to bulge, and I had a deep desire to walk back and shove my foot up their.... The check-your-receipt employee at the exit says, "How are you today?" I said, "Not so good. Is there a manager I can speak with?" He said, "Sure" and got on the PA and called for one to come to the front door. I stepped to the side to wait.
Paul, the manager came and I shared with him what had transpired. I said making fun of any customer is bad and would have angered me to hear but they made fun of this man's size in front of a woman who used to be 300 pounds so I especially felt the sting of their words as I had been on the receiving end of them too many times to count. I encouraged Paul to mention in a staff meeting that saying anything about a customer's physical appearance (or anything for that matter) is wrong and told him his employees needed some sensitivity training. To his credit Paul was very apologetic and said he would "take care of it" which is the standard line I know, but Paul seemed to be sincere. I believe he will, I hope he will take this opportunity to educate his employees.
Costco corporate office if you read this... along with some training of your employees, may I suggest making a donation to the Obesity Action Coalition to help them make a difference in reducing the negative stigma the obese face everyday.
Oh and by the way 20-something jerks... my nameless friend probably works out more then you both combined.
