secretly discriminated against at the mall?

Ok so all of you that know me know I’m NOT skinny but I had a revelation while shopping with my newly skinny BFF!! She and I shop all the time… in fact we met while working for a major retailer. So we were destined to be mall rats!! She and I have been shopping together for over 15 years and during that time we have been on the right side of plump and frankly FIERCE!! However BFF had gastric surgery a few months back and has since lost 100lbs (yeah la) and looks great (wanna read and see all about it).

Here comes the observation….

Thinner people get better and more attention in the mall!! Well who the hell would have thought that? I mean seriously, you’d think better dressed people would get better service. We know white and older people get better service. But who would have predicted THINNER? Not me. The increase in the level of service we incurred was so startling that I stopped midway out of one of the stores and asked her if she found this strange. And she advised me that her “service factor” increased as her weight went down!! Is there some kind of hidden book in the mall employee handbook that says fat girls don’t spend money? Are we somehow bringing down the “cool-factor” by just being in the store and they want us to leave? What is it?

Did I mention that I’m shopper, if I’m bored I shop, sad…shop, happy….shop. I shop in both high-end and budget retailers and frankly, we all know the level of service varies a great deal in mall stores. But let me tell you what didn’t vary… In EVERY store, we were greeted and asked if we needed or wanted help….EVERY STORE!!

All I have to say is when I go in those stores again solo…. The clerks better be ready to haul stuff, go check in the back, bring out at least several pairs of shoes etc… They just let the wrong person know she was being secretly discriminated against!!!