Abercromie Lawsuit

JohnsDGsweethrt · #1 06-18-2003, 06:18 AM

Abercrombie Lawsuit

I remember when Abercrombie came to Greenville, SC. They set up a table in our Student Union saying they only wanted members from the popular fraternities and sororities to apply. I'm sorry but how in the world would they know who or what was popular? One of my sisters applied (she could have opened up an abercrombie store on her own with all of the clothes she owned from them) and didn't get the job. This is one of the nicest girls I have ever met! Also one of my sister's boyfriends worked there. They made him work in the back because he was too helpful and wanted to help the customers... LOL

ps. racisim sucks

justamom · #2 06-18-2003, 08:10 AM

The company promotes the policy by recruiting from overwhelmingly white fraternities and sororities, and producing catalogs and store promotional materials with mostly white models, according to the lawsuit.

I read a similar article this morning which was worded closer to what you said. This statement also came at the end.

One moment they are described as "upscale" and then they say
"geared to college crowd". Those two statemnts don't always go hand in hand.

I'm mixed about this because I do see the need to keep hiring practices in check. Yet, maybe it's the "Republican" in me that says a company should hire who they want to hire and anyone not liking it can choose not to shop there. On the other side, you have a situation like EXXON where only whites were promoted regardless of ability.

I do think it's kind of funny they made a point about fraternities and sororities, yet I think one of the fraternities does dominate the employees at A&F in Baton Rouge. In Houston, the SXs were all over the popular restaurants. Steak and Ale and Strawberry Patch were almost exclusive in their hiring. If a manager KNOWS the emplyees through an affiliation, is that so wrong? He is hiring people he can trust and enjoy working with. That in turn makes the whole environment "fun" which will be apparant to the clientel. Not to mention draw in more business. Its was all about the atmosphere.

LeslieAGD · #3 06-18-2003, 09:09 AM

This company is just scandals in spurts.

AXO Alum · #4 06-18-2003, 09:17 AM

A few thoughts from my never-humble opinion generating brain...

First - welcome to the USA - good 'ol "what can I sue you for?" country where people LOVE to play hide and seek for a lawsuit wherever they can get one.

Second - to bring in the whole fraternity/sorority reference was ludicrous. Talk about OUT of place - it was like, "um, we are being discriminated against, and oh yeah, could you mention the greek aspect for the hell of it..."

Third - this excerpt made me go hmmm.... "Another plaintiff, Angeline Wu, a Chinese-American, alleges she was terminated from a store in Costa Mesa, Calif after a manager pointed at a poster of a blond-haired, blue-eyed male model and said the store needed more staff members with a similar appearance."

My thought to this remark that was *allegedly* made was that the manager very well could have meant that she (assuming it was such - but hey, if it was a guy, there's nothing wrong with that

) was saying "yummy - we need more people who look like him". I know for a fact that I have had this conversation with employees in stores before. Heck, once, the set-up guy at Belks was removing a huge poster of a FINE looking Polo model - he said he was going to trash it, and the CLERK and I were about to go to blows over which one of us could take it home (in this case, the clerk was a guy - *too funny* to see us standing in there fighting over the poster

) So of course in the context it was presented it sounds all sinister, but it may not have been. And NO ONE mentioned the performance record of these people -- how do we know what they were doing at work?

I guess it boils down to this for me - I don't care if you are green, purple, or rainbow striped -- if you do your job, and you are good at it, then no one should have a problem with you. If it is a true discrimination case, then they deserve to sue and win their case. Unfortunately we have all seen and heard of PHONY discrimination cases -- my father-in-law had one where a female employee who DID NOT do her job, and was warned on several occassions, told him after he fired her "that's okay - I'm a woman and I will just sue you and you know I'll win" -- and walked out. Thankfully a jury saw past her little charade and didn't find in her favor. I just think that the world would be a much happier place if people weren't so freakin' sue-happy!!

LeslieAGD · #5 06-18-2003, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AXO Alum
Second - to bring in the whole fraternity/sorority reference was ludicrous. Talk about OUT of place - it was like, "um, we are being discriminated against, and oh yeah, could you mention the greek aspect for the hell of it..."

Don't ya just love that!

Ugh!

moe.ron · #6 06-18-2003, 09:52 AM

I hope ABercrombie loose so there be less of them in a DMB concert.

texas*princess · #7 06-18-2003, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AXO Alum
Third - this excerpt made me go hmmm.... "Another plaintiff, Angeline Wu, a Chinese-American, alleges she was terminated from a store in Costa Mesa, Calif after a manager pointed at a poster of a blond-haired, blue-eyed male model and said the store needed more staff members with a similar appearance."

My thought to this remark that was *allegedly* made was that the manager very well could have meant that she (assuming it was such - but hey, if it was a guy, there's nothing wrong with that ) was saying "yummy - we need more people who look like him". ............ And NO ONE mentioned the performance record of these people -- how do we know what they were doing at work?

Pretty much anything in a coutroom is alleged... if Ambercrombie did in fact fire her because of a poor work record, I'm pretty sure they would try to prove that in court. If however, she did not have a bad record, it's going to be pretty hard to convice 12 people that they fired her for poor work. So even though it didn't come up in the article, it would be my guess that they are going to at least *try* to prove that in court with work records.

Quote:

I guess it boils down to this for me - I don't care if you are green, purple, or rainbow striped -- if you do your job, and you are good at it, then no one should have a problem with you. If it is a true discrimination case, then they deserve to sue and win their case.

I agree. Although unfortunately, not all people think the same as you (about the green, purple and rainbow-striped people.)

Out of observation in the various Abercrombie stores I've been in various parts of Texas, a lot of the employees pretty much look the same. Not "all" employees, but a lot of them. That's just my observation though.

I also think that whole "we only want people from the 'popular' fraternities and sororities" deal is stupid, but that's just me

PM_Mama00 · #8 06-18-2003, 10:20 AM

Ehhh.... my friend is Chinese-American and had no problem working for them. Guess it's a regional thing cuz the stores up here aren't so uptight.

CutiePie2000 · #9 06-18-2003, 10:30 AM

We don't have A&F in Canada anymore (back then, they called it "Abercrombie & Fitch"), but I remember when it was a more upscale store.....pretty much a direct competitor to
Polo-Ralph Lauren. Now it's just a glorified American Eagle or Gap..... it's an okay store, but I don't think it's *that* great......

Just my random thoughts............back to the thread....

MoxieGrrl · #10 06-18-2003, 10:32 AM

The case may be bunk, but I hate that overpriced, POS, yuppie-in-training store. Ditto on the whole "upscale does not equal college crowd" statement. Geez, we eat Ramen noodles, wear flip flops and live in PJ pants! No one can afford a 25 buck t-shirt with a slanderous saying on it.

swissmiss04 · #11 06-18-2003, 11:24 AM

And not only that, but we also can't afford to buy those thongs for our future 7 year old daughters...

Personally I hate A&F because their sh*t is so overpriced. Not expensive. Expensive implies you're getting something. Give me Banana Republic or J.Crew any day.

APhiRattlerGal · #12 06-18-2003, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by swissmiss04
And not only that, but we also can't afford to buy those thongs for our future 7 year old daughters... Personally I hate A&F because their sh*t is so overpriced. Not expensive. Expensive implies you're getting something. Give me Banana Republic or J.Crew any day.

AMEN!!! I dont get what is so great about A&F. They're clothes look like they've been worn for 15 years yet they are priced as new....WTF??? If i want to look like that I'll just pull out some of my old faded clothes that i wore in high school. I sooo prefer SAKS, Banana, and Express over A&F ANYDAY!!!

Dionysus · #13 06-18-2003, 11:44 AM

What's this? GREEKS (who are often stereotyped themselves, of course) STEREOTYPING people who wear Abercrombie again?

MoxieGrrl · #14 06-18-2003, 11:56 AM

Yep. I admit. I'm lazy.

Jadey28 · #15 06-18-2003, 12:09 PM

I think this whole lawsuit is silly. There are many types of clothing "geared" towards certain races. As someone said earlier, welcome to America where it's okay to sue for anything. Soon we'll be sueing Chinese Food places for not selling American food and crap like that. While I feel bad for the people mentioned in the article, I also wonder why they would want to work there after such a big stink was created?!

That's my $0.02