O'Reilly Automotive recently received a complaint letter on PlanetFeedback from a woman who REALLY didn't like how she was treated in their store. It seems that E.C. went into purchase a replacement signal light and waited in line with the rest of the customers. When it came her turn, she was ignored in favor of the customer behind her. Who happened to be male.
When she made eye contact with the clerk and attempted to say something, she got a shrug of presumably his shoulders. She left without purchasing what she needed because she felt slighted by this company because of her gender.
One of the more interesting comments to this letter was made by PFB commenter Bobosgirl who mentioned her husband was treated like a "dumb guy" at a fabric store, so apparently bias is not just directed at women.
Notice that it's certain types of stores where this happens? Women in auto parts stores; men in fabric stores ~ stores that traditionally cater to one gender or another.
How awfully 1960s to make a decision on who to help next based solely on the sexual organs of the person standing in front of the counter.
Some of us (like yours truly) have no business in an auto parts store (trust us, it's not pretty). However, a fabric store would be equally alien terrain. It has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with what's important to the customer. And if a customer is in that particular store, presumably, there's a reason for it.
Maybe E.C.'s experience at O'Reilly's had nothing to do with her gender. Perhaps the person behind the counter thought, for whatever reason, that she was with the person in front of her and it was a simple and honest mistake. Whether it ws really doesn't matter because it's all about how E.C. felt at the time of the transaction. We expect that she won't be returning to O'Reilly Automotive.
Rightly or wrongly - Perception by the customer is often much more important than the reality of the situation.
--Contributed by Deb
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