Hollister Clothing incident - Texas - Page 4

[SpiderMum]

It didn't mention it in the article, but she said in the video on that page that she was trying on clothes at the time.

I am also very distressed how quickly people seem to be turning on this woman because they assume she was just using a dressing room to do nothing but BF...even if she was...that doesn't excuse the employee from being rude about BF and opening the door on her! She is not the bad guy here! Can we please stop picking this woman and her story apart?

[s_kristina]

Employee in a store specifically aimed at teens sees someone go in a dressing room then shortly after does not see feet under the dressing room curtain. I'm guessing he expected to catch someone in an act, but not the one he saw.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by coffeegirl

It's really not that complicated. As I understand it, the store has a policy that fitting rooms are for trying on clothes, period. Whether you buy the clothes afterwards is beside the point. A woman has a right to breastfeed anywhere where the mother has a right to be. But the woman here didn't have a right to be in the fitting room if she didn't have any intention of shopping or trying on clothes. These are the store's fitting rooms and the store legally gets to decide who can use them and for what purpose.

My take on this is that by the same logic, the STORE is intended for shoppers to select and purchase clothing. If the mama had just nursed while standing in the store, would you say she had a right to be there? Only if she purchased clothing? Would it matter if she bought the clothing before or after the nursing? Is it enough for the mama to have purchased clothing recently at that store, say, within the past week? I mean, it doesn't really matter, does it?

I think crunchy mama's point is just really the bottom line. Everything has a "purpose" and if we're going to spend a lot of time breaking down the spaces a mom can and cannot nurse in, where will that put us? So could a mama nurse just right out in the store while browsing? If so, why can't she go sit down in the fitting room?

If the mama was walking by the food court, could she sit down and nurse even if she didn't buy food?

If the mama had a major wedgie while shopping, could she duck into the fitting room and unwedge it? Even if she didn't intend to try on any clothes?

And another point is that a store that is too unaccomodating loses business. If they had a guard in the store who threw out patrons who didn't seem to be browsing seriously enough (maybe a trio of girls struck up a conversation near the clothing rack and stopped looking around?), would that even make sense? No, the point is to welcome people to come in and look around.

I will concede that they have a right to ask someone to move along if they are taking too much TIME in a fitting room. And that has absolutely nothing to do with what they are DOING in there. They could be trying on 100 outfits but if they are in there for a long time and other people are waiting, they could reasonably be asked to wrap it up and move on. But even that wouldn't be an invasion, that's not yanking open the curtain, that's just saying "hey, we've got people waiting and you've been in there for 30 minutes, please finish up and move on."

[goldfinches]

Well, every Hollister I've ever been in has had a huge waiting line for dressing rooms, but I've never been to this one.

I'm wondering if she had asked for a dressing room instead of just venturing into one if things would have turned out differently?

And, I sure wish my kids had heads full of hair like her baby's!

[indie]

Originally Posted by Meredith&Alexander

And I'm offended by the "no nursing mothers could fit in/wear Hollister clothes anyway" attitude. It just feeds the stereotype that BFing means you have to be overweight and frumpy, and can't possibly be slim and wear fashionable clothes.

I agree. I would have fit into their clothes while breastfeeding my first two kids (not so much much after my third ). I often had to shop in teen shops to find stuff that fit. I know lots of skinny women who breastfeed.

[a-sorta-fairytale]

What i find most comical about the horror of nursing in a fitting room is that i have been offered one so many times. I usually just plop down in a store crisscross on the floor near the perimeter and nurse right there. Almost every time an employee sees me they say "maam, if you want to be comfy i can give you a fitting room."
If she can be in the store she can nurse there, period. I go into stores all the time not planning on buying stuff, just to look around and sometimes i end up buying things (impulse) and sometimes i dont. If it is a store i am allowed to be in then i can nurse in it whether i plan to buy or try on or anything else. This is the one place i didnt expect to read these kinds of comments and i am a bit surprised.

[nerdymom]

Originally Posted by 2xy

Funny how people here are up in arms constantly about the right to nurse in public, yet when someone mentions that fitting rooms are for trying on clothing, people are like "Well, where was she supposed to nurse?" What about on a bench in the mall proper, or in the food court? Which is it, ladies? Hide or don't hide?

I am all for nursing a child wherever you are, however you are most comfortable. When DS was little and I was gaining confidence, I'd use a blanket to cover or I'd seek out a private place. When DS was a little older and I could (and did/do) whip one out in my sleep, I didn't worry about it. Now with a distractable toddler I find myself looking for more sequestered locations again. I know a women who nurses her 1 y/o with a cover still, and hey, who am I to judge? She hasn't even introduced solids to him yet, and I was the one who succumbed to pressure and gave my kid rice cereal at 4 months old.

Originally Posted by SpiderMum

It didn't mention it in the article, but she said in the video on that page that she was trying on clothes at the time.

I am also very distressed how quickly people seem to be turning on this woman because they assume she was just using a dressing room to do nothing but BF...even if she was...that doesn't excuse the employee from being rude about BF and opening the door on her! She is not the bad guy here! Can we please stop picking this woman and her story apart?

Thanks for sharing that, now knowing that she was shopping, I feel even more strongly that this was just wrong and she should get an apology from the company.

[coffeegirl]

Originally Posted by laohaire

My take on this is that by the same logic, the STORE is intended for shoppers to select and purchase clothing. If the mama had just nursed while standing in the store, would you say she had a right to be there? Only if she purchased clothing? Would it matter if she bought the clothing before or after the nursing? Is it enough for the mama to have purchased clothing recently at that store, say, within the past week? I mean, it doesn't really matter, does it?

The issue isn't about her being authorized to be in the store. The issue is: was she authorized to be in the fitting rooms if she had no intention of trying on clothes, if the store has a standing policy that fitting rooms are only to be used for trying on clothes?

If the mama was walking by the food court, could she sit down and nurse even if she didn't buy food?

If the mama had a major wedgie while shopping, could she duck into the fitting room and unwedge it? Even if she didn't intend to try on any clothes?

And another point is that a store that is too unaccomodating loses business. If they had a guard in the store who threw out patrons who didn't seem to be browsing seriously enough (maybe a trio of girls struck up a conversation near the clothing rack and stopped looking around?), would that even make sense? No, the point is to welcome people to come in and look around.

See my reply above. The issue is about use of the fitting rooms. Not browsing or shopping in the store in general. The store has a legal right to specify exactly what their fitting rooms are to be used for. Sorry that I seem to be repeating myself, but this really does seem to be the crux of the issue, lost among some emotion-driven red herrings. (Speaking generally here; not talking about your post in particular, laohaire.

There seems to be a lot of emotionalism about this simply because the woman was breastfeeding. Try to be objective. What if it wasn't breastfeeding? Say it's me, and I'm shopping at the mall. I decide at some point that I'd like to duck into one of the fitting rooms at Hollisters so I can have a quiet and private place to sit down and eat my lunch, which I'd bought to-go from the food court earlier. Am I justified? Does the manager have the right to come and remind me that the fitting rooms are for customers to try on clothes and that I should probably take my lunch downstairs to one of the tables that the Food Court has provided for this purpose? Or do I argue and claim that I have a right to be there?

[annettemarie]

We're way off-topic, especially given that it has come to light she WAS trying on clothes. Again, I ask that you all please stick to the facts and not speculate, cast suspicion, or engage in otherwise potentially defamatory discussion, all of which violates MDC's User Agreement.

If you want to discuss theoreticals, please start a new thread.

[coffeegirl]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

We're way off-topic, especially given that it has come to light she WAS trying on clothes. Again, I ask that you all please stick to the facts and not speculate, cast suspicion, or engage in otherwise potentially defamatory discussion, all of which violates MDC's User Agreement.

If you want to discuss theoreticals, please start a new thread.

I haven't seen where it's been revealed that she was trying on clothes at the time. I did see someone mention it earlier, but not sure where the source was. Would anyone mind linking me to it? I looked for a video on the original link and couldn't find anything.

[2xy]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...53879#34934618

[annettemarie]

And regardless, please refrain from discussion that states categorically that she wasnt trying on clothes, unless it's stated somewhere explicitly. Please take hypothetical conversations to another thread.

[annettemarie]

We are not going to host speculation that could be potentially defamatory or cast suspicion on a mother. It's against the UA. Maybe it does make a difference in the story, but the purpose of the Lactivism forum isn't to discuss a juicy story, it's to promote breastfeeding. The purpose of this thread is only to discuss this particular incident, as it was reported. Someone else included a link that shared info that the mom was trying on clothes. If you all want to discuss a hypothetical discussion in which a mother comandeers a fitting room to nurse her baby, you are certainly welcome to do so, but in a new thread. It has no bearing on this particular case.

If you have any other questions, please address them to me via PM, as per the User Agreement. Thanks.

[boobs4milk]

i've stepped back and thought on this and i feel like it comes down to:

1. does this woman have the right to be in the dressing room?

and

2. do the store personnel have the right to barge into the dressing room?

[coffeegirl]

Thank you much for the link to the video! Unfortunately there's something wrong with my Windows Media Player and it won't let me watch it.

Originally Posted by boobs4milk

i've stepped back and thought on this and i feel like it comes down to:

1. does this woman have the right to be in the dressing room?

and

2. do the store personnel have the right to barge into the dressing room?

I agree with the first point. I think that's what it boils down to as well. As for your second point, from what I have read these dressing rooms only have curtains (not the regular doors with the little inside locks) and the employee in question claims that he thought the room was empty when he opened it. So I don't think that's necessarily an issue of "did he have a right", but more of a "my bad" type thing. I wouldn't want to have been either of them in that situation, I'm sure it was embarassing for both.