Okay, so let's start from the beginning.
Yesterday, I was thrown out of Hot Topic for nursing. Lilly slipped and fell and was upset. I got her calm, but she was going nuts. She wouldn't calm down in the stroller, so I sat down to nurse her under my shirt while DH looked through the band shirts for me. There wasn't a millimeter of breast showing. An employee walks by, smiles and says hello to us. She walks off, clearly not having noticed that I was nursing.
:
But some old woman did (better a screaming, unhappy toddler than one nursing!!)
Anyway, a minute later, the same employee comes back and says I can't breastfeed in the store. I calmly explain that she's wrong and that the law says that anywhere I can be, my baby can eat. She says that they've already had a customer complain (um, we're 3 customers!) and I say that that doesn't change the law. She leaves to talk to her manager.
A minute later, the manager comes over, squats down and proceeds to tell me that I can't 'expose' myself in public (I look down--all you see is shirt and baby hair, like I said, not even a millimeter of flesh--not even my side! I could see the breasts of the teenager across the aisle from me, though) and that Hot Topic is a "private store" (to which I pointed out that it is no such thing) and that I can't just "squat down and breastfeed" there (I was sitting, just like I had been, as I was going through the shirts, because they were on a shelf on the floor). I interrupted her several times (since she was interrupting me when I tried to tell her the law) and I just ended up arguing with her. Finally, Lilly was done and she wasn't even nursing (she was staring at the manager) and the woman was still arguing with me, so I asked if I could just buy my stuff and go (since she was telling me repeatedly that I needed to leave).
:
As we're getting to the line, she makes another snarky little remark about how I'm wrong and can't go around exposing myself in public. I'll admit it, I snapped. I turned around and yelled at her that my rights were being violated, that the law was on my side, etc. Somehow, I had managed to avoid calling her "ignorant", "stupid", "prudish" (words popping into my head) although my mouth was running beyond my control, I was so angry. She called mall security and told me I could no longer purchase my things and that I had to leave.
She actually ran me into another customer (the stroller) because she kept snapping "You need to leave!" over and over at me as I replied "I am trying to leave!" over and over and when she realized that she'd trapped me in a corner, she told everyone in the store "Will you move, she's leaving!"
Apparently, the old b**** who had started this whole thing was sneering at me (according to Dh) and I'll bet she was satisfied until I cussed her out. *sigh* My mouth just doesn't know when to stop.
Still, mall security never showed up, I stopped to buy a calendar I'd been eying on the way in since they were on sale and... I was so SO mad, humiliated and my rights had been violated.
I went onto another site and posted my angry journal. Well, one of the higher ups in Hot Topic saw it and contacted Ed Gusman, the manager. At the same time, I was being flooded with sympathy replies and angry calls for a nurse-in. I told everyone that I just wanted to see how Hot Topic responded and that the only people I blamed were the complaining customer, the employee and the assistant manager (I found out later she was only an assistant) and that I did not blame Hot Topic for the action. I was also PMed with information on how to contact HT's management. I wasn't aware that I was e-mailing the vice president of the company!
I'm glad I waited to form an opinion on the company, though. I contacted Ed and he was clearly concerned and asked for a phone call to sort things out. I can't imagine what was going through his mind in terms of bad publicity and angry boycotts--or if maybe he really did care about my feelings.
Hubby talked to him today because phone calls like that make me stutter and get awfully flustered. First, he apologized and said his primary concern is getting me back in the store. He's going to do sensitivity training for managers and made sure that I felt welcome back. Beyond that, just know that I'm very happy with how nice and accommodating he was and I'm amazed and very impressed with him.
He even joined the other site to post a reply in my journal about how that wasn't how Hot Topic treats its customers, etc. even though it's a women-only site, so he was kicked off, lol. But his message came through, though I didn't know it was really him until he said so! He also read up on breastfeeding while he was there (good for him!) and was wowed by all the information available now.
So everyone knows, it took him less than 6 hours to respond to me and less than 24 hours to resolve this entire issue--when he could have totally ignored me. It was clear that he cared. And the asst. manager is going to write me an apology, too. This was handled as all business should! I can't express how impressed I am with Hot Topic in light of how some other businesses *coughapplebeescough* reacted in similar situations.
I really felt like he cared, whether he did or not and that can really be rare in this country. He has my thanks and I really hope that he's able to educate the managers on how to deal with this situation in the future and they're all made aware, as he indicated they would be, of breastfeeding laws in their area, as well as the federal law permitting nursing in public.
:
All in all, I thought it all went pretty well with the company, although I still can't believe the initial incident happened.
Yesterday, I was thrown out of Hot Topic for nursing. Lilly slipped and fell and was upset. I got her calm, but she was going nuts. She wouldn't calm down in the stroller, so I sat down to nurse her under my shirt while DH looked through the band shirts for me. There wasn't a millimeter of breast showing. An employee walks by, smiles and says hello to us. She walks off, clearly not having noticed that I was nursing.
:But some old woman did (better a screaming, unhappy toddler than one nursing!!)
Anyway, a minute later, the same employee comes back and says I can't breastfeed in the store. I calmly explain that she's wrong and that the law says that anywhere I can be, my baby can eat. She says that they've already had a customer complain (um, we're 3 customers!) and I say that that doesn't change the law. She leaves to talk to her manager.
A minute later, the manager comes over, squats down and proceeds to tell me that I can't 'expose' myself in public (I look down--all you see is shirt and baby hair, like I said, not even a millimeter of flesh--not even my side! I could see the breasts of the teenager across the aisle from me, though) and that Hot Topic is a "private store" (to which I pointed out that it is no such thing) and that I can't just "squat down and breastfeed" there (I was sitting, just like I had been, as I was going through the shirts, because they were on a shelf on the floor). I interrupted her several times (since she was interrupting me when I tried to tell her the law) and I just ended up arguing with her. Finally, Lilly was done and she wasn't even nursing (she was staring at the manager) and the woman was still arguing with me, so I asked if I could just buy my stuff and go (since she was telling me repeatedly that I needed to leave).
:As we're getting to the line, she makes another snarky little remark about how I'm wrong and can't go around exposing myself in public. I'll admit it, I snapped. I turned around and yelled at her that my rights were being violated, that the law was on my side, etc. Somehow, I had managed to avoid calling her "ignorant", "stupid", "prudish" (words popping into my head) although my mouth was running beyond my control, I was so angry. She called mall security and told me I could no longer purchase my things and that I had to leave.
She actually ran me into another customer (the stroller) because she kept snapping "You need to leave!" over and over at me as I replied "I am trying to leave!" over and over and when she realized that she'd trapped me in a corner, she told everyone in the store "Will you move, she's leaving!"
Apparently, the old b**** who had started this whole thing was sneering at me (according to Dh) and I'll bet she was satisfied until I cussed her out. *sigh* My mouth just doesn't know when to stop.
Still, mall security never showed up, I stopped to buy a calendar I'd been eying on the way in since they were on sale and... I was so SO mad, humiliated and my rights had been violated.
I went onto another site and posted my angry journal. Well, one of the higher ups in Hot Topic saw it and contacted Ed Gusman, the manager. At the same time, I was being flooded with sympathy replies and angry calls for a nurse-in. I told everyone that I just wanted to see how Hot Topic responded and that the only people I blamed were the complaining customer, the employee and the assistant manager (I found out later she was only an assistant) and that I did not blame Hot Topic for the action. I was also PMed with information on how to contact HT's management. I wasn't aware that I was e-mailing the vice president of the company!
I'm glad I waited to form an opinion on the company, though. I contacted Ed and he was clearly concerned and asked for a phone call to sort things out. I can't imagine what was going through his mind in terms of bad publicity and angry boycotts--or if maybe he really did care about my feelings.
Hubby talked to him today because phone calls like that make me stutter and get awfully flustered. First, he apologized and said his primary concern is getting me back in the store. He's going to do sensitivity training for managers and made sure that I felt welcome back. Beyond that, just know that I'm very happy with how nice and accommodating he was and I'm amazed and very impressed with him.
He even joined the other site to post a reply in my journal about how that wasn't how Hot Topic treats its customers, etc. even though it's a women-only site, so he was kicked off, lol. But his message came through, though I didn't know it was really him until he said so! He also read up on breastfeeding while he was there (good for him!) and was wowed by all the information available now.
So everyone knows, it took him less than 6 hours to respond to me and less than 24 hours to resolve this entire issue--when he could have totally ignored me. It was clear that he cared. And the asst. manager is going to write me an apology, too. This was handled as all business should! I can't express how impressed I am with Hot Topic in light of how some other businesses *coughapplebeescough* reacted in similar situations.
I really felt like he cared, whether he did or not and that can really be rare in this country. He has my thanks and I really hope that he's able to educate the managers on how to deal with this situation in the future and they're all made aware, as he indicated they would be, of breastfeeding laws in their area, as well as the federal law permitting nursing in public.
:All in all, I thought it all went pretty well with the company, although I still can't believe the initial incident happened.
It must have been awful. I'm glad to hear that you received such a prompt and positive response from such a high up 
and if you push me far enough, I'll say whatever I have to to make sure you're the one sobbing, not me. I'm glad that the VP has shown so much interest and is getting the matter resolved.
