[Icequeen_in_ak]

I was at Walmart and DD became hungry half way through our time there. I swung by the dressing rooms (they have nice big benches that we can get cozy on) and asked for a room to nurse my DD.

The clerk replied "you CAN'T do that in there! Those rooms are for trying on clothes!!!". To which I responded by grabbing a shirt that was on a rack right next to me (which I obviously had no intention of trying on - I think it was a man's surgical scrub outfit) and snidely told the clerk "one item, room please!".

Her jaw hit the floor and she gave me a room... what was she going to do??

I told my DH about it and he thinks I should call the manager and raise holy h*ll. I don't know that a call to the manager is totally warranted, because... quite honestly, I was pretty much a b*tch about it.

What do you guys think? I think if I would have been a little more polite to her than perhaps I would complain, but like I said... I was in no way polite to her.

 

[wombat]

How can you be polite to someone who's just told you, you can't nurse there? I couldn't. I think I would have been tempted to just plop myself down on the floor in front of her and nurse there. I'd complain.

 

[Annie]

I totally agree with Wombat. She had absolutely no right to tell you you couldnt nurse in the dressing room or anywhere else in walmart. She was basically trampling on your and your baby's human rights. IMHO you dont and shouldnt be polite when that happens and you have every right to complain. Think about how it might h elp the next nursing mama.

 

[*Erin*]

call and ask to speak the district manager, skip the manager. and they'll have it on tape if they film the dressing room entrances. none of that her word against yours is possible in that case. i'd be furious. and it doesnt matter one bit if you were short with her, she had no right to say that to you, that was obnoxious of her. you go , mama. get em.

 

[mum2 4]

Not only was the sales gal rude to you she was probably violating the law as well. In most US states, a mother can bf anywhere she has a right to be & you do have a right to be in the store and were simply being polite and asking for a private place to bf. Your call to the manager should include some info on this point. you can check the lalecheleague.org site's legal section to get the scoop on your state. time for some sensitivity training at Walmart...

 

[Icequeen_in_ak]

You know, the more I think about this the more I agree with all of you. I don't feel bad at all for being such a witch to her now LOL

I'll be gathering my ducks to put in a row and I'll be making some contact with them.

Thanks

 

[kama'aina mama]

If you mean bitch please just say bitch. No need to drag the nice witches into this mess, is there?

That aside, with Walmarts track record I simply can't begin to be surprised.

 

[Icequeen_in_ak]

Kama... my sincere apologies. I've gotten so used to "washing" my words. My DH is Wiccan so you would think I would have known better by now...

 

[cjr]

I would have started nursing right there in front of her! Which option do you think she would have prefered?

 

[Colorful~Mama]

wow. very odd. i've nursed in walmart everywhere and have been met with nothing but smiles. Yes, we do shop walmart on occasion - thats another post i know

anyway. i've nursed slinging in the aisles, i've made myself at home on the floor, in their little resteraunt area and sitting on an outdoor swing thing in their garden center. No ones ever given me looks, asked me to move or told me i can't nurse.

i never ask to use a dressing room maybe thats why.

i would certainly write a letter tho if i were u. she was rude

 

[gethane]

What is WRONG with people?

I've never needed to nurse in my hometown walmart, as I time my forays pretty well, but if I did, I might ask to use the dressing room. And they'd better let me, because there's a bench right in the dressing room area, and if they tell me no, I'll be plopping my butt down right on that bench and nursing there instead

.

So sorry you had to deal with that! I'd write a letter to the local manager there, and CC it to corporate headquarters. In your letter ASK for what you want, i.e. an apology from the employee, a clarification of nursing policy, etc.

 

[sincitymama]

I hope I don't offend here, but as a former Walmart employee- Maybe she was afraid she'd get in trouble for letting someone into a room for something other than trying on clothes? Obviously she sounds pretty rude, but I clearly remember how, how do I say this nicely?, some of my coworkers could be pretty dim. Of course there's a million ways to get around that- had it been me and we had a rule like that, I'd have probably said something like 'well I'm not allowed to open the rooms for people who aren't trying on clothes, would you mind taking this (whatever is at hand) in with you?'
So, I would talk to someone higher up, obviously you got very bad customer service, but I'd be inclined to think it was something like that and not really a nursing issue, specifically.

:

 

[manitoba_mommy]

I kinda agree with Sarah. She did not say that you could not nurse in the store at all right? She might have been afraid of breaking the rules her boss gives her aboutwhat the change rooms are for..

Rude as she was I guess next time I would ask if their was a chair or bench else where in the store. Don't they usualy have benches or a restaurant in Walmarts? I seem to remeber nursing my dd on a bench by the exchange counter in a walmart without incident.

MM

 

[~Megan~]

You don't have to be nice to be allowed your legal rights.
Complain! The next woman may be meek and wouldn't be as quick on her feet as you were.

 

[mittendrin]

i'm so happy to have a little nursling again. now after reading tons of threads about all this walmart crap, i can finally go there and walk around nursing. see what happens...
my mil will start her new job at a brandnew walmart soon. i will ask her to stir things up in there before they even think about treating another mama like this.

 

[polka123]

I've never had any trouble @ Walmart. In fact, a chair was offered to me as I walked & nursed a few different times.

 

[Janice in Canada]

I'm got to be the voice of dissent here.

Since you clearly did not have clothes to try on at first, I think it was in her right to refuse to give the room to you. These are change rooms that they are providing for people to try on clothes, and if they would refuse any other person who wanted to go into the room and not try on clothes, they could refuse you, too. (ie - if a person wanted to go in a room and have a nap, or make out with their boyfriend, or change a baby's diaper, or read a book and have a coffee, etc) If you weren't trying on clothes, you had no LEGAL right to be there, if they didn't want to give you the room.

However, if you had clothes to try on with you, and you then stayed in the room and nursed your baby, they would have no legal right to ask you to leave, or get out quicker. Because you had a legal right to be there (you were trying on clothes).

Of course, it would be good customer service for them to let you use the room to nurse in, if you asked and didn't want to try on clothes.

So I think the sales girl had the right to refuse you, but stated the wrong reason when she did. She should have said - "no you can't use the room, because you are not trying on clothes" instead of "no you can't use the room, because you are nursing". I think you had no "right" to ask for the room, without having clothes to try on. Of course you have the right to ask for the favour, but realize that it is a "favour".

I think its important to be clear on what our "rights" are - we have the right to nurse anywhere we legally have the right to be. But businesses are not obligated to give us special consideration - special rooms, chairs, etc. It may be good customer service and PR for them to do so, but they don't legally have to. For example - you couldn't walk into a restaurant, and not buy any food, and expect them to let you sit in a booth, just because you needed to nurse. Any other person, who isn't buying food, would be asked to leave.

I hope you understand my point. I am 100% behind breastfeeding rights - I lost my job over breastfeeding. But we need to understand the limit of these rights. To push beyond that, just makes us look silly and unreasonable.

Janice

(that said, the girl should be reprimanded for using nursing as the excuse for refusing the room to you, and if they DID have a policy or practice of making sure that moms weren't nursing in the room - the store needs to be reprimanded. But since she let you in the room once you had some clothes to try on, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a situation where moms may have to lie a little bit (pretend to try on clothes) to find a nice place to nurse. The same as if I might just by a coke at a restuarant, in order to rest and nurse for awhile.)

 

[Greaseball]

Why ask at all? You don't need permission. Next time you are in a clothing store just grab an article and get a room.

A lot of people are told no when they ask to nurse. That's why I think it's best not to ask.

 

[pageta]

I asked where the bathroom was in Walmart once and they told me to use the one in the back because there was a nice place to nurse there. I wasn't planning on nursing, but two people told me to go to the back of the store because there was a good place to nurse. I was surprised that they assumed I was nursing. I didn't see what their nursing area was like, and I don't know if such a thing was common to all walmarts. I'm not one to nurse my baby in the bathroom, if you KWIM, though a lounge area in the bathroom is okay with me.

Were the dressing rooms busy at the time? I can understand them turning you down if they weren't busy. I had a friend who asked to use a dressing room to nurse at a store in the mall once. It was the middle of the day and no one was using any of their dressing rooms, but they refused anyway. She asked for the manager, and it was the manager who had told her she couldn't use the dressing room to nurse. So she asked for the name and number of her boss, and got it. She contacted that person and complained, and they sent her an apology along with a $100 certificate to use in their store. What do you have to lose by complaining?

 

[tracymom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janice in Canada Of course, it would be good customer service for them to let you use the room to nurse in, if you asked and didn't want to try on clothes.

Good point, Janice. I would bet the girl just didn't know how to react. If it were me, I'd contact the mgr. and the DM both and let them know of her inappropriate response and what action I wanted taken.