I wonder what they'll blame on us next...

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Back to School Season is well and truly on. We stock white blouses, white polo-shirts, coats and trousers in black or grey, ranging from sizes 3-4 years to 14-15 years.

A family come in with a very fat little girl and try to get her to try on a skirt. It transpires that they had already bought her one and it was too small, so they came hoping to swap for a bigger size. That bigger size was the top end of our age-range- 14-15 years.

This girl was 7 years old.

And she was too fat to fit into a skirt for a 14-15 year old.

And according to the mother, this is OUR fault for not stocking bigger sizes....

As they once said in Least I Could Do..."can you say diabetes?"

[Moirae]

Somehow diabetes isn't whats popping into my mind. More like "too much junk food, too little play time".

[Clover]

Goodness, that poor child is going to have problems when she gets older. If you're obese when you're a little kid, it's a heck of a lot harder to lose the weight than if you gained it when you're older. She's going to have health issues for sure.

That mother needs to be smacked upside the head. It's not your fault that her child is fat, you're not the one sitting there and stuffing her full of doritos and pizza while she sits on her butt in front of the tv. I understand that sometimes it's a glandular disorder (I have many family members with weight problems, no matter how much they diet and exercise they can't lose it because of diabetes and other health issues that we are predisposed towards), but if anything that should be more of a reason to try and get her to lose the weight now, because it'll make the problems a hundred times worse when she's older.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Somehow diabetes isn't whats popping into my mind. More like "too much junk food, too little play time".

Its just a reference to the webcomic, Least I Could Do. The main character is taking his neice out to the park and a career-woman on her mobile and not paying much attention to her overweight gameboy-playing son tells Rayne (the main character) that he shouldn't be allowed near children. He tells her that she should tell her son that he's outside now and its time to put the game away. She starts to tell him off when he bends down and says to the kid "Hey lil guy, can you say diabetes?"

(To which his neice delightfully proclaims "Diabeetus!")

I would put the link but it was an old issue.

Oh I've encountered so many people who have fat kids and just act like everyone else is just viewing their child "wrong". My evil ex-colleague was so fat herself that she couldn't fit into our biggest sizes sometimes (22-24), and her husband is so obese he can't physically fit in an airplane toilet cubicle...yet when their children are (inevitably) said to be overweight for their ages, she proclaimed that they were just "tall". Maybe in their case admitting their kids are overweight would mean they would have to admit THEY were overweight too, but they just act like everyone else should be expecting it and accomodate it accordingly. I won't treat bigger people badly for being heavier, but if we just keep pretending that its ok to be unhealthy, people will never get better.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

Sorry, but I went through this same thing as a kid. It's completely devastating. It was almost more painful than the taunting I got in school--especially since I got looks and pity and scorn and derision from the clerks. These were school required uniforms, and I was required to find something. It was really frustrating and scary--the thought that I would not be able to wear the required dress for school. (This was a gym unitard.) I felt like a pariah.

You think I could have gone home, lost the weight and come back later that day. Sheesh. What a sucky customer I was.

[MoonCat]

What bothers me is that the kids don't understand the issue, and it's up to the parents to be sure they eat correctly and get more exercise. Yelling at the store because their kid won't fit the biggest size you have isn't going to correct the problem.

Possibly the reason they are upset about it is that they know they're going to have to special order the kid's uniform, which will cost them more.

ETA: The child was not a sucky customer. The parents were, for being angry at the store for something that is not within the store's control.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

For the record, my mom fed us really healthy food when she could. But we were poor, and it was much cheaper to buy starchy carb foods. In the 70's, we really didn't know about carbs. I was a fat kid, always, and I'm fat now.

It would just be nice if we could get a break from all that fucking shaming, just for a little while? And the pitying looks could use a rest, too. Thanks.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Sorry, but I went through this same thing as a kid. It's completely devastating. It was almost more painful than the taunting I got in school--especially since I got looks and pity and scorn and derision from the clerks. These were school required uniforms, and I was required to find something. It was really frustrating and scary--the thought that I would not be able to wear the required dress for school. (This was a gym unitard.) I felt like a pariah.

You think I could have gone home, lost the weight and come back later that day. Sheesh. What a sucky customer I was.

Being overweight and struggling to find something to wear doesn't make you a sucky customer.

Being overweight and deciding its the cashier's fault that you can't find anything to wear and blaming it on the cashier, does.

Unless you told the cashiers that it was their fault you were unable to fit into the clothes (that they merely stock, and not make- and just for the record, our products are the sort of thing that can be worn at most but not all schools, depending on the colours, we are not a school uniform shop) and proceeded to act like THEY should do something about your weight problems, I don't see how you could have been an SC. You honestly do have my sympathies, as I suffered severe bullying as a child, but the point I was trying to make (and I thought it was clear, but I guess it bought up bad memories for you ) was that if you/your child is overweight, blaming it on a shopworker is not the way to go.

*hugs*

[Dave1982]

Alright folks, this thread is about a sucky customer who is blaming the store something they can't control. It's NOT about the reasons children get overweight or what their parents should or shouldn't do about it; that's for Fratching.

Infractions will be handed out if the Fratching continues.

Also, if you take offense to a post, use the report button.

[pageantmama]

I almost made a post about this once, but got distracted and forgot. The lady told me that her daughter wore a size 4T dress and that she didn't have a way to measure her. No problem, I can use the standard 4T measurements. Got the dress made and sent it to her and she has a fit and goes off on me and says that it is not big enough around the chest and waist and way too long. I told her I did it by the standard measurements and is she sure her daughter wears a 4T? She said yes. That her daughter was 18 months old and wore a 4T in street clothes. That she would cut off the pants because they were too long but they fit in the waist. OOOOOKKKK Pageant dresses are made way different then street sizes as far as length and fit. She sent me a picture of her daughter along with her measurements so I could do it to fit her perfectly. The poor child had rolls on her rolls and no lie looked like that cartoon for the Michelin man. The length was about right for a 18 month old but the chest and waist measurement was 27 inches. 5 1/2 inches more then my 3 year old daughter I am not knocking the baby AT ALL because I thought she might have a medical issue since the mom and dad were both very skinny, as well as some of the rest of the family that I saw in her facebook albums. Until I saw a wall post about how she took the girl to the doctor for a checkup and "the doctor got on to me again about (girl) weight. She told me to stop feeding her all that junk food and do not give her soda and so much milk all the time. Well she does not like water and she does not like vegetables. I am not going to let my baby starve just because of what the scale says. My baby is perfect the way she is" I was like She is setting her child up for a life of bullying and health issues because she does not want to listen to the doctor, but she wants to go off on me and say it is my fault that the dress she ordered did not fit.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Pageantmama...thats just shocking O.O

CIHYA and Mooncat...for some reason I couldn't see your posts prior to my previous one, but Mooncat has pretty much summed up what I was saying anyway, with a lot less waffling lol.

CIHYA I hope you weren't offended. I really do sympathise, as I said before, having being bullied myself.

[tropicsgoddess]

If the kid can't fit into the biggest size for school uniform clothes for that store, then it's time to take her somewhere else. Wally world is good about carrying school uniforms in so many different colors and sizes for the kids. When I used to live in FL, there were some stores that sold strictly kids school uniforms and had the specific colors for all the schools in the county that mandated uniforms (for both public and private schools).

[Kogarashi]

Yeah, I'll agree that if your young child doesn't fit in the largest size a given store has, it's time to go shopping elsewhere, or special order.

Do I whine at places like Walmart when they don't have comfy bras in my size or pants long enough? Good heavens, no, I just go look for a store that does. Good grief.

Until I saw a wall post about how she took the girl to the doctor for a checkup and "the doctor got on to me again about (girl) weight. She told me to stop feeding her all that junk food and do not give her soda and so much milk all the time. Well she does not like water and she does not like vegetables. I am not going to let my baby starve just because of what the scale says. My baby is perfect the way she is"

::facepalm::

That's all I have to say on that.