Last year, my fiance and I were on vacation in Destin, Florida. While we were there, she, of course, wanted to go shopping at Silver Sands Outlet. She found a store that she absolutely loved—Earthbound Trading. They have all sorts of things-clothing, home decor, incense. Kind of like a headshop. She spent most of her shopping time in that store. Our vacation ended and we left.
We came back about a month and a half later, on our honeymoon. She wanted to go back to Earthbound to buy some of their silk wrap skirt. When she went in, one of the male sales associates came up to her and offered to show her the different styles it can be worn. He wanted to demonstrate it on her, so she said okay. He began to wrap the skirt around her, tucking in the sides and whatever. While he was doing this, she felt his hands cup her breasts a few times. She was very uncomfortable but figured that the guy was just young and clumsy. She left and and told me about it.
We came back the next day, so she could buy her skirt. The same sales associate was there and approached my wife and preceded to talk about the skirts, offering to demonstrate them on her. She turned him down and said that she just wanted to pick some out and try them on in the dressing room. He basically ignored her and tried to wrap the skirt on her. I stopped him and he preceded to show me how she can use some of the material as a shirt and placed his hands on her breasts. There was no need for him to do this to show her how to use the skirt.
It's just a damned skirt! I was ready to knock him on his a*! He saw that I was angry and directed my wife to the dressing room. I asked to speak to a manager and ended up speaking to the assistant (the manager was not there). I told him what the perverted associate did. The assistant said that the company was having a contest on the skirts (big effing deal) and that is how they were trained to sell them! To touch women and make them feel uncomfortable??? He assured me that that was not their goal.
I had watched the dvd of the skirt demonstration at the front of their store and not ONCE did the woman in the video touch herself in that way. I explained this to the, uh, assistant and he said that everyone's sales pitch is different! He did not assure me that he would talk to the pervert about proper conduct with customers, nor did he seem the least bit interested.
I thought to myself, this kid is management??? No wonder retailers are complaining about their revenues (or lack thereof). They hire kids, I guess because they are cheap labor, and don't bother with training them on customer service and complaints. My wife did not buy the skirts and we left.
About two months later, we came back to Destin for the holidays. I went back to the store to get my wife a gift. The manager was there. She helped me find a skirt and a few other things. She gave me an instructional DVD and
a pamphlet that explained the different ways to wear the skirt. She did not try to demonstrate the on me. I told her what happened a few months back, and she was appauled! She understood how my wife and I felt and assured me that we would never have to experience that again, nor did we have to put up with the perv anymore. My wife was very pleased and began shopping there again without me escorting her.
My wife has quite the collection from this store. She has spent a little more than $3500 at that store. She's only been in there no more than ten times!
We left Destin again, but returned for the summer. My wife stopped by the store to pick up some saris for the beach. Everything went well. Then my wife decided to redecorate the condo and wanted to buy some
things at Earthbound Trading. She walked in the store looking for new pictures to hang on the wall, and nearly stopped cold when she saw the perv standing at the counter tossing an item back and forth with another associate. She left immediately.
I went to the store to talk to the manager. The manager that I had spoke to before was no longer with the company. The new manager was the kid assistant. Of course, he did nothing. I asked him for a corporate number and he said that that information was private! Ignoring me after that he turned his back on me to speak to his friends about his plans for that night. What a way to run a business!
My wife was very disappointed. We did find a Texas phone number for the company and called to explain what happened. A very nice young lady answered and told us that they sell most of their items on auction web sites at over HALF of the normal price. She even gave us a code for free shipping! She said that most of the stores were not doing well and the company had to sell a lot of theirproducts online to "make ends meet".
So instead of going to the store and getting harrassed by company induced perverted sales associates, my wife now goes on the three different auction sites that they use and pays peanuts for their stuff! If you ask me, if a store is not doing well, maybe you could save some money by closing it.
It just seems really fishy - why not just sell it all online? Little or no overhead. Why bother to have a store and hire a bunch of kids run it into the ground? Why was I told not to tell anyone about this (in return for free shipping)? Does the company have economic failure insurance or something? Just does not add up. If you come across this store, be very careful and be prepared to get groped
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