News

Pissed Off Mom Responds After Sales Associate Calls Her Daughter 'Fat'

by Gillian Fuller

For a teenage girl, there are few experiences quite as exciting as getting dressed up for a school dance. It's kind of like playing princess for a night: You feel special.

Unfortunately, for 13-year-old Lexi, the joy of that experience was almost ruined by a rude saleswoman at a Dillard's department store.

A few weeks ago, Lexi and her mother went to the Towne East Mall near their home in Wichita, Kansas, to get Lexi a dress for the formal.

The bubbly teen had fun trying on gowns (and even let her mom snap a few pictures) until a saleswoman told her she was “fat” and needed to get Spanx to wear with the dress.

Later, Lexi's mother, Megan Naramore Harris, posted about the experience on Facebook. She wrote,

Dear sales lady at Dillard's Towne East Mall, This is my teenage daughter who wanted to try on dresses for an upcoming formal. I found this dress and asked her to try it on. She told me this was not her style, but tried it on for me… Right after that, you entered and told my daughter she needed to wear SPANX if she wanted to wear this dress… I wish I had told you how many girls suffer from poor self image and telling them they need something to make them perfect can be very damaging… If they feel good in a dress, that is all that should matter.

Harris says her daughter handled the situation well, but wondered why the saleswoman would say something so obviously unkind.

Soon after posting to Facebook, Harris' message went viral with more than 356,000 likes. Hundreds of people commented to condemn the sales lady and tell Lexi how beautiful she is.

Perhaps, best of all, Harris spoke with the store's representatives, who confirmed they'd use the incident as a “talking point” for their employees.

The proud mother says,

[The response] has been so overwhelming and also so very sad that obviously there are other people out there like Lexi that have felt bad about themselves because of [someone else]. Lexi just wanted to do it so girls knew it's OK to be pretty, and feel pretty regardless of what anyone else thinks.

Read Harris' touching post in full, below.

Dear sales lady at Dillard's Towne East Mall, This is my teenage daughter who wanted to try on dresses for an upcoming... Posted by Megan Naramore Harris on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

 

Citations: A Mom Is Speaking Out After A Salesclerk Told Her 13-Year-Old Daughter She Was “Fat” And “Needed Spanx” (BuzzFeed)