Drastic About Plastic

(I work at a women’s clothing store. Like all other clothing stores, we have mannequins with some outfits displayed. We often have to take a piece of clothing off of a mannequin if that happens to be the last one of that size and a customer needs it. I am straightening things up on one of our display tables when I am approached by who I think is a customer. She is clearly angry and offended.)

Woman: “Excuse me, but there is a mannequin without a shirt. You need to fix that right now because it is inappropriate to be looking at!”

Me: *kind of scared because of the random outburst* “Uh, okay. I’ll check with a manager and figure out what top is supposed to be on it, then.”

(The woman storms off, muttering something about “p*rnography.” Then, she sits right on the bench outside of our store and stares in, clearly waiting for something to be done about this horrible thing. I go to check the planning binder and then pull the shirt from the rack. As I am getting ready to take the sensor off of the shirt, my manager, who is on the phone, looks at me.)

Manager: “You’re good to clock out. [Other Worker] is here now.”

Me: “All right. I’ll put this shirt on the mannequin on my way up. Some woman was offended by it.”

Manager: *into phone* “Hold on, [Other Manager].” *to me* “What?”

Me: “Some lady came in and told me that one of our mannequins doesn’t have a shirt and it’s highly inappropriate and we need to fix it now!“

Manager: “Is she still here?”

Me: “Well, she’s sitting on the bench right outside of the store and staring in.”

Manager: *repeats it to the other manager on the phone and laughs* “No, let it sit there. I’ll get to it when I get to it. She can deal with it. If she complains again, I’ll put our most see-through bra on it.”

(I clocked out, did my bag and coat check, and as I walked out of the store the woman was STILL on the bench glaring at me.)